MonkeDAO, built on Solana, adds zBTC to its Bitcoin reserve

MonkeDAO, a non-fungible token (NFT) project on Solana that is owned by the community, has revealed that it has become the first decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to adopt a Bitcoin reserve.

MonkeDAO, which is based on Solana (SOL), announced on March 28 that it had adopted Bitcoin (BTC) as part of its strategy by acquiring the APOLLO on Solana token zBTC.

The newly launched zBTC is a token that is pegged 1:1 to Bitcoin and is native to Solana. MonkeDAO is the first DAO to adopt the token for its treasury reserve.

According to the APOLLO team, the token offers BTC on-chain, not bridged or wrapped, but permissionless. Holders can use this token to participate in decentralized finance (DeFi) on Solana and earn on-chain yield.

MonkeDAO has stated that it will add this zBTC to its treasury.

The 1 zBTC purchased will be added to the Strategic Monke Reserve (SMR). The SMR is the NFT DAO project's treasury reserve strategy that will help the community foster financial sustainability. It is also MonkeDAO's commitment to a permissionless ecosystem for Bitcoin DeFi, or BTCFi. zBTC allows Bitcoin holders to participate in DeFi on Solana through lending, borrowing, and yield farming activities.

"The SMR is our commitment to long term growth and the addition of zBTC diversifies [and] strengthens our current pool of native assets," MonkeDAO posted on X.

While this strategy is not at the same level as the Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, it does illustrate the growing confidence in Bitcoin. Additionally, the 1:1 peg with Bitcoin and the trustless two-way peg for security, which is achieved via a simple payment verification sidechain, make zBTC a compelling option.

For its role in BTCFi, Apollo and Zeus Network aim to tap into the "trillions in value" on the Bitcoin network. By opening up BTC from its underutilized liquidity, with hodlers’ coins idle in wallets, there is a big opportunity for growth and use case strengthening. Zeus Network validated its first Bitcoin transaction on Solana in December 2024.