Welcome back to Build on Core, your monthly roundup of the biggest developments, launches, and milestones across the Core ecosystem. November and early December marked another defining step in Core’s evolution into the Bitcoin Power Grid, with the Hermes Hardfork live on Mainnet, expanding developer programs, RWA real-yield breakthroughs, and new infrastructure integrations powering growth across staking, trading, and digital assets.
From protocol upgrades and enhancements to new marketplaces and institutional expansion, Core’s builders continue to drive Bitcoin’s next chapter and accelerate Core’s transformation into a fully connected, revenue-generating Bitcoin Power Grid.
Core’s Next Chapter: The Bitcoin Power Grid
Core is stepping into its true role as the Bitcoin Power Grid, the engine that transforms Bitcoin’s massive, untapped electrical potential into real economic power.
Bitcoin Staking and BTCFi were the “lightbulb moment.” But just like early electricity, the breakthrough isn’t enough; the real transformation happens when everything connects to a grid. That’s where scale, demand, and revenue erupt.
At the center of this grid sits CORE, the access token for yield, users, liquidity, and composable BTCFi infrastructure.
Want access to Bitcoin yield? Users? Liquidity? BTCFi rails? Composable infrastructure?
You plug in with CORE.
Every new protocol strengthens the grid — more yield, more volume, more revenue, more reasons to accumulate CORE. The flywheel accelerates.
2026: The Revenue Era Begins
In 2026, three powerful modules that will start turning the Bitcoin Power Grid into a revenue machine will be:
Yield Products & LSTs: liquid, yield-bearing BTC that stacks foundational staking rewards with strategy-driven returns. More usage → more fees → more CORE demand through reinvestment and dual staking.
SatPay Neobank: borrow against BTC or LSTs, spend with a debit card, keep earning yield, while the yield pays down your loan. Every action, staking, borrowing, or payments, runs on Core and feeds CORE accumulation.
Enterprise Solutions: banks & custodians will need Bitcoin-native yield engines, collateral models, and liquidity rails. Core is positioned to power this infrastructure across mainnet, anchored rollups, and hybrid solutions.
The Power Grid Flywheel
As users, products, and institutions plug into Core, the grid strengthens.
More usage → more revenue → more CORE demand → stronger yields → more adoption.
CORE is the asset at the center of Bitcoin’s emerging financial system, powering staking, liquidity, collateral, payments, and institutional activity.
This is the next chapter. And it’s just beginning. Read the full Core 2026 Roadmap now!
Core Network Updates & Protocol Milestones
► Hermes Hardfork Successfully Activated on Core Mainnet
The Hermes Hardfork is now live on Core Mainnet, unlocking faster transaction finality, enhanced validator operations, commission support for both CORE and BTC staking, and upgraded developer tooling. Following rigorous testing on the Core Testnet, this Mainnet activation marks a major protocol milestone, strengthening Core’s performance, security, and scalability.
Ecosystem Growth & Yield Highlights
► Molten Mission stCORE Rewards Distributed
Molten Finance’s Molten Mission stCORE rewards have now been fully distributed, with top volume contributors successfully claiming their rewards. This completed Core mission marked another strong engagement wave across both the Core and Molten ecosystems.
► ASX Capital Delivers Real Yield to 600+ Holders
ASX Capital has completed its November yield distributions to RWA NFT holders, with over 600 holders receiving real, on-chain yield backed by U.S. real estate. This continues to showcase the strength of Core’s expanding RWA ecosystem and its ability to deliver sustainable, real-world-backed returns. Check out the RWA Performance Report for November for detailed performance insights.
► Blockz Goes Live: Core’s Native Digital Asset Marketplace
Blockz is now live, launching Core’s native digital assets marketplace. Blockz provides creators and users with a seamless platform to mint, trade, and interact with digital assets directly on Core, expanding the ecosystem beyond DeFi into broader on-chain applications. Start creating and trading on Blockz today!
► Houdini Swap Extends $10,000 USDC Trading Campaign
Due to strong participation, Houdini Swap has extended its $10,000 USDC trading campaign until year-end. The campaign continues to emphasize transparent and fair participation, rewarding real users while driving private and permissionless trading activity on Core.
Developer Programs, Events & DevRel Highlights
► Core Connect Campus Edition Expands Across Universities
Core successfully hosted 6 Core Connect Campus Edition workshops, engaging 200+ students and introducing the next generation of builders to Bitcoin DeFi, smart contracts, and dApp development on Core. These sessions continue to build grassroots momentum within emerging developer communities.
► Core DevRel Bi-Weekly Office Hours: Live Support for Builders on Core
The Core DevRel bi-weekly Office Hours continue to provide hands-on, real-time support for developers. 10 sessions have been completed so far, with the next one lined up for 30th December 2025 at 2 PM UTC. These sessions offer direct access to hands-on support and mentorship to troubleshoot, design, and ship faster. Register for the upcoming session now!
► 2025 BTC-FI Accelerator Cohort Kicks Off
The 2025 BTC-FI Accelerator, powered by Core Ventures, officially kicked off in November. This flagship 11-week program supports Bitcoin-native founders building staking, yield, liquidity, and other BTCfi-focused products on Core, the Bitcoin Power Grid.
This year’s exclusive 7-team cohort includes:
- Angmar Capital: market-neutral BTCFi investment strategies for institutions
- Mintware: referral-powered growth engine for crypto projects
- Venicefi: unified BTC & stablecoin markets with a hybrid order book
- Dot Swap: Bitcoin-native DEX & credit layer for atomic swaps and L1 liquidity
- Helix Labs: AI-driven cross-chain yield optimizer
- Magni Finance: leveraged staking for BTC & LSTs
- Praxis Capital: performance-driven launchpad backed by BTC & CORE reserves
Participants receive:
- Up to $100K in potential post-program funding
- Hands-on mentorship from top operators, investors, and BTCFi builders
- Weekly 3 advisory mentorship sessions and 2 exclusive workshops led by experts
- Full-stack support from Core Ventures & Harbour Labs
- Direct access to the Core ecosystem, tooling, and BD network
These builders are plugging into Core and bringing the Bitcoin Power Grid to life.
► Core at Bitcoin MENA 2025 in Abu Dhabi
Core contributors continued their global outreach with a strong presence in Abu Dhabi, engaging partners, builders, and institutions to showcase the growing momentum behind Bitcoin-aligned DeFi and Core’s expanding ecosystem worldwide.
► Speaker Spotlight: Core at the Abu Dhabi Symposium
Core took the stage at the Insights Abu Dhabi Symposium, with RumeelHussain representing Core in a key discussion hosted by DeFiTechGlobal.
Rumeel spoke on “ETPs: Building Bridges for Institutional Access,” sharing Core’s perspective on how tokenized instruments, Bitcoin yield infrastructure, and institutional market access are rapidly evolving — and how Core is positioned at the center of this transformation.
Keep Building on Core
Whether you’re shipping DeFi protocols, RWAs, marketplaces, or developer tools, Core provides the infrastructure, tooling, and global community to help you scale with Bitcoin at the center.
Build with the Core Tooling
Join Developer Programs & DevRel Office Hours
Scale with a global community of builders
Now’s the time to build for Bitcoin. Build on Core.