Interview with Kevin, Core Contributor of GOAT Network: From BitVM2 Mainnet to Institutional-Grade BTC Yield, as Bitcoin Layer 2 Enters Its Next Growth Cycle
Guest: Kevin, Core Contributor of GOAT Network
Interviewer: momo, ChainCatcher
“Do you believe Bitcoin can have its own ‘OP moment’ like Ethereum?”
Kevin smiled and replied, “We’re paving the way to that moment.”
As public companies and institutions begin adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets, its massive latent liquidity awaits activation. GOAT Network, the first Bitcoin-native ZK Rollup with real-time proving, has unveiled its Post-TGE Roadmap, covering Q4 2025, 2026, and beyond, with a mission to set Bitcoin’s capital in motion.
The roadmap presents a strategic framework for Q4 2025 through 2026, focusing on three pillars: product innovation, ecosystem expansion, and institutional adoption. During Q4 2025, GOAT will strengthen its product suite and accelerate ecosystem growth. Alongside the already-launched risk-free yield product Safebox, key milestones include the DOGE native cross-chain bridge and the BitVM2 mainnet upgrade.
In parallel, a new Ecosystem Development Fund will drive BTCFi application growth, particularly in perpetual DEX and prediction-market , and foster greater community participation.
Looking ahead to 2026, GOAT Network aims to activate dormant BTC liquidity by building a secure and transparent yield architecture that offers institutional investors a sustainable path toward long-term Bitcoin asset growth.
As these strategic initiatives move forward, ChainCatcher sat down with Kevin, Core Contributor of GOAT Network, for an in-depth conversation. Kevin is also the Co-Founder of Metis, a key infrastructure in the Ethereum ecosystem, and brings extensive hands-on experience in ZK and scalability technologies.
In this interview, he details how GOAT Network is driving the sustainable evolution of Bitcoin Layer 2 through coordinated progress in product development, ecosystem building, and institutional adoption, while offering his perspective on key moments that could shape the next growth cycle.
Advancing ZK Rollup from Experiment to Production
ChainCatcher: GOAT Network recently completed its TGE. Looking back from the project’s launch to this point, how do you evaluate the project’s overall progress? Which milestones stand out most to you?
Kevin: Looking back on the past two years, our progress has slightly exceeded expectations. Especially as we advanced along both technical and economic tracks, we still managed to maintain a steady pace and consistent delivery.
We have achieved several defining milestones:
GOAT Network developed Ziren, formerly known as zkMIPS, the fastest production-ready zkVM in the industry. On the challenge model side, the team pushed forward with BitVM2, staying ahead in research and proving the feasibility of native Bitcoin cross-layer communication.
At the same time, we launched the first decentralized Sequencer network in the Bitcoin ecosystem, which remains the only one in the industry today. This design removes single-point reliance and allows Bitcoin Layer 2 to inherit the decentralization and security of Bitcoin itself.
In addition, we also introduced an incentive system denominated in native BTC, under which more than 2 BTC and a portion of USDT were distributed to contributors. Every incentive represents real assets rather than symbolic points. These achievements demonstrate that GOAT Network’s innovation extends beyond technology to economic and community sustainability.
ChainCatcher: GOAT positions itself as the first Bitcoin-native ZK Rollup to realize real-time proving. Why can it claim that, and what makes this achievement significant?
Kevin: Real-time proving means that withdrawal proofs are generated and verified instantly. At GOAT, we managed to keep proof generation strictly under 30 seconds, even under worst-case conditions, something no other system has done before.
This was made possible through Ziren’s high-performance architecture, which combines CPU optimization, GPU acceleration, parallel proof pipelines, and distributed scalability. Integrated with BitVM2’s challenge and arbitration framework, every result is verifiable on the Bitcoin mainnet itself.
For users, it brings faster confirmation and higher efficiency. For developers and partners, it marks the point where ZK Rollups become ready for large-scale ecosystem applications.
Q4 Focus: Unlocking Bitcoin’s Real Mobility
ChainCatcher: The Q4 roadmap lists several major releases such as BitVM-GC testnet, BitVM2 Beta-Mainnet, Ziren GPU Prover open-source release, and the DOGE cross-chain bridge. What are the main objectives behind these updates, and which one takes top priority?
Kevin: Q4 is shaping up to be the most active stage of development to date, with a clear mission to make Bitcoin’s liquidity truly dynamic. Every upgrade follows three main goals.
