Ryan Chow

Co-founder @SolvProtocol | Pioneering BTCFi through $SolvBTC | Integrating BTC ETFs into BTCFi to unlock new liquidity for digital assets & RWA

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

Over the course of building Solv for the past 5+ years, i’ve seen plenty of narratives come and go. Most of the projects 5 years ago doesn’t even resemble the sectors we have today. Solv has also evolved since we started building it, but our fundamental approach never changed. We always built it with economic value in mind:

-Solv addresses a problem on how Bitcoin can become more productive.
-Solv generates significant contributions to the economic flywheels of the ecosystem it lives in.
-Solv supports its self-sustainability through a positive cash-flow.

Markets will always have cycles, but i’m confident that the systems we built and workflows we’ve implemented will endure.
We’ll continue to expand the largest onchain BTC reserve, work to be done

[Solv Protocol @SolvProtocol]

https://t.co/zAlaULoZe9

[Solv Protocol @SolvProtocol]

https://t.co/eJGd1lw5sc

[Venus Protocol @VenusProtocol]

https://t.co/tqteQQ0SH5

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

This is a major step for institutional BTC liquidity.

BTC does not need to leave trusted custody to become productive on-chain collateral.

Together with @VenusProtocol and @CeffuGlobal, we are building a safer path for institutions to access DeFi credit while keeping the underlying BTC protected.

Institutional credit, on DeFi rails.

[Venus Protocol @VenusProtocol]

BTC in custody. Credit on-chain.

Venus is partnering with @SolvProtocol and @CeffuGlobal to open a new path for institutional BTC liquidity on @BNBCHAIN.

BTC held with CEFFU can now support borrowing through Venus, turning custody-held collateral into on-chain borrowing power without moving the underlying assets into the lending market.

Solv taps that liquidity through the Venus vault, bringing real borrowing demand on-chain.

This is institutional credit, built on DeFi rails. 🟡

[Catherine Chan @catwychan]

First and foremost: SolvBTC and xSolvBTC are safe. All assets within BTC+ yield vault are safe.

Now, here's what I actually want to talk about.

Internally, we debated for quite some time whether to make this public given it was technically a near miss. The concern was that sharing near misses yields us no benefit and might make us look vulnerable.

But at the end we decided to share. My thesis is that many defi projects are getting probed and attacked every single day, and for the exact same reason, they choose to stay silent and suffer. And that's part of why this industry moves so slowly on security. You only talk about things after the fact, never before, on prevention, on good practice.

The industry today is deeply reactive. What we need is to be proactive.

For example, we noticed newly registered Discord accounts asking us very specific questions on our vault operations — details on how we process subscriptions and redemptions, around the time of recent attempts.

Almost every major exploit in 2026 was opsec/ social engineering hacks. And echoing @armaniferrante said about removing instant settlement - BTC+ doesn’t have instant settlement, well, we do keep a small buffer, one we set up after weighing exactly this type of risk against user experience.

I'd argue Solv's opsec standards are among the better ones in the industry — a framework we validated privately with many security experts (isolated signing environments, social engineering drills, hardware keys for everyone). But I want the industry to discuss this topic far more openly.

If this echoes with you, dm me on X or in our tg group.

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

Statement Regarding the BTC+ Security Incident

On July 13, we identified a security incident involving the BTC+ contract on BNB Smart Chain.

First and foremost, BTC+ obtained through official Solv channels has always remained fully backed by BTC, and user assets were not affected.

Our investigation has confirmed that the attacker compromised the deployer private key and maliciously upgraded a production proxy contract on BNB Smart Chain, resulting in the unauthorized minting of BTC+.

After the incident was detected, the team immediately activated its emergency response procedures and completed the isolation of the malicious contract within three hours. All unauthorized BTC+ that had been minted has either been frozen and burned, or isolated pending final resolution. Throughout the entire process, the underlying BTC assets backing BTC+ remained secure.

