Layer-1 blockchain Sui is launching Hashi, an institutional protocol that lets holders use Bitcoin as collateral without moving it off the Bitcoin network. The system debuts with $500 million in capital commitments from more than 20 industry partners, targeting roughly $1 trillion in dormant institutional Bitcoin.
Sui is set to launch Hashi, a new institutional network that lets holders use Bitcoin as collateral for lending without moving it off the Bitcoin ledger. The mainnet is slated to roll out in phases later this month.
To back the ecosystem, the initiative has already secured $500 million in capital commitments from a coalition of over 20 industry partners. These are commitments rather than immediate deposits, but the pre-pledged capital means markets can open with deep liquidity instead of starting empty.
Targeting a trillion-dollar pool of idle Bitcoin
Sui estimates that roughly $1 trillion worth of Bitcoin is currently sitting idle. Institutional and corporate balance-sheet holders have so far lacked a compliant, transparent ecosystem to deploy their native Bitcoin in decentralized finance.
Borrowing against Bitcoin is also moving beyond speculative crypto trading. Holders now use bitcoin-collateralized loans to cover real-world expenses such as university tuition, real estate purchases, and corporate working capital.
According to Nathan McCauley, CEO and co-founder of Anchorage Digital, a day-one launch partner that also plans to supply stablecoin liquidity to the network: "Connecting our institutional clients with Hashi represents a complete paradigm shift."
How the vault and voucher system works
Instead of bridging across blockchains, users lock their BTC in a vault address directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. A 2-of-2 multisig secures this address, requiring cryptographic sign-off from Hashi's validators, while a separate guardian layer monitors and slows suspicious collateral movements.
While the real bitcoin stays frozen on the Bitcoin network, Hashi mints hBTC, a token on Sui backed directly by that deposit. Apps on Sui can use hBTC to fuel lending, borrowing, credit markets, and real-world asset trading. When a user exits, burning the hBTC voucher triggers the multisig to release the original bitcoin back on the Bitcoin network.
To meet institutional compliance standards, security firm Certora formally verified Hashi's smart contracts, while another firm, CommonPrefix, reviewed the cryptography of its multi-party computation protocol.
Source: CoinDesk
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