Documentation

Get started with BitYield

BitYield turns your Bitcoin into productive Bitcoin in under two minutes, with no prior knowledge of Stacks, sBTC, or DeFi. This guide covers everything from connecting a wallet to how routing, fees, and self-custody work under the hood.

Introduction

Most Bitcoin earns nothing. The paths that do exist usually ask you to bridge your BTC to another chain, wrap it into a token you do not recognise, learn a DeFi interface, or pay gas in a token you do not hold. BitYield removes all of that.

You connect a wallet, deposit sBTC (a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset), pick a yield route, and confirm. Your Bitcoin stays Bitcoin, secured by Bitcoin L1 under your own keys, and it starts earning. Every transaction fee is sponsored, so you never need to hold or spend STX.

How it works

The experience is four steps:

Connect wallet → See your Bitcoin → Choose a yield route → One tap to deploy

Three things about Stacks make this possible:

  • Your Bitcoin stays Bitcoin. sBTC is 1:1 Bitcoin-backed. When you deposit, your Bitcoin stays on Bitcoin L1 under your own keys. No bridge risk, no wrapped-token risk.
  • The yield is real and on-chain. Stacks hosts production protocols paying Bitcoin-denominated yield, verifiable on a public explorer.
  • The friction is removed. BitYield sponsors network fees, so you deposit and withdraw without ever touching STX.

Get started

1

Connect a wallet

Open the app and connect a Stacks wallet such as Leather. BitYield never takes custody of your funds or asks for your seed phrase. Connecting only lets the app read your balance and prepare transactions for you to sign.

2

Get sBTC

sBTC is Bitcoin you can put to work on Stacks, redeemable 1:1 for BTC at any time. If you do not have sBTC yet, use the official sBTC bridge (linked from the deposit screen): send BTC, receive sBTC. BitYield does not bridge funds itself, it links you to the real flow.

3

Make a deposit

Go to Deposit, enter an amount, and choose a yield route. You will see the route, the expected rate, and a plain-language risk panel before you confirm. Confirming signs a single transaction. The fee is sponsored, so you pay zero STX.

4

Track your position

Your position shows up on the Dashboard: how much you deposited, which route it is in, and your earnings, all denominated in Bitcoin. The Proof page shows every BitYield transaction live from the chain, with explorer links.

5

Withdraw

Withdraw at any time from the Dashboard. BitYield returns your principal plus accrued yield to your wallet in a single sponsored transaction. Only you can withdraw your own position.

Yield routes

BitYield routes deposits through a non-custodial router into pluggable strategy contracts, each targeting a different Bitcoin yield source. Adding a route never touches your existing positions.

ZestLive

Lending yield: you supply sBTC, borrowers pay interest, you earn it. Bitcoin in, Bitcoin out, with no impermanent loss. Deposits are actually supplied into Zest Protocol's lending pool on mainnet today.

Mechanically: BitYield supplies your sBTC into Zest's Bitcoin lending pool and receives zsBTC in return, an interest-bearing receipt token whose balance grows as borrowers repay interest. You never handle zsBTC directly, BitYield holds it on your behalf and redeems it back to sBTC when you withdraw. The rate on the deposit screen is read live from Zest's own sBTC reserve, so it moves with real borrowing demand, and can sit near zero when that demand is low, exactly as it would if you supplied directly on Zest.

About Zest Protocol ↗
Dual StackingLive

The Stacks network's own Bitcoin rewards program. Your sBTC is never locked or moved, and rewards are paid in sBTC. Deposits are actually enrolled in the real program on mainnet today; reward payout follows its normal cycle timing.

Mechanically: once your sBTC is deposited, BitYield enrolls the position in Stacks' native Proof-of-Transfer rewards program. There is nothing for you to actively manage — the program pays BTC-denominated rewards directly to the position on its normal cycle (roughly every two weeks), calculated by the protocol itself, not by BitYield. The base rate (around 0.5% on sBTC alone) is read live from the program; it can rise toward roughly 5% for positions that also stack STX, a boost BitYield does not yet offer.

About Dual Stacking ↗
HermeticaPreview

A BitYield strategy contract paying a fixed, transparent APY today, modelling Hermetica's structured yield without routing to it yet. Live routing to Hermetica itself is on the roadmap.

BitflowRoadmap

Trading-fee yield, planned as a future route once the live routes above have more real-world testing behind them.

Current status.Zest and Dual Stacking route real sBTC into their live protocols on Bitcoin mainnet today, and their rates on the deposit screen are read live from each protocol, not a fixed BitYield number. Both are new, unaudited deployments. A live rate can be small or move with the underlying protocol's own conditions (for example, Zest's rate reflects real borrowing demand and can sit near zero when that demand is low) — that is the real market rate, not a display error. Hermetica remains a BitYield contract that models its target protocol and pays a set rate, not yet routing live. The route you pick, its rate, and its risks are always shown before you confirm.

Fees and gas

Stacks transactions normally require a fee paid in STX. BitYield sponsors that fee for you, so you never need to acquire, hold, or spend STX to deposit or withdraw.

Fee sponsorship is part of early access and will not run forever. Even when network fees become yours to cover, you will not need to hold STX: a small fee can be settled in sBTC or taken from the yield you have already earned.

Security and custody

  • Self-custody. Your Bitcoin is held as sBTC, secured by Bitcoin L1 consensus, with no third-party wrapping or bridge custodian. Only you can withdraw your position.
  • Non-custodial router.BitYield's router is a routing and accounting layer. It records your deposit to your address and delegates custody to the strategy contract you chose.
  • Honest scope. The contracts are running as a controlled demo and are not yet independently audited, and ownership is a single key today. A public launch is gated on an independent audit and moving ownership to a multisig. Deposit only what you are comfortable testing with.

Verify on-chain

Everything BitYield does is public and verifiable. You can read the router and each strategy contract on the explorer, and the Proof page reads BitYield's real transaction history straight from the chain.

  • Router: SP37FXV56C8S6TNYGVTB06TE9Y449638WG9VK71YB.yield-router
  • Zest strategy: SP37FXV56C8S6TNYGVTB06TE9Y449638WG9VK71YB.zest-strategy-live-v2
  • Dual Stacking strategy: SP37FXV56C8S6TNYGVTB06TE9Y449638WG9VK71YB.dual-stacking-strategy-live
  • Hermetica strategy: SP37FXV56C8S6TNYGVTB06TE9Y449638WG9VK71YB.hermetica-strategy-live
  • sBTC token: SM3VDXK3WZZSA84XXFKAFAF15NNZX32CTSG82JFQ4.sbtc-token

The addresses above are the current, live contracts. The Proof page (below) always reads the exact addresses the app is configured against, so it is the authoritative source if this list ever falls behind.

Open the Proof page →

FAQ

Do I need STX?

No. Fees are sponsored, so you only ever need sBTC (which is 1:1 Bitcoin).

Is my Bitcoin bridged to another chain?

No. sBTC is 1:1 Bitcoin-backed and secured by Bitcoin L1. Your Bitcoin does not leave Bitcoin, it just starts working.

Can BitYield move my funds?

No. Positions are recorded to your address, and only you can withdraw yours.

How is yield paid?

In Bitcoin terms. You withdraw principal plus accrued yield back to your wallet as sBTC, redeemable 1:1 for BTC.

What are the risks?

Smart-contract risk (the contracts are not yet audited), and route-specific risk shown before each deposit. Start small.

Resources

Start earning →