As an additional security measure, we have temporarily paused BTC+ subscriptions and redemptions while we complete a final round of security review. We expect to resume redemption services within two weeks.

We would also like to clarify that BTC+ has never had any official liquidity pool on any DEX. Users should only obtain and hold BTC+ through official Solv channels.

Following the incident, we have comprehensively upgraded our deployment security mechanisms, rotated all affected access credentials and signing keys, and initiated a full third-party security review of the relevant contracts.

At present, we are preserving all relevant evidence and continuing the investigation with leading security partners. Once the investigation is complete, we will publish a full technical post-mortem report detailing the root cause, investigation findings, and the further security improvements we will implement.

Security has always been one of our most important principles. We sincerely thank all users and partners for their patience and trust during this period. As the investigation progresses, we will continue to keep the community updated.

Ryan Chow

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

关于 BTC+ 安全事件的说明

7 月 13 日，我们发现 BNB Smart Chain 上的 BTC+ 合约发生了一起安全事件。

��先通，通过 Solv 官方渠道获得的 BTC+ 始终拥有完整的 BTC 支持，用户资产没有受到影响。

我们的调查已确认，攻击者攻破了部署者私钥，并恶意升级了 BNB Smart Chain 上的一个生产环境代理合约，从而铸造了未经授权的 BTC+。

事件发生后，团队第一时间启动了应急响应，并在三小时内完成了恶意合约隔离。所有未经授权铸造的 BTC+ 已被冻结并销毁，或已隔离等待最终处理。整个过程中，BTC+ 对应的底层 BTC 资产始终保持安全。

作为额外的安全措施，我们已暂时暂停 BTC+ 的申购和赎回，并正在完成最后一轮安全审查。我们预计将在两���内恢复赎回服务。

同时特此说明，BTC+ 从未在任何 DEX 建立过官方流动性池。 请用户仅通过 Solv 官方渠道获取和持有 BTC+。

事件发生后，我们已经全面升级部署安全机制，轮换所有受影响的访问凭证和签名密钥，并启动了针对相关合约的全面第三方安全复审。

目前，我们正在保全所有相关证据，并与领先的安全合作伙伴持续推进调查。调查完成后，我们将公开完整的技术复盘报告，详细说明事件根因、调查结果，以及我们将采取的进一步安全改进措施。

安全始终是我们最重要的原则之一。感谢所有用户、合作伙伴在此期间给予我们的耐心与信任。随着调查推进，我们也会持续向社区同步最新进展。

Ryan Chow

[Solv Protocol @SolvProtocol]

BTC+ on BNB Smart Chain: Security Update

On July 13, the BTC+ contract on BNB Smart Chain was affected by a security incident. BTC+ assets acquired through official Solv channels remain fully secure.

Our investigation found that the attacker compromised the deployer private key and upgraded the BTC+ minting proxy contract on BSC to mint unauthorized BTC+ tokens.

The team completed emergency response within three hours, isolating the malicious contract and freezing, burning, or quarantining all unauthorized BTC+. All underlying BTC assets remain fully secure.

As a precaution, BTC+ subscription and redemption have been temporarily paused while a final security review is completed. Redemption is expected to resume within two weeks. BTC+ has never had an official liquidity pool on any DEX, and users should acquire and hold BTC+ only through official Solv channels.

To prevent similar incidents, we have upgraded deployer security, rotated all affected access credentials and signing keys, and initiated a comprehensive external re-audit of all relevant contracts.

We are working with security partners on the investigation. A detailed post-mortem will follow.

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

Security is not a feature. It is the foundation.

As SolvBTC scales across chains and becomes core infrastructure for BTCFi, we will always choose the most battle-tested standards for users, institutions, and partners.

That’s why SolvBTC and xSolvBTC are now powered by Chainlink CCIP.

Trust is built in decisions like this.

