Exclusive interview with Rich Rines, an early contributor to Core: A Bitcoin DeFi believer who came out of Coinbase

In this cycle, Bitcoin has become the main growth engine in the blockchain field. In the eyes of many practitioners, BTC DeFi (Bitcoin decentralized finance) will become the next huge growth space.

As an emerging public chain project, Core Chain has quickly attracted widespread attention in the industry with its unique technological innovation and strategic vision. Core Chain not only continues Bitcoin's security and decentralized concept, but also integrates Bitcoin's PoW (Proof of Work) and DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) through the innovative "Satoshi Plus" consensus mechanism, creating a new development path for decentralized finance (DeFi).

As the first public chain that is highly aligned with Bitcoin and EVM-compatible, Core Chain also provides developers with a broad platform for building large-scale decentralized applications (dApps), further unleashing the potential value of Bitcoin in the DeFi field. Since its launch in February 2023, the Core Chain's ecosystem has expanded rapidly, attracting many developers and users to join, marking the arrival of the Bitcoin 2.0 era.

On July 25, the Core Foundation announced the launch of a dual staking model (Bitcoin and CORE). This new model is based on the first non-custodial Bitcoin staking implemented by Core. It acts as a Bitcoin bond layer and establishes a risk-free interest rate for Bitcoin. It further promotes the coordination of Bitcoin and Core blockchains.

Core at the Nashville Bitcoin Conference

Against this backdrop, BlockBeats interviewed Rich Rines, an early contributor to Core, to discuss in depth the core technology of the Core chain, the dual staking model launched by Core, its market positioning and future development direction, and to understand how Core promotes innovation and change in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

A Bitcoin DeFi believer from Coinbase

Rich Rines is one of the early contributors to the Core chain and has extensive experience in the blockchain industry. Before joining Core, he worked as the chief engineer of the fund flow department at Coinbase, responsible for managing more than $1 trillion in cryptocurrency transactions. This experience not only allowed him to accumulate deep technical knowledge in the field of cryptocurrency, but also gave him a comprehensive understanding of the operating mechanism of the industry.

As an important member of the Core team, Rich's role is not only a technical contributor, but he also plays a key role in strategic planning, community building, and ecological development. With his rich experience accumulated at Coinbase, Rich helped Core stand out in the competition of public chains and promoted the further expansion of the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem.

Rich Rines

BlockBeats: Before we start telling you about the latest progress of Core, we would like to know more about your background. As an early contributor to Core, there are many highlights in your career worth sharing. For example, you are a former senior engineer at Coinbase, a self-taught engineer and a successful entrepreneur who is committed to Bitcoin and decentralization. Help Core grow its community to more than 3 million and attract more than 50 developers. So the first question, please tell us more about your experience joining Core.

Rich Rines:My cryptocurrency journey began in 2013 when I was attracted by the potential of Bitcoin as a non-sovereign store of value, or digital gold. The cryptocurrency boom in 2017 further sparked my interest, especially the programmability of Ethereum, which complemented Bitcoin's decentralized system, which made me go deeper.

A few years later, I joined Coinbase, where I led the money flow engineering team for three and a half years. During this time, I witnessed tremendous growth in the cryptocurrency space, but Bitcoin has always been at the center of this industry, which has been continuously verified.

My fundamental belief in Bitcoin and excitement about other blockchain applications led me to join Core. I have been one of the contributors to Core since 2022. In the early days of the project, I worked with the Core community to launch the mainnet and helped grow the Core ecosystem. Today, I continue to drive the development of the Core ecosystem and contribute to protocol improvements.

BlockBeats: What did you know about the project before joining Core? What was Core like at that time? What attracted you to join Core?

Rich Rines: Scaling Bitcoin has proven to be the most challenging, yet most important, task in crypto. I divide this process into three phases. Phase one was about trying to transform Bitcoin into something else. Those early Bitcoin scalers tried to transform Bitcoin from “digital gold” to a global settlement network, but ended up forking the protocol.

In phase two, Bitcoin scalers realized that the base protocol couldn’t be changed, but they had trouble building scalable solutions on top of it. These layer-two solutions, while great for experimentation, lagged behind other more programmable blockchain networks. They relied on Bitcoin’s limited scripting language and slow on-chain performance, which conflicted with Bitcoin’s nature.

At this point, someone needed to build a truly Ethereum-like experience, backed by the security of Bitcoin. When I started contributing to Core, this was the original vision: what would Bitcoin and Ethereum look like if they were combined? This is phase three, Bitcoin alignment. Core is the first scaling solution that is highly aligned with Bitcoin, inheriting Bitcoin’s strengths while avoiding its limitations. Bitcoin miners can contribute to the security of EVM-compatible smart contracts, benefiting both Core and the Bitcoin network.

