Bitcoin DeFi sees surge in mining participation despite drop in TVL

Rootstock’s merged mining hit an all-time high in Q1 2025, even as DeFi TVL dropped 20% and user activity cooled across the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem.

Smart contract platform Rootstock, the home of decentralized finance (DeFi) on Bitcoin, saw a sharp increase in network security and mining engagement in the first quarter of 2025, even as activity cooled.

Merged mining participation surged to an all-time high of 81%, up from 56.4% in Q4 2024, driven by the integration of major mining pools Foundry and SpiderPool, according to Messari’s first “State of Rootstock” report for 2025, shared with Cointelegraph.

The heightened miner interest boosted Rootstock’s hash power to over 740 exahashes per second, surpassing the total Bitcoin network hashrate recorded in October 2024. As a result, the network is now considered to be in a “mature phase” of merged mining growth.

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