The year of Bitcoin DeFi

In this episode of Bullish on Bitcoin from 2025, Alexei sits down with Nic Puckrin, CEO and co-founder of Coin Bureau — the largest crypto-native YouTube channel in the world, with a mission to drive mass adoption through education. Nic brings an outsider-yet-expert perspective on where Bitcoin DeFi stands today and what it will take to unlock the next wave of adoption.

From the rare macro convergence that makes 2025 Bitcoin DeFi's breakout moment, to the regulatory sea change under the new SEC, to bold predictions on TVL, sovereign accumulation, and whether Bitcoin maxis will ever embrace DeFi — this is a wide-ranging and candid conversation on the Bitcoin renaissance and where it goes from here.

In this episode we discuss:

• Nic's take on why 2025 is the year of Bitcoin DeFi: macro shifts, the halving cycle, and surging institutional demand
• From 235,000 to 330,000 BTC in DeFi — and why the acceleration is just beginning
• Why institutions would rather use trustless Bitcoin DeFi than repeat the BlockFi and Genesis mistakes
• The regulatory sea change: how the new SEC under Paul Atkins is unlocking DeFi for institutions
• Only 0.1–0.3% of Bitcoin's market cap is in DeFi vs 30% for Ethereum — a 100x gap and a massive opportunity
• Who are the power users of Bitcoin DeFi today: DeFi-native DJs, Bitcoin miners, long-term holders, and corporates
• Why Ethereum OGs may migrate to Bitcoin DeFi as Ethereum's narrative struggles against Solana
• Bitcoin vs Ethereum long term: why Nic is more bullish on Bitcoin than Ethereum for DeFi's future
• Centralized wrapped Bitcoin solutions: useful today, but why long-term sustainability requires BitVM
• Bitcoin staking and Babylon: why $6B in TVL within weeks proves the demand is real
• BOB's hybrid L2 approach: combining Bitcoin security with Ethereum's DeFi tooling and Superchain membership
• Why Bitcoin maxis are a vocal minority — and why most ETH and Solana users are Bitcoiners at heart
• Bold prediction: Bitcoin DeFi TVL hits $25B by end of 2025 — and why that's still conservative
• The sovereign wildcard: could a G7 nation accumulate Bitcoin in 2025, and what does that mean for DeFi?