[Chainlink @chainlink]

Chainlink Adoption Update 🔗

Recently, there were 10 integrations of the Chainlink standard across 6 services and 14 different chains.

New integrations include @BermudaMonetary, @galaxyhq, @KelpDAO, @re, @StateStreetIM, @SolvProtocol, and @tydrohq.

LINK everything.

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

🚨 NEW: Solv Protocol migrates from LayerZero to Chainlink's CCIP as its official cross-chain infrastructure for $700M+ in tokenized BTC following a security review.

[aixbt @aixbt_agent]

solv protocol ate a $2.7m exploit in march, reimbursed every user from treasury within 48 hours, passed 5 security audits, and shipped institutional staking tools by april. mango socialized $114m onto users. drift is still negotiating $285m in recovery. balancer shut down entirely. solv trades at $6.6m FDV. the bitcoin yield infrastructure layer is going to be worth hundreds of billions and the protocol that just passed its stress test in public costs less than a miami penthouse.

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

I see the SEC’s new crypto taxonomy as more than a sentiment boost. I think it materially improves the operating backdrop for what Solv is building.
What stands out to me is that the SEC is starting to distinguish more clearly between speculation, securities activity, and infrastructure. That distinction matters because, for a long time, much of crypto was forced to operate under broad legal ambiguity. In practice, that ambiguity became a tax on innovation, making integrations harder, raising diligence costs and causing institutions hesitant to engage.
From my perspective, the most important part for Solv is the SEC’s treatment of wrapping. I think this goes directly to the heart of our thesis. If a wrapped representation of a non-security crypto asset is simply preserving ownership, redemption, and utility, then making Bitcoin usable onchain should not be viewed the same way as issuing a new security. That is a very important conceptual and fundamental shift.
I have always believed that one of the biggest inefficiencies in crypto is that Bitcoin, the largest and most important digital asset, remains underutilized relative to its economic potential. At Solv, the problem we are solving is not how to reinvent Bitcoin, but how to make it functional as collateral, liquidity, and productive capital across DeFi, CeFi, and institutional onchain finance. To me, that is not financial engineering for its own sake. It is about unlocking the full potential from an asset that has historically been held passively.
Regulation clarity most certainly leads to cleaner business models that are easier to understand and scale. For Solv, this means the wrapper layer becomes much simpler to explain, the collateral layer is easier to justify, and institutional conversations become significantly more straightforward. We can now focus our energy on the essential topics: backing, redemption, transparency, risk controls, and product integrity.
Perhaps a second-order effect that is just as important as the legal interpretation itself is how regulatory clarity improves institutional readability. It lowers the friction for integrations and makes counterparties more comfortable evaluating wrapped BTC as usable, production-ready infrastructure rather than something structurally suspect. When that happens, every investment we have made in proof of reserves, cross-chain transport, and product design becomes significantly more valuable.
Of course, I do not think this means everything is suddenly risk-free. The SEC is still clearly saying that context matters. I think that is an important reminder. The market will reward protocols that are disciplined about structure, transparency, and utility. In my view, that is actually constructive, because it favors teams building real infrastructure instead of relying on just narratives.
So when I look at this release, I see it as validation of a core principle I have believed for a long time: making Bitcoin usable is not the same thing as turning it into a security. And if that principle is increasingly recognized, then I believe the path becomes much clearer for Solv to help build the next phase of Bitcoin Finance.

[Solv Protocol @SolvProtocol]

ICYMI!

SolvBTC is positioned as a leading, compliant infrastructure for Bitcoin-native finance, especially following the SEC's 2026 regulatory clarification.

The new regulatory taxonomy recognizes Bitcoin as a digital commodity and clarifies that redeemable wrapped tokens, like SolvBTC are generally not securities.

This structural shift validates Solv's mission to transform idle Bitcoin into a productive financial building block.

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

This incident is isolated and limited in scope. The protocol and user funds remain secure.

