At this juncture, it’s impossible to deny Bitcoin’s status as one of the world’s premier financial assets. If the $2 trillion + market cap didn’t convince you, you need only look at the growing adoption among institutions and the conversations happening in the corridors of power. As nation states stockpile BTC, somewhere in the ether Satoshi is giving a wry smile. Despite Bitcoin’s stratospheric growth, and the preponderance of crypto infrastructure companies in existence, many such entities still straddle the line between fiat and crypto. Thus, while all of them profess to be “all-in” on BTC , precious few are. The following Bitcoin-native pioneers are the exception rather than the rule, the pioneers imagining a future in which digital gold is the DNA rather than a shiny add-on. Roxom Founded in 2019 by Borja Martel Seward and Nicholas Damico, Roxom is ripping up the rulebook of global finance as the world’s first BTC-denominated capital market. Based on the belief that truly sound money should define pricing, settlement, treasury, and revenue, Roxom uses BTC as its unit of account, meaning users get to trade things like stocks, bonds, derivatives, all denominated in Bitcoin and without interfacing with fiat at all. Set to launch within the next few months, Roxom isn’t layering crypto onto legacy finance; it’s building a BTC-native financial system from the ground up, an idea destined to appeal to crypto natives but also the growing audience compelled by the Bitcoin network and its digital gold narrative. Blockstream Led by Bitcoin OG and Hashcash creator Adam Back, Blockstream has, since 2014, been developing sophisticated tools for the blockchain’s ecosystem: the sort intended to make it stronger, faster, and more accessible. A multi-billion dollar company, its arsenal includes Liquid Network, a Bitcoin sidechain interoperable with the Lightning Network; Jade, a Bitcoin-focused self-custody wallet; and Core Lightning, an open-source implementation of Lightning. Last year, Blockstream raised $210 million to accelerate development of new Bitcoin-focused products for institutional, enterprise and consumer users. It’s also raised several billion to launch three investment funds, including two focused on crypto lending. Arch Labs Established in 2023 by Matt Mudano and Amine ElQaraoui, Arch Labs is on a mission to turn Bitcoin into Ethereum. Well, not quite: more accurately, it wants to emulate the Ethereum Virtual Machine by making Bitcoin’s base layer a hub for native applications and, in so doing, unleash Bitcoin’s untapped potential. The company’s version of the EVM, Arch Virtual Machine (ArchVM), is compatible with Bitcoin’s UTXO model, blazingly fast like Solana, and built in such a way that developers can deploy smart contracts directly on the Proof-of-Work chain. Valued at $200 million after a recent $13 million funding round, Arch has already attracted over 300,000 crypto wallets and a slew of decentralized apps. Canaan Over a decade deep in the game, Canaan was set up in 2013 by N.G. Zhang. Since its early days, the company has gradually established itself as a premier destination for Bitcoin mining hardware, specifically the high-performance ASIC chips needed to confirm blocks. Listed on Nasdaq since its 2019 IPO, Canaan expects to hit $1 billion in revenue this year, partly buoyed by sales of its new Avalon Q, a quiet SHA-256 ASIC miner designed to be used at home. It’s no stretch to say Canaan has played a major role in the Bitcoin revolution, indirectly strengthening the network by expanding mining capacity, and now, bringing it back to the masses. BitPay Founded in 2011 by Stephen Pair and Tony Gallippi, BitPay is one of the world’s best-known and most trusted crypto payment processors. Not only does it support BTC buying, selling and swapping, but it has its own self-custody wallet app and its HODL Pay feature lets users borrow stablecoins against crypto for real-world purchases like travel or luxury goods. E-commerce is a big part of BitPay’s business: the company integrates with over 250 merchants around the world, enabling them to accept BTC and other digital assets and thus avoid the cost of high fees/chargebacks associated with card payments. With offices across North America, South America and Europe, and having recently launched in the UK, BitPay shows no signs of slowing down. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice
