In Q1 2025, Rootstock, a leading smart contract platform for decentralized finance (DeFi) on Bitcoin, witnessed a significant surge in mining participation, boosting its network security and hash power. The platform achieved an all-time high in merged mining participation, reaching 81% with major mining pools Foundry and SpiderPool coming on board. As a result, Rootstock’s hash power surpassed that of the total Bitcoin network in October 2024, indicating a mature phase of merged mining growth. This increased security also led to a 60% reduction in transaction fees, enhancing user experience and competitiveness within the Bitcoin layer-2 ecosystem. Despite these milestones, Rootstock experienced a decline in total value locked (TVL) for its DeFi ecosystem in Q1 2025, with both Bitcoin-denominated and US dollar-denominated TVL dropping. The stablecoin market on Rootstock saw changes, with USDt maintaining its lead but losing market share. Active addresses and new addresses decreased, although daily transactions showed a slight increase. On the development front, Rootstock activated the Lovell 7.0.0 upgrade, improving Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility and smart contract performance. The platform also expanded its ecosystem through integrations and developer-focused initiatives. Looking ahead, Rootstock aims to capture a larger market share in the DeFi space on Bitcoin, targeting the blockchain’s 300 million users.