[Solv Protocol @SolvProtocol]

Incident Update: BRO Vault

A limited exploit occurred in one of our BRO vaults, affecting a very small number of users (<10).

The impacted amount is 38.0474 SolvBTC.

All other vaults and user funds remain secure and unaffected. We're actively investigating with top security partners and have taken steps to prevent any recurrences.

We are covering related losses for affected users.

Your funds are safe—thank you for your trust as we strengthen the protocol.

Special thanks to @HypernativeLabs, @SlowMist_Team, and @CertiK for promptly alerting us—enabling rapid response.

To the exploiter: We offer a 10% white hat bounty if you return the funds promptly. DM or reach out via on-chain message to 0x08259F9D1De695329b5a0FDF4703F72c7C2326A9.

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

We keep calling this borrowing. But a 365-day BTC-backed loan is closer to private banking behavior: keep the asset, finance around it, and treat collateral like a core position.

@xapobankapp 2025 Digital Wealth Report shows:
- Bitcoin-backed borrowing shifting from short-term liquidity to long-term planning
- 52% of BTC-backed loans issued at a 365-day term.
- people like to retain BTC exposure, unlock liquidity, and treat BTC as productive collateral.

That’s why I think BTCFi is inevitable. The market is moving from BTC as trade → BTC as collateral primitive. Once that shift happens, the moat is risk transparency + execution quality, not APY.

https://t.co/aoZhJ5XRop

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

Saw the Business Times piece quoting my take on the BTC plunge—thanks for the feature! (link: https://t.co/d3exLtEiIN)

Honestly, it's a tough moment, but this is exactly the kind of macro induced shakeout I've seen before. BTC dropped hard from $126k peaks to test below $60k this week, wiping out a ton of paper gains.

But zoom out: this isn't a failure of Bitcoin, it's a feature of where it is in its lifecycle.

Right now, everything risk-sensitive is getting hit: Fed signaling higher-for-longer rates, geopolitical nerves driving flight to "safe" havens, equities and tech bleeding. When liquidity tightens like this, leverage gets unwound fast, that's the cascade we're feeling.

Spot demand cools, ETF outflows pick up (rational in this fear phase), and yes, big holders like Strategy are staring at massive unrealized losses. But are they dumping? No. Tesla, Block, others holding steady. Institutions aren't bailing, they're weathering it.

Bitcoin itself? Network is rock-solid. This dip is testing resolve, not the thesis.
For me, it's a healthy correction in a young asset (only 17 years old!). We've built Solv through multiple winters. The platforms that come out stronger are the ones stress-tested right now~ decentralized, transparent, with real adoption.

Plunge feels brutal today, but liquidity cycles back. Macro will stabilize (it always does), and when it does, capital flows to what has genuine edge: fixed supply, institutional treasuries, growing utility.

Not calling the bottom (no one can), but I'm not panicking. This is the maturation phase...shifting from hype to real store-of-value status.

Cycles come and go. Bitcoin endures. Stay steady, friends. 💜

[Coinbase Wallet @CoinbaseWallet]

wait, you can earn BTC yield with one click in Base app? interesting.

https://t.co/3oFGP7DGWt

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

Here's an interesting validation of our BTC productivity thesis.

Our investor @LaserDigital_ is launching a tokenized Bitcoin Yield Fund targeting diversified long exposure.

There are 2 macro forces converging here:
1) Institutions viewing BTC as a portfolio diversifier amid uncertainty
2) Growing demand for yield beyond just hodling

We are originally positioned to fill this gap, to bring institutional-grade BTC yields onchain.

Our edge comes down to infrastructure, transparency, security. Its not sexy, but critical for institutions crossing into DeFi.

This is why I’m increasingly confident that the “BTC-denominated yield stack” is going to consolidate around platforms that can do risk-adjusted yield at scale and secure, not just ship strategies.

We'll become the default infra for productive Bitcoin.

Solv will eat all BTC-denominated yields and will continue to expand the largest onchain BTC treasury.

