January 2025 saw plans for an incentivized testnet, BEVM chain support, new DEX incentives, and new user guides, building great momentum.

The year 2025 is off to a productive start, and at Persistence One, we’ve wasted no time diving headfirst into some big moves! From Day 1, we’ve been laser-focused on pushing the boundaries of BTC interoperability, driving forward the vision we’ve laid out: reducing fragmentation and creating a unified BTCFi ecosystem.

As we enter the next phase of building the upcoming Persistence DEX V2, every effort is made to deliver a seamless and secure swapping experience for all BTC variants. With new things already in motion, we’re gearing up for an ambitious year full of productivity, and new initiatives.

Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to in the first month of this exciting new year.

Persistence One’s big highlight for January

1. January started fresh as we unveiled a new, Bitcoin-aligned look for Persistence DEX V1. This updated design aligns seamlessly with the upcoming V2, creating a fluid user experience.
2. We made a video guide for XPRT stakers, who could be eligible for Nansen points at the start of the month.
3. A pivotal year like 2024 deserved a proper sendoff, so we shared a brief recap highlighting the journey.
4. What if AI could facilitate cross-chain swaps? We might have a theory.
5. We also announced a round of new incentives for Persistence DEX, providing more DeFi liquidity opportunities for our users.
6. Another MAJOR highlight was the announcement for support of BEVM chain on our BTC Interop testnet.
7. To highlight in more detail how the existing Persistence DEX V1 works, we published an article about it.
8. We released an in-depth thread for the community, on the best way to participate in governance while earning staking rewards.
9. Buckle up. This one is BIG. We initiated a discussion about doing a potential incentivised testnet for our upcoming V2, which would reward early supporters and encourage further participation.
10. The team also added support for Bitget Wallet on the Interop testnet. Bitget wallet has over 60M+ users, who can now explore the upcoming V2 testnet.
11. In partnership with Intract, which is one of the leading quest platforms, we launched a community activity with a pool of $1,000 in XPRT.
12. We also posted the eighth instalment of our popular ‘What’s Up Bitcoin’ series.
13. We also added support for TokenPocket wallet on the BTC Interop testnet.
14. The team also published a detailed thread explaining every step of the process to stake XPRT.

And because we believe in going the extra mile, here’s a bonus…

15. We released a series of guides and tutorials too for the following:
    • Guide to moving BTC to BEVM on the Persistence One Interoperability Testnet.
    • Guide to adding custom network in Trust Wallet.
    • Guide to setup and connect using Bitget Wallet to Persistence DEX V2 testnet.
    • Guide to setup and connect using TokenPocket Wallet to Persistence DEX V2 testnet.

Media & Community

The following are some of the highlights on the media and community side for Persistence One during January 2025:

1. Our COO, Jeroen Develter, shared a summary about Intents. How they operate. And the way this could streamline the user experience.
2. Jeroen also summarized on BTC Echo Podcast, what could possibly be the next BIG thing in Bitcoin.
3. The Persisters community brought incredible energy to discussions around the incentivized testnet proposal on the Persistence forum.
4. Once voting on the proposal began, the enthusiasm only grew. It’s safe to say we’re as excited as the community to see where this leads!

XPRT Governance & Token Highlights

Here are some of the most prominent highlights of XPRT governance in January 2025.

1. Proposal #123 was proposed to fund an incentivized testnet for Persistence DEX V2.
2. Proposal #124 was proposed towards incentivization of Persistence DEX pools with stkXPRT, and PSTAKE rewards for February 2025.

About Persistence One

Persistence One is building the BTCFi Liquidity Hub, enabling fast, near zero-slippage swaps for XPRT, BTC-variants, and BTCfi tokens on Persistence DEX.

BTCFi’s rapid growth has created multiple BTC-related assets, making fragmentation a big challenge. Persistence One will provide a single liquidity hub, simplifying value transfer across the Bitcoin ecosystem.

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The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has gone live with its Gold Bar Integrity (GBI) Database. It standardizes and centralizes data related to the responsible sourcing of the gold, and the country of origin of gold held in London vaults, but the ownership data remains with custodians. The solution uses the Axedras Bullion Integrity Ledger, a system based on the R3 Corda enterprise blockchain.

The LBMA and World Gold Council first partnered with Swiss startup Axedras in March 2022 with the WGC investing a couple of months later. This was for the LBMA’s broader Gold Bar Integrity Ecosystem, where the database is a single aspect. However, the contract for the GBI database was only awarded last March.

“The GBI Database will initially focus on two crucial datasets: Refiner Data and London Vault Data,” said Ruth Crowell, LBMA CEO.

 

“This means faster, more secure data collection and processing. Beyond this, the platform’s ability to automate risk identification and flag potential issues quickly will play a vital role in enhancing confidence across the market.”

Currently refiners provide responsible sourcing data via email. Now they will upload the data directly to the database, with many already onboarded. London custodians will be required to submit bar-level data for gold and silver bars.

The system works by creating digital twins, not only for gold bars but also for gold grains and semi finished products. This is used to create provenance for the gold supply chain.

Gold tokenization

However, these digital twins for the finished product can also support tokenization which could reduce settlement risks and enable vaulted gold to be easily used as tokenized collateral to meet margin requirements at clearing houses. The World Gold Council participated in such a pilot last year. There have been several gold tokenization initiatives targeting consumers. But last year HSBC tokenized its vaulted gold.

Turning back to Axedras, a key feature of its permissioned blockchain, is it only enables confidential data to be available to those that have the right to see it. This contrasts with encryption solutions where someone might hold a copy of the data but not have the key to be able to view it. With Corda, an unauthorized person does not have the data at all.

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