All upgrades are guided by three priorities. The first focuses on enhancing the speed and security of native BTC cross-layer transactions. The second aims to reduce the cost and latency of ZK proofs for scalable adoption. The third works on improving the Sequencer network so that it remains decentralized, transparent, and verifiable for anyone to participate.
The top priority is undoubtedly the launch of BitVM2 Beta-Mainnet. It defines the security foundation of BTC’s cross-layer interaction and determines whether Bitcoin assets can circulate freely within a truly native ecosystem.
ChainCatcher: Specifically for GOAT Network, what is the significance of the BitVM-GC whitepaper and testnet release, as well as the open-source release of Ziren GPU Prover?
Kevin: The BitVM-GC whitepaper and testnet represent the systematic optimization and engineering implementation of the complex challenge and arbitration mechanisms behind Bitcoin Layer 2.
Opening the whitepaper invites the community to participate in standardized audits and reproduction of core logic, making secure Layer 2 design more accessible.
The open-sourcing of Ziren GPU Prover pushes ZK proof generation efficiency and cost reduction to a new benchmark. Beyond technical openness, it reflects our belief in collaborative progress, inviting global developers to help optimize performance and expand Bitcoin’s zero-knowledge proving infrastructure.
ChainCatcher: Safebox is described as a “risk-free” native Bitcoin yield product. What exactly makes it risk-free, and where does the yield come from?
Kevin: Safebox is the first product in the market to generate native BTC yield while maintaining zero risk. First, it relies on Bitcoin’s native timelock scripts, meaning users always retain full control over their assets. Second, it avoids external restaking or high-risk strategies, generating yield purely from GOAT’s endogenous economic cycle.
Yield is produced within GOAT’s internal economic loop—through gas fee distribution, MEV sharing, and ecosystem rebates connected to miner incentives. Since everything runs transparently on-chain without inflationary token emissions, the risk is almost zero.
ChainCatcher: The roadmap also mentions an upgrade to user incentives. In your open letter, you emphasized GOAT’s focus on “real incentives,” with over 2 BTC already distributed. Could you share what distinctive methods you have adopted to make it a reality?
Kevin: When it comes to “real incentives,” we mean that all rewards distributed to users and contributors are in real assets instead of virtual points or non-redeemable tokens.
So far, we have distributed more than 2 BTC plus multiple USDT batches to community contributors, moderators, and ambassadors who drive ecosystem growth.
At the same time, we have built a settlement mechanism that directly ties rewards to measurable contributions. This ensures that incentives scale with real impact, strengthening community trust while establishing a sustainable reward loop.
New Ecosystem Development Fund Dedicated to BTCFi Applications
ChainCatcher: GOAT previously launched a 34 BTC Pioneer Fund and plans another Ecosystem Development Fund this quarter. How are the two different in incentive focus? What criteria will you use to evaluate supported projects?
Kevin: 34 BTC Pioneer Fund acted as a spark to ignite the early ecosystem, helping with cold start efforts through user education and liquidity bootstrapping for initial projects.
The new fund will move a step further, targeting BTCFi projects that can generate real market demand and sustainable cash flow. We are particularly interested in areas like perpetual trading, prediction markets, and stable asset protocols.
When choosing partners, we value three dimensions most: strong security with verifiable records, high incentive efficiency (the ratio between rewards provided and TVL or trading volume generated), and teams that operate transparently with a long-term mindset.
ChainCatcher: What are the main applications already live in the GOAT ecosystem, and which BTCFi areas do you see as most promising?
Kevin: At present, our ecosystem covers three major use cases: Earn, Trade, and Play.
Under Earn, products like Safebox, Artemis Staking, StableJack, and Summer let users earn yield with different risk levels and even combine them into looping strategies for higher efficiency.
For Trade, we have DEXs such as OKU and GOATSwap, and most recently, the perpetual DEX GOATUP.
Under Play, platforms like One Piece, Lucky Draw, and GOATRocket give users fun ways to play and earn simultaneously.
Looking ahead, we are most optimistic about BTCFi, particularly in derivatives trading, prediction markets, liquidation mechanisms, and stable asset protocols. These use cases bring not just clear revenue models but also continuous trading vibrancy and liquidity circulation that keep the Bitcoin network dynamic and secure.
