Mezo has tapped Aerodrome to support token trading on the base
As projects look for ways to bring more financial use cases to Bitcoin, Mezo, a Bitcoin-native lending protocol, has partnered with Aerodrome Finance to support business activity with tokens and Bitcoin-backed stablecoins on the Base network.
In Thursday's announcement, Mezo said it will allocate 2.25% of its MEZO token supply to Aerodrome Voice Escrow (veAERO) participants — users who lock up tokens in exchange for management rights and rewards. The program is designed to encourage those users to direct their funds into the MEZO trading pair, a stablecoin backed by the token and the US dollar, MUSD.
Aerodrome is a liquidity provider built by the team behind Optimism, a configurable enterprise blockchain infrastructure.
The partnership will connect base-based merchants with a new group of Bitcoin-specific applications, as developers experiment with adapting existing DeFi models to Bitcoin.
Mezzo, which allows users to lend against their Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, says it has made more than 2,000 loans and helped move nearly $23 million in Bitcoin-allocated assets from Ethereum.
The move gives Mezo a large and active DeFi user base on the Base network. Bitcoin-native applications often struggle to attract enough business. Basically, infrastructure like Aerodrome helps support more consistent transactions in new tokens and stablecoins.
Related: Coinbase's Base Moves to Its Own Architecture
The Bitcoin DeFi movement will grow as new platforms emerge
Bitcoin is laying the groundwork for decentralized finance, partly due to increasing institutional participation and long-term holders looking for ways to make a return on idle assets.
Bitcoin-based DeFi activity has been ramped up since 2024, with a growing number of platforms aiming to bring lending, borrowing and generating mechanisms to the network.
Recent examples include Lombard, which is building a Bitcoin-based lending infrastructure and partnered with Bitwise to allow institutional investors to earn and borrow against their Bitcoin holdings.
Another project, Hashi, was recently launched on the Sui network, with early participation from Bitgo, Bullish and FalconX, among others. The platform allows users to get products on Bitcoin through onsite lending and borrowing.
Related: Babylon-Ledger Partnership Expands Access to Bitcoin Vaults for Security Services
