Scaling bitcoin utility for institutions

Mezo’s bitcoin economic layer

Most Bitcoin just sits there. Mezo changes that. The EVM-compatible Layer 2 lets holders put their BTC to work across DeFi, earning, borrowing, and spending, without ever giving it up. It comes out of Thesis, the venture studio behind tBTC (a decentralized Bitcoin bridge) and Fold (a Bitcoin rewards app). When the Mezo Foundation went looking for an institutional-grade partner to bring that vision to life, it chose Anchorage Digital.

The challenge

The Mezo Foundation needed custody for MUSD by mid-June 2025, and the ask went well beyond holding assets. Mezo’s entire purpose is to make Bitcoin do more than sit in a wallet: stake it, earn on it, borrow against it, spend it, all while the holder keeps their BTC. Delivering that meant supporting a staking architecture no other qualified custodian had attempted.

Mezo runs on two staking tokens, veBTC (vote-escrow BTC) and veMEZO (vote-escrow MEZO), both structured as NFTs rather than fungible assets. Early on, the liquidity pools and even the staking dApp interface were still in development, so the team needed firm guardrails around token emissions and rewards. Getting it right took tight coordination across Anchorage Digital’s custody, staking, and product teams, with the rewards flow, the veNFT model, and the bridging architecture all coming together at once.

"Partnering with a tech-minded infrastructure-based financial institution allows us to run a lot faster and provide these client services in a world that is operating 24/7 365."

- Name, Role

What we built together

Custody. Custody for Bitcoin on Mezo and MUSD went live on June 6, 2025, right on the Foundation’s timeline. BTC is the gas token on Mezo, and MUSD is Mezo’s native ERC-20 stablecoin and flagship product.

MEZO token launch. The MEZO token went live on January 27, with the Mezo team distributing tokens to investors and Anchorage Digital clients.

veBTC staking. Clients bridge BTC to Mezo through WalletConnect and the Mezo dApp, then stake it to mint a veBTC NFT that holds the value of their locked Bitcoin. Every week the veBTC stays locked, clients earn rewards. When the lock ends, principal plus rewards is ready to withdraw straight back to their Anchorage wallet. Lock durations run from 1 to 30 days.

veMEZO staking. Clients can lock MEZO for a veMEZO NFT, then claim rewards and withdraw assets from both veBTC and veMEZO.

Porto. Borrowing MUSD against Bitcoin on Mezo went live on Porto in November 2025, with staking following shortly after. Porto clients can boost rewards by connecting veBTC and veMEZO, and vote on gauges through the WalletConnect dApp integration.

Validator. Anchorage Digital will run a validator on the Mezo network, strengthening the chain’s security and decentralization.

What’s next

Anchorage Digital and Mezo are working toward an Anchorage Digital-operated validator on the network, with veBTC and veMEZO holders eventually able to delegate their voting power to an Anchorage Digital or third-party validator. As Mezo’s ecosystem grows, the partnership opens new ways for institutions to put their Bitcoin to work, all with institutional-grade security behind it.