“Bitcoin, a purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”

- Satoshi Nakamoto, 2008

We bet Satoshi would be surprised to learn that today Bitcoin capital markets are organised by financial institutions. Enter Zest Protocol, the first of its kind to allow a peer-to-peer version of a Bitcoin capital market, through smart contracts. We cannot deny capital markets are the basis for any functioning economy. Without the ability to borrow against assets and put idle capital to work, it’s unlikely that we would have achieved the standard of living we enjoy today.

Bitcoin capital markets face serious problems today. Participants in the Bitcoin economy from market makers to miners rely on lending to grow their businesses. However, most crypto lending firms recently imploded and avenues to attract Bitcoin (collateralised) credit have disappeared. At the same time decentralised lending platforms continue to function without major issues.

The time has come for decentralised Bitcoin capital markets to step up. Rebuilding the infrastructure for Bitcoin credit should be in everyone’s collective interest to accelerate the Bitcoin economy. This is why we built Zest Protocol. Zest Protocol is a Bitcoin capital market that runs through smart contracts secured by the Bitcoin blockchain via the Stacks layer, a Bitcoin L2. All participants transact in native BTC with Bitcoin transactions. Escrow happens through Stacks and Zest Protocol takes care of the rest.