BlockBeats: Your time at Coinbase has undoubtedly laid the foundation for your career development. Can you share some of the impact your time at Coinbase has had on your work at Core? Did you bring your connections from Coinbase to Core?

Rich Rines:My time at Coinbase has been an invaluable learning experience. I have witnessed the growth of the entire ecosystem in different directions. However, I have also noticed that Bitcoin, as the foundation of the industry, has had little significant growth or development. While most of the innovation and excitement has focused on other blockchain technologies, Bitcoin remains king. This stability reaffirms that if cryptocurrency is to succeed as an industry, it must be based on Bitcoin.

Coinbase has also provided me with many of the necessary networking, management, and technical tools to enable me to take on this mission. It was a very important three and a half years in my career, but I realized that I was better suited to working on protocol development from 0 to 1.

How Core acts as the Bitcoin Bonding Layer

Core launched the first-of-its-kind non-custodial Bitcoin staking in April 2024, allowing Bitcoin holders to earn a yield for the first time without giving up their token ownership. 5,000 Bitcoin (~$310 million at the time of writing) are now staked on Core, earning a risk-free rate.

Recently, the Core Foundation announced the launch of a dual staking model (Bitcoin and CORE), which builds on the first-of-its-kind non-custodial Bitcoin staking implemented by Core, acting as a Bitcoin bond layer to establish a Bitcoin risk-free rate. This further advances the coordination of Bitcoin and the Core blockchain.

With this upgrade, Bitcoin stakers will have the opportunity to stake both Bitcoin and its CORE tokens to earn higher interest rates. Bitcoin holders can continue to stake their Bitcoin to earn the base risk-free rate, while holders who stake CORE tokens can earn a "double staking rate." Double staking is expected to further solidify Core's transformation of Bitcoin from a mere store of value to a secure, yield-earning asset.

BlockBeats: For some of our readers who don't know as much about Core, could you briefly introduce what Core is doing? What are Core's main goals and mission?

Rich Rines:Core is a Bitcoin-powered layer-1 blockchain focused on EVM-compatible smart contracts. Core's mission is to unlock over $1.5 trillion in locked value in Bitcoin. To do this, Core serves different types of Bitcoin participants. Bitcoin miners earn rewards by ensuring the security of Core; Bitcoin holders can stake Bitcoin for yield without giving up custody; and all users can participate in Bitcoin DeFi (BTCfi) on Core's blockchain. Our long-term vision is for financial activities centered around Bitcoin assets, and ultimately for all financial activities to take place on the Core blockchain.

BlockBeats: The development and innovation of Core has always been a topic of great concern to everyone, and it is also one of the sources of community consensus and confidence. For example, the previous "Satoshi Plus" consensus mechanism is something that everyone likes. So can you tell us what the current development focus of Core is?

Rich Rines:First, it’s important to note that Core is a permissionless and open blockchain, so anyone can work and build on it. As an emerging ecosystem, you never know what’s going to happen next.

I’m particularly excited about the ongoing Satoshi Plus story. First, Satoshi Plus works by providing additional rewards to Bitcoin miners in exchange for their support of security. Right now, about 55% of Bitcoin mining power is contributing to the security of Core. This then extends to Bitcoin holders who can earn rewards by staking their Bitcoin. Currently, about 5,000 Bitcoins are staked on Core.

Core’s non-custodial Bitcoin staking is particularly popular—there is currently over $330 million of Bitcoin staked on Core, yielding a yield of about 5%. Next, Satoshi Plus will get a new feature that not only increases the reward rate, but also enhances the additional utility of the CORE tokens that miners and stakers receive. The upcoming double staking feature will unlock higher Bitcoin staking rates and increase the utility of CORE tokens.

BlockBeats: Core continues to make breakthroughs in technological innovation, and the recently announced dual staking model has attracted widespread attention. So can you tell us what the dual staking model announced by the Core Foundation is specifically? What new progress does this mechanism bring to the Bitcoin staking ecosystem?

Rich Rines:Non-custodial Bitcoin staking is part of Satoshi Plus, which unlocks Bitcoin's native returns for the first time.

Bitcoin holders can stake their Bitcoin on Core in exchange for CORE rewards. Core gets security from it, while Bitcoin holders get returns that were previously unavailable. Now, they have the opportunity to earn higher returns through double staking. Dual staking enables Bitcoin stakers to stake both Bitcoin and CORE tokens to earn higher Bitcoin staking yields. Stakers can choose to stake Bitcoin alone for a base yield, or stake both Bitcoin and CORE for higher returns.

