Gate Ventures Backs Sats Terminal as Bitcoin Lending Tools Expand

Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of Gate.com, has made a strategic investment in Bitcoin finance platform Sats Terminal, a startup building tools that let users borrow, swap, and generate yield with bitcoin while keeping custody of their coins.

Sats Terminal Aims to Turn Idle Bitcoin Into Liquidity With New Investment

The funding amount was not disclosed, but the deal places Gate Ventures alongside earlier backers Draper Associates, Coinbase Ventures, and YZi Labs in supporting the Bitcoin-native decentralized finance protocol. Sats Terminal is attempting to tackle a familiar headache in crypto: Bitcoin liquidity scattered across dozens of platforms, wrapped assets, and lending venues.

Instead of forcing users to hop between exchanges, bridges, and lending protