Zest Protocol Launches Bitcoin Collateral Vaults Demo
USDC (USDC)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
crypto-economy.com reports that Zest Protocol has launched a limited mainnet demo for its Bitcoin Collateral Vaults. This infrastructure allows Bitcoin holders to deposit native BTC directly onto Layer 1. Users can then borrow the USDC stablecoin on the Ethereum network without using bridges or wrapped versions like wBTC.
The move addresses counterparty risk tied to centralized custodians in the BTCFi ecosystem. Funds remain isolated in individual vaults governed by Bitcoin’s own consensus rules. Users retain sovereign custody while unlocking cross-chain liquidity across decentralized finance.
BitVM proofs are designed to allow verification of these assets. The environment currently operates with a collateral cap per wallet to validate system stability at a small scale. The team plans to deploy the final production version after completing ongoing external security audits. This will enable large-scale institutional integrations.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for USDC, measured when this story was written up on 23 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
USDC is trading at $1.00 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 50.4%, indicating a balanced market over the full day. However, the 1-hour buy ratio has dropped to 46.3%, suggesting that buying pressure is fading in the immediate short term. The 4-hour buy ratio sits at 52.5%, showing that buying pressure was building earlier in the session before recent selling. Volume Delta reflects this shift, turning negative at -$6,452,423 over the last hour after being positive at +$40,105,246 over four hours. A positive volume delta indicates that buy volume exceeded sell volume, while a negative delta shows the opposite. The 24-hour CVD remains strongly positive at +$118,540,918, confirming that net buying has dominated the day so far.
The latest daily buy ratio of 50.2% sits at the 73rd percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 48.4% - stronger buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for USDC, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 49.0%, making today’s 24-hour ratio of 50.4% slightly above the norm by 1.4 points. Spot volume was 1.09x the average, indicating that trading activity was heavier than usual. Despite this increased volume, the 8-day volume delta was negative at -$344,264,161, showing that selling pressure outweighed buying pressure over the longer timeframe. This contrasts with the strong net buying seen in the 24-hour CVD, suggesting a recent reversal of trend. Price remained stable with an 8-day change of just -0.1%, indicating low volatility despite the volume spike.