This new incentive mechanism brings CORE and Bitcoin together, making their staking utility more sustainable and interconnected. In this win-win situation, the Bitcoin and Core communities also become closer. The Bitcoin community gains new utility, while the Core community gains the security, liquidity, and utility of Bitcoin.

Dual staking of Core

Where will BTCfi go?

BlockBeats: Many people believe that Bitcoin's second-layer solution is an important direction for the current development of blockchain technology. However, many community members say they don't understand it and do not agree with the importance of Bitcoin's second layer in the Bitcoin ecosystem. What do you think of Bitcoin's second layer now? What is the real second layer?

Rich Rines:Bitcoin was never intended to handle all financial transactions in the world. Early contributors such as Hal Finney made it clear that Bitcoin would eventually need a second-layer system to scale effectively. The main purpose of the basic Bitcoin blockchain is to guarantee the immutability of Bitcoin as "digital gold". Second-layer solutions like sidechains are designed to make the use of this digital gold more convenient and productive. The simplest second layers, such as the Lightning Network, provide faster and cheaper transaction options. More complex second layers introduce smart contract platforms, making it possible to conduct comprehensive financial activities on a permissionless blockchain. This is exactly what Core aims to do, to strengthen the underlying Bitcoin network by integrating Bitcoin miners and holders into its consensus process.

The key to "Bitcoin Second Layer" is whether it can enhance the alignment of the Bitcoin network and Bitcoin assets. While many solutions claim to use Bitcoin's security, not all of them are strengthening the Bitcoin network or introducing new use cases for Bitcoin assets.

Scaling solutions that are truly aligned with Bitcoin:

1. Make Bitcoin a more useful and productive asset;

2. Security relies on Bitcoin miners and Bitcoin holders;

3. Reward Bitcoin miners and Bitcoin holders, thereby strengthening the Bitcoin network;

Core is specifically built to achieve these goals.

BlockBeats: The future development and market expectations of the Bitcoin ecosystem are hot topics that everyone is concerned about. For example, Ordinals and Runes, many people think that no one is paying attention to them anymore. Do you know about them, or are you optimistic about their future?

Rich Rines:Ordinals and Runes signal a growing demand for Bitcoin utility. Users want to be able to do more with their Bitcoin, even relatively simple applications like Bitcoin NFTs. This demand has reignited interest in building applications on Bitcoin. While Bitcoin has been the dominant crypto asset, much of the innovation and creativity in the crypto space has shifted to other platforms over the years. As Bitcoin solidifies its position as "digital gold," it's time for others to experiment and bring more utility.

Projects like Ordinals and Runes may be just the beginning. While their future remains uncertain, they signal a shift toward more diverse applications using Bitcoin.

BlockBeats: Seeing that many researchers in the industry believe that Bitcoin DeFi will have a market value of at least $200 billion. The Core chain is also an important part of helping to achieve the BTC DeFi boom, so when do you think Bitcoin DeFi will rise and what role does the Core chain play in it?

Rich Rines:Ethereum has proven that DeFi is an economic opportunity worth hundreds of billions of dollars. And Bitcoin DeFi has even greater potential. Ethereum's market cap is about $400 billion, while Bitcoin is currently valued at about $1.5 trillion. As Bitcoin's value continues to grow and enters the market for Ethereum-style smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps), BTCfi may soon surpass traditional DeFi. Currently, more than $150 million has been transferred, borrowed, stored, and operated on Core's BTCfi track.

What's more, BTCfi is the intersection of Bitcoin and other digital assets and on-chain real world assets (RWA), which means that the market potential of BTCfi even exceeds that of Bitcoin itself. This is a combination of Bitcoin plus CORE's earnings, plus stablecoins, plus Core dApps, and more factors. Ultimately, the market potential of Core's BTCfi ecosystem may not be measured in US dollars because it represents the value of the financial system based on Bitcoin. If Bitcoin wins the competition, BTCfi will be how it wins, and Core will be where it wins.

CORE TVL grows nearly 40x in a few months

BlockBeats: What kind of narrative do you think will lead the market in this round of bull market? Or what factors will influence the bull market?

Rich Rines: Bitcoin has always been the most valuable asset in the crypto world, far ahead of other assets, and all this has been achieved with almost no DeFi functionality. Now, with projects like Core introducing BTCfi, Bitcoin is poised for a renaissance. New protocols, dApps, and native yield opportunities are making Bitcoin a more useful and important asset, evolving from a simple store of value to a ubiquitous financial foundation. Soon, with Bitcoin-driven dApps and a fully on-chain Bitcoin financial system, Bitcoin will replace Ethereum as the cornerstone of DeFi.