Announcing the Ducat Protocol Launch

Ducat Is Live

After months of development, auditing, and testnet iterations, the Ducat Protocol is officially live on Bitcoin mainnet. Starting today, users can deposit BTC into Ducat vaults and borrow UNIT, a dollar-denominated stablecoin that settles entirely on Bitcoin L1.

For the first time, BTC holders can access stable dollar liquidity without bridging to another chain, trusting a centralised custodian, or giving up self-custody of their collateral.

Key Features at Launch

The initial release includes the core functionality that makes Ducat useful from day one. Users can open vaults with flexible collateralisation ratios, choosing their own risk tolerance based on how much UNIT they borrow against their deposited BTC. The minimum collateralisation ratio at launch is set conservatively to ensure system stability during the early growth phase.

Liquidations are handled through an open auction mechanism. When a vault falls below the minimum CR, any participant can trigger a liquidation and purchase the discounted collateral. This creates a competitive market for liquidators that benefits the overall health of the protocol.

The protocol dashboard provides real-time visibility into vault health, collateral ratios, outstanding UNIT supply, and system-wide metrics. Every transaction is verifiable on the Bitcoin blockchain, and the protocol state can be independently reconstructed from on-chain data.

Architecture and Security

Ducat operates through a set of Bitcoin scripts that encode the protocol rules directly into the transaction logic. There is no separate execution environment, no virtual machine, and no secondary consensus layer. The protocol uses recent Bitcoin upgrades to enable the conditional spending logic required for vault management, liquidations, and redemptions.

Security has been a top priority throughout development. The protocol underwent multiple independent audits, and the team conducted extensive adversarial testing on testnet. The codebase is open source, and the audit reports are publicly available for community review.

What Comes Next

The launch is the beginning, not the end. The roadmap includes several planned improvements that will expand the protocol capabilities over the coming months. Governance mechanisms will give UNIT holders a voice in protocol parameter adjustments. Integration partnerships will expand the places where UNIT can be used for payments, trading, and yield generation.

The team is also exploring enhanced vault types that support more sophisticated collateral management strategies. These features will be rolled out incrementally, with each upgrade going through the same rigorous audit and testing process as the initial release.

How to get started

Getting your first vault open takes about ten minutes.

Step 1: Connect your wallet. Visit and connect a compatible Bitcoin wallet. The app supports most popular self-custody wallets.

Step 2: Deposit BTC. Open a new vault and send BTC to the vault address. Your Bitcoin stays on L1. Nothing leaves the Bitcoin network.

Step 3: Choose your collateralisation ratio. Higher ratios mean less UNIT borrowed per BTC deposited, but a bigger buffer before liquidation. Starting at 250–300% is sensible for most users.

Step 4: Borrow UNIT. Confirm the transaction and UNIT arrives in your wallet. Use it for payments, trading, or anything that accepts stablecoins.

The documentation at covers vault management in detail. For background on how collateralisation works, read .

What makes Ducat different

Most BTC-backed borrowing still goes through centralised lenders. BlockFi, Celsius, Nexo. You hand over your Bitcoin, they give you cash, and you hope they don't blow up. Celsius's collapse in 2022 left customers waiting years to recover funds.

Ducat is non-custodial. The protocol holds your BTC in a script. No company can lend it out, freeze it, or lose it in a bad trade.

It's also Bitcoin L1, not a bridge. Most DeFi borrowing against BTC wraps your coins and sends them to Ethereum. That introduces bridge risk on top of liquidation risk. With Ducat, your BTC never leaves the Bitcoin network.

And there are no intermediary tokens or separate chains to trust. The protocol logic lives in Bitcoin scripts, validated by the same miners securing every other transaction.

Practical comparison:

• CeFi lender: Custodial, counterparty risk, no on-chain transparency
• Bridge-based DeFi: Non-custodial, but wrapped BTC risk and Ethereum dependency
• Ducat: Non-custodial, Bitcoin L1, no bridges, on-chain transparency

For detail on how the oracle system works to keep prices accurate, see . Ducat uses a similar model for BTC/USD price validation.

If you want to understand the borrowing mechanics in depth, the covers LTV ratios, liquidation thresholds, and risk management in plain English.

We built Ducat for Bitcoiners who want to put their BTC to work without handing it to someone else. That's the whole point.