Sui, a layer-1 blockchain, is preparing to introduce Hashi, an institutional protocol that enables Bitcoin holders to use their BTC as loan collateral without transferring the underlying assets away from the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin-backed financial services are approaching a significant expansion, supported by substantial capital commitments.
Hashi is scheduled to begin its phased mainnet launch later this month. The new institutional network will allow users to secure loans against Bitcoin while keeping the original assets on the Bitcoin blockchain.
More than 20 industry partners have pledged a combined $500 million to support the initiative and its ecosystem.
Although the funds represent commitments rather than money already deposited into the system, the advance backing is intended to give Hashi access to substantial liquidity from the outset instead of requiring markets to build up gradually after launch.
“Hashi is launching with serious capital and a coalition of industry leaders because institutions want to put Bitcoin to work without giving up the protections they require,” said Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and chief product officer of Mysten Labs, the original developer of Sui, in an official announcement.
The project aims to unlock a substantial amount of Bitcoin that currently remains unused. Sui estimates that approximately $1 trillion worth of BTC is sitting idle. Until now, institutional investors and companies holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets have had limited access to a compliant and transparent infrastructure for deploying their assets in decentralized finance (DeFi).
The launch also reflects a broader evolution in Bitcoin-backed lending, which is increasingly being used for purposes beyond speculative cryptocurrency trading. Bitcoin owners are turning to collateralized loans to finance expenses such as university education, property purchases and corporate working capital.
“Public companies and institutions hold enormous amounts of Bitcoin, but their ability to use that capital has been constrained by the technology available to them,” said Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital. The digital asset custodian is an initial launch partner and intends to provide stablecoin liquidity to Hashi.
McCauley added that connecting Anchorage Digital’s institutional customers with Hashi represents a fundamental change in how they can access financing using their Bitcoin holdings.
Hashi is designed to address institutional concerns without relying on conventional cross-chain bridges. Users instead lock their BTC in a vault address directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. The address is protected by a 2-of-2 multisignature arrangement, which requires cryptographic authorization from both of Hashi’s validators. An independent guardian layer also monitors collateral movements and is designed to slow potentially suspicious transactions.
While the original Bitcoin remains locked on its native network, Hashi issues hBTC on Sui as a digital token directly backed by the deposited BTC.
These hBTC tokens can then be used across Sui-based applications for lending, borrowing, credit markets and real-world asset trading. When users want to withdraw their Bitcoin, the corresponding hBTC tokens are permanently burned on Sui. That process triggers the multisignature mechanism to unlock and return the original BTC to the user on the Bitcoin network.
Hashi has also undergone security reviews aimed at meeting institutional requirements. Security firm Certora formally verified its smart contracts, while CommonPrefix examined the cryptographic components of its multi-party computation (MPC) protocol.
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