ChainCatcher: The roadmap highlights perpetual trading and prediction markets. Why these two areas first, and what unique advantages do they have on Bitcoin Layer 2 compared to Ethereum or other chains?
Kevin: We chose perpetual trading and prediction markets because they best showcase the technical strengths of a Layer 2 network. Perpetual trading relies on instant settlement and high liquidity efficiency, while prediction markets require real-time data and security. On other chains, these are often limited by high gas and latency.
GOAT’s, real-time proving and a low-latency Sequencer architecture provide BTC native security with, near-instant settlement. Moreover, these two types of applications serve as the core engines of liquidity within the Bitcoin ecosystem, injecting real trading motivation into BTCFi and turning Bitcoin into an active, yield-generating asset.
Overcoming Three Major Challenges: Bitcoin’s “OP Moment” Ahead
ChainCatcher: How do you see the growing adoption of Bitcoin treasuries by public companies, and how does this influence your BTCFi vision, and what new demands might it create?
Kevin: More and more public companies and institutions are now adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets, and this is an irreversible trend. It not only reinforces Bitcoin’s role as a reserve asset but also introduces a new question—how to generate BTC yield without increasing risk.
GOAT was designed to address this demand. With its decentralized Sequencer layer, open yield architecture, and BTC-denominated economy, we offer institutions a verifiable, trackable and compliant BTCFi fundamental layer that enables sustainable asset growth within essential security.
ChainCatcher: GOAT has emphasized its vision to awaken the dormant BTC held by ETFs and institutions, but these players are often the most cautious. Can you share what their specific needs are for BTCFi and how GOAT is addressing their trust barriers? What key partnerships have been established so far?
Kevin: Institutional concerns mainly revolve around three areas: technical security, yield sustainability, and compliance. Technically, GOAT has open-sourced key components and brought in external security auditors. Economically, we rely on intrinsic cash flows derived from gas fees, MEV sharing, and miner rewards instead of inflationary incentives. We partner with custodians and risk management firms to offer traceable and reportable data interfaces. Several collaborations are now in pilot stages and will be revealed progressively.
ChainCatcher: If we trace back to 2012, when Vitalik first proposed the concept of “colored coins,” the crypto community has spent over a decade experimenting with ways to unlock Bitcoin’s liquidity. In your view, what real progress has been made, and what has changed most in the past two years?
Kevin: The key progress is that verifiable cross-layer interaction and production-ready ZK infrastructure have moved from theory to reality. Over the past two years, the biggest change has been Bitcoin Layer 2’s transition from experimental stage to real-world deployment. BitVM2 and ZK systems now make high-security, low-cost scalability possible, while rising institutional adoption has created real demand for BTC yield, providing fertile ground for BTCFi to grow.
ChainCatcher: The Bitcoin ecosystem is currently in a phase of low attention, with several BTC Layer2 projects fading or shifting toward AI. What are the main pressures facing BTC Layer2 projects right now, and how is GOAT dealing with them?
Kevin: It’s true that Bitcoin’s ecosystem is in a quieter period, and many projects are chasing new narratives. Yet we believe true Layer2 infrastructure demands long-term commitment, not opportunism.
GOAT has chosen the most challenging yet most valuable path. We continue to refine our core technologies, enhance the Ziren zkVM and BitVM2 mainnet, and stay committed to genuine yield and a native economic model to ensure sustainable growth. This long-term vision is what allows us to withstand market fluctuations.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the unwavering support of our community. Over the past two years, we have deeply felt the passion and trust of our community, investors, and partners. That support keeps us moving forward. We are determined to make GOAT Network the flagship brand for Bitcoin Layer2.
ChainCatcher: You once said Bitcoin Layer2 needs its “OP moment.” When do you expect that to happen, and what key challenges must be overcome before that happens?
Kevin: That turning point will come when native BTC can move seamlessly into Layer2 networks, when real-time proving is fully deployed, when Sequencers are decentralized and self-sustaining, and when institutions embrace BTCFi as part of their strategies.
To reach that stage, the ecosystem still needs to address a few critical hurdles. BitVM2’s challenge arbitration mechanism must be completed, ZK proofs need to become faster and more cost-efficient, the Sequencer network should operate in a decentralized and well-balanced way, and compliance as well as custody frameworks must be in place. When these elements align, the Bitcoin Layer2 ecosystem enters a phase of real transformation toward scalability and sustainability, led by GOAT Network at its core.
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