Babylon | Crypto

A newly discovered vulnerability may enable malicious validators to omit the hash field when posting blocks, leading to validator crashes and slowing block production. A newly disclosed software flaw in the Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon may allow malicious validators to disrupt parts of the network’s consensus process, potentially slowing block production during key periods, according to developers. The vulnerability affects Babylon’s block signature scheme, known as the BLS vote extension, which is used to prove that validators have agreed on a block. The bug enables malicious validators to intentionally omit the block hash field when sending their vote extension, which could lead to validator consensus issues during the epoch boundaries of the network, according to a GitHub post published on Thursday. Read more

The investment was made through the purchase of BABY tokens to support the development of Babylon’s trustless Bitcoin collateral infrastructure. Babylon, a decentralized protocol focused on enabling native Bitcoin staking and lending, received $15 million in funding from a16z Crypto through the sale of Babylon's native BABY (BABY) tokens to the digital asset arm of Andreessen Horowitz. In a blog post published Wednesday, a16z Crypto said the funding will support continued development of the protocol’s Bitcoin-native infrastructure. “Bitcoin’s limited programmability” has left large amounts of Bitcoin (BTC) sitting idle, the blog reads, arguing that enabling its use as collateral could unlock a major source of onchain capital and allow BTC to function as a productive asset within decentralized finance (DeFi). Read more

Babylon unveils a proof-of-concept for using native Bitcoin in DeFi lending, as BNB Chain and Hyperliquid post major updates. Bitcoin infrastructure company Babylon Labs claimed to have developed a system that enables native Bitcoin to be used as collateral for borrowing assets on Ethereum. Babylon Labs co-founder and Stanford University professor David Tse said on Wednesday that the company built a proof-of-concept that allows native Bitcoin to be used “trustlessly” as collateral for loans on Ethereum.  The comments follow a white paper release from the company, revealing a Bitcoin trustless vault system that leverages Bitcoin smart contract verification BitVM3 to lock BTC in per-user vaults. Here, withdrawals are gated by proofs of external smart contract state verified on Bitcoin.  Read more

Babylon Labs says it has built a system using BitVM3 that allows native Bitcoin to be used as trustless collateral for borrowing on Ethereum, but its trustless design raises questions. A co-founder of Bitcoin infrastructure company, Babylon Labs, claims to have built a system that allows for native Bitcoin to be used as trustless collateral to borrow on the Ethereum blockchain. In a Wednesday X post, Babylon Labs co-founder and Stanford University professor David Tse claimed Babylon built a proof-of-concept allowing for native Bitcoin (BTC) “to be used trustlessly as collateral to borrow on Ethereum for the first time.” The comments follow Babylon’s release of a white paper in early August, outlining what it calls a Bitcoin trustless vault system. The system leverages the Bitcoin smart contract verification system BitVM3 to lock BTC in per-user vaults, where withdrawals (redemption or liquidation) are gated by cryptographic proofs of external smart contract state verified on Bitcoin. Read more

Kraken has launched a Bitcoin staking service in partnership with Babylon, allowing users to earn BABY tokens. Crypto exchange Kraken has launched a new Bitcoin staking product through a protocol integration with Babylon Labs. In a Thursday announcement, Kraken said it has partnered with the Bitcoin (BTC) staking protocol Babylon. The integration allows the exchange’s users to earn interest on their Bitcoin holdings without the need for bridging, wrapping or lending. Kraken customers can use the service starting today by staking their Bitcoin without interacting with off-exchange wallets. The Bitcoin is locked in a vault on the Bitcoin blockchain and delegated to secure proof-of-stake (PoS) networks through the Babylon protocol. Read more