0xBitcoin is DeFi’s Hard Money

3 min readMay 2, 2020

0xBitcoin is a native DeFi Ethereum Token that can only be created through PoW mining.

0xBitcoin is an ERC918 token. ERC918 tokens are like ERC20 tokens with an additional function for minting tokens with Proof of Work. Shown below is from 0xBitcoin’s source code:

function mint(uint256 nonce, bytes32 challenge_digest) public returns (...) {
    bytes32 digest =  keccak256(challengeNumber, msg.sender, nonce );
    if (digest != challenge_digest) revert();
    //the digest must be smaller than the target
    if(uint256(digest) > miningTarget) revert();
...
    uint reward_amount = getMiningReward();
    balances[msg.sender] = balances[msg.sender].add(reward_amount);
...
}

This mint function above is the only way to generate an 0xBitcoin token. The function mint() allows a miner to push into the blockchain evidence that work has been done.

0xBitcoin was created as an homage to Bitcoin. 0xBitcoin is not Bitcoin, it is an implementation of a minable token with the same issuance properties as Bitcoin within Ethereum in a smart contract. The method getMiningReward() follows the same halvening rules as Bitcoin. Similar to Litecoin, and other mineable assets that are not Bitcoin, the value of 0xBitcoin comes from the supply/demand relationship between the scarcity of mining a new token and the market demand for it.

The 0xBitcoin contract fully passed an audit for security and safety here: https://github.com/EthereumCommonwealth/Auditing/issues/102.

Other DeFi tokens have security vulnerabilites that 0xBitcoin does not have. Many DeFi projects and tokens are fully reliant on either Admin keys or price oracles. These extra attributes of other token projects make them vulnerable to flash crashes causing hodlers or users to lose all their tokens, software security vulnerabilities like reentry bugs, network outages causing price oracle delays, hackers stealing everyone’s tokens from smart contracts or malicious project owners exit scamming. Literally none of those things are possible with 0xBitcoin and have happened to many DeFi projects recently including 8 Million dollars vaporized from MakerDAO/DAI.

Lastly, the Decentralized part of DeFi means that no one owns any part of the tool chain. 0xBitcoin is not owned by anyone, it is an autonomous smart contract and its supply is pre-allocated and dictated by the final rules of the smart contract program. Many centralized stable coins have administrative keys that can pause or lock up their tokens. There is no “owner” of the 0xBitcoin contract and no way to censor its use.

Anyone can mine and create more 0xBitcoin.

There’s some controversy around how Bitcoin’s network security will work long term. While unlikely there are some credible individuals within the Bitcoin ecosystem who believe that the 21,000,000 hard cap of Bitcoin may be lifted in the future to pay for network security. 0xBitcoin is an Ethereum native coin so it gets its security from within the Ethereum network. Just like every other DeFi token it is compatible with Uniswap and other DeFi protocols. Moreover because the 0xBitcoin contract is finalized and non-upgrade-able there is no possible way to increase its hard cap. This gives 0xBitcoin the property of being “Hard Money”.

In this way, 0xBitcoin is a fundamental “building block” within DeFi in that it a) a fully audited contract, b) doesn’t rely on any oracles other than an external intrinsic oracle each time a new lot of tokens are minted, and c) doesn’t have an admin key, d) doesn’t have any way to censor its usage, e) is natively compatible with all DeFi smart contracts and f) is hard money with a hard 21 million token cap.

You can buy 0xBitcoin on the DeFI exchange Uniswap here: https://uniswap.exchange/swap/0xb6ed7644c69416d67b522e20bc294a9a9b405b31