Ecosystem Leader Hunter Departs TRON to Bet on Bitcoin DeFi With New Project TeraHash

Former TRON ecosystem head Hunter Rogers joins Bitcoin-native yield protocol TeraHash as co-founder, betting on the rise of Bitcoin DeFi

Published by

Sneha Agrawal

November 11, 2025

Ecosystem Leader Hunter Departs TRON to Bet on Bitcoin DeFi With New Project TeraHash

There’s a growing momentum in web3 to turn the world’s largest crypto asset, Bitcoin, into the base layer of a programmable, yield-bearing financial ecosystem.

While Ethereum has long been the hub of DeFi activity, Bitcoin has been historically “idle” and non-yielding.. However, Bitcoin DeFi is coming up as a fast-emerging movement to make Bitcoin productive without sacrificing its security, liquidity, or decentralization.

Signifying this, Hunter Rogers, formerly a senior ecosystem lead at TRON DAO, is making big bets on turning the asset programmable. For this, he has joined Bitcoin-native yield protocol TeraHash as a co-founder, leaving his role at TRON.

This is a move that spotlights growing momentum around “BTC-native” DeFi products that convert mining hashrate into liquid, on-chain yield.

Ex-TRON Lead Hunter Rogers Joins TeraHash as Co-Founder

We’re thrilled to welcome Hunter Rogers, former Senior Ecosystem Development Lead at TRON DAO, as Co-Founder of TeraHash.

Hunter brings years of experience in institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth, and strategic… pic.twitter.com/O8RkNxQES4

— TeraHash (@TeraHash_xyz) November 6, 2025

Former TRON Leader’s New Project

Bitcoin was designed as a simple, secure payment and store-of-value network, not a smart contract platform. That’s why DeFi initially exploded on Ethereum – it’s programmable by default.

But over the past few years, new layers and protocols have started making Bitcoin programmable, bridging liquidity into DeFi, and introducing BTC-native financial primitives.

With Bitcoin Layer2s and wrapped bitcoin continuing to work in that momentum, TerraHash is a bitcoin native yield protocol.

It tokenizes Bitcoin mining hashrate into $THS, a token that yields BTC-based rewards. This, the company describes as, as a bridge between physical Bitcoin mining and composable DeFi, issuing tokens that represent real mining power and letting holders earn daily BTC rewards without operating miners.

Hunter, now co-founder of TerraHash says, “Bitcoin mining generates over $20B in annual yield, but that massive value stream is trapped behind physical infrastructure, energy logistics, and operational overhead.”

Its pitch revolves around making Bitcoin’s mining yield “liquid, composable, and accessible” through on-chain financial products – essentially Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi).

In his role, Rogers will lead ecosystem partnerships, institutional outreach and community growth as TeraHash prepares for mainnet.

Also Read: Charles Hoskinson Wants to Fix Cardano’s $5Bn DeFi Problem

Is Bitcoin DeFi Growing?

As per data from DeFi Llama, Bitcoin DeFi TVL at $7.7 billion marks a historic high, up from under $300 million in early 2024 – a 25× increase in less than two years.

Despite this, it still represents under 1 % of total BTC supply, suggesting massive headroom for growth.

The activity remains heavily concentrated in a handful of emerging protocols and L2 ecosystems such as Stacks, RSK, BitVM test deployments, and mining-yield tokenization projects like TeraHash.

Daily token incentives at $92 million further show strong liquidity mining and staking programs fueling adoption.

Active address count at 622k+ also underscores genuine user engagement across the Bitcoin DeFi stack. In an interview, Charles Hoskinson warns Ethereum faces a “sleeping giant”: “When Bitcoin wakes up with Bitcoin DeFi, its TVL will be hundreds of billions—larger than Ethereum’s market cap. It’ll have more liquidity, and sovereigns and BlackRock will be there.” . He has launched Cardano protocol, Lace wallet to bring the yield to Bitcoin DeFi.

Also Read: Western Union Joins Forces With Crypto Startup Rain

Why trust CoinGape: CoinGape has covered the cryptocurrency industry since 2017, aiming to provide informative insights to our readers. Our journalists and analysts bring years of experience in market analysis and blockchain technology to ensure factual accuracy and balanced reporting. By following our Editorial Policy, our writers verify every source, fact-check each story, rely on reputable sources, and attribute quotes and media correctly. We also follow a rigorous Review Methodology when evaluating exchanges and tools. From emerging blockchain projects and coin launches to industry events and technical developments, we cover all facets of the digital asset space with unwavering commitment to timely, relevant information.

Investment disclaimer: The content reflects the author’s personal views and current market conditions. Please conduct your own research before investing in cryptocurrencies, as neither the author nor the publication is responsible for any financial losses.

Ad Disclosure: This site may feature sponsored content and affiliate links. All advertisements are clearly labeled, and ad partners have no influence over our editorial content.

Newsletter

Your crypto brief. Delivered every week.

Insights that move markets
Trusted by top investors and builders
Stay ahead every week.

By signing-up you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

About Author

With over four years of experience in covering and tracking the financial markets, Sneha Agrawal is a dedicated Crypto Journalist and Editor with passion for researching and writing the crypto pieces. She is currently leading the Block of Fame, here at CoinGape. She likes to keep track of political, legal and financial happenings all around the world - without which she deems her day incomplete. Apart from her Journalistic endeavours, she is a solo traveler, museum goer, and a keen reader of books.