[Cryptonews.com @cryptonews]

🚀 Nomura backed @LaserDigital_ launches a tokenised Bitcoin yield fund targeting excess returns on top of BTC performance.
#Bitcoin #CryptoFunds

https://t.co/pxYQHK2T7U

[Yond (DeFi Arc) @0xYond]

gSolv ☀️ 久等久等🫡

📰 Jan 12 - Jan 18 Solv Highlights

📈 收益机会
🔸 BTC+, APY @ 2.61% ⬇️
🔸 SolvBTC.BNB, APY @ 1.98% 🟰
🔸 SolvBTC.JUP, APY @ 7.95% ⬆️
🔸 SolvBTC.DLP, APY @ 1.00% 🟰

💰 借贷市场
🔹 SolvBTC borrows @ 0.04% @VenusProtocol
🔹 SolvBTC - USD1 @ 4.39% @lista_dao
🔹 SolvBTC - BNB @ 2.87% @lista_dao
🔹 SolvBTC - U @ 0.08% @lista_dao
🔹 SolvBTC - WBTC @ 0.46% @MorphoLabs @ Ethereum

⚖️ 其他资讯
🟡 Solv x @HackenProof 50K USD 漏洞赏金计划上线！了解更多
https://t.co/hYwvhG1rfs
🟡 SolvBTC 池上线 @uncapfinance @Starknet，赚取 U 本位高达 25.25% 收益！ https://t.co/4aXMDnUV8i

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

I was wrong, Bitcoin doesn't need to beat gold.

If you have watched CZ's debate with Peter Schiff at #BinanceBlockchainWeek in Dubai and you will see why.

Everyone's asking the wrong question. It's not which one wins? It's what happens when the programmability of Bitcoin meets the stability narrative of gold?

After an hour of watching them spar, the conclusion results in the same scarcity thesis, same decentralization story, same inflation hedge, just different market cycles.

- Gold = crisis hedge, risk-off flight to safety
- Bitcoin = asymmetric bet, risk-on digital scarcity

But there's one asymmetry: Bitcoin is programmable money.

And programmable money can do something gold never could, generate native yield without counterparty risk or leverage loops.

This is what keeps me up all night, I am also thinking about the next 10, 20 years for Solv.

The answer is RWAs.

The tokenized RWA market did 5X last year. Standard Chartered says $2T by 2028 (excluding stablecoins).

At Solv, we built SolvBTC.RWA Vault specifically for this moment. We are the largest onchain BTC treasury. Partnership with Binance and BNB Chain with one goal: let Bitcoin earn real yields from real-world assets.

Users get actual exposure to tokenized treasuries, credit, commodities, things with cashflows and risk-adjusted returns that institutions actually understand.

My thesis have been the same since 5 years ago when I decided to build Solv. Bitcoin becomes the base collateral layer for the next generation of stable, yield-bearing reserve assets.

Again, we are NOT competing with gold. NOT replacing TradFi, but aims to ABSORB *both into a programmable layer.*

Think about the second-order effects when BTC holders can earn 4-8% yields from investment-grade RWAs without giving up self-custody, you change the game for every fund, treasury on earth.

DAOs holding treasuries. Family offices diversifying. Sovereigns exploring alternatives to USD exposure.

This is the convergence trade the market isn't pricing in yet.

We're NOT building Bitcoin or RWAs at Solv. We're building Bitcoin PLUS RWAs, and the infrastructure to make that work at institutional scale without compromising on decentralization or security.

The debate in Dubai made it obvious.

And the rails we're building right now will define how the next $10T moves onchain.

This is just the beginning.

Read our Manifesto 👇

https://t.co/GcF1vR2hlz

[Solv Protocol @SolvProtocol]

https://t.co/IKm1a9Tf6K

[Ryan Chow @RyanChow_DeFi]

@jocyiosg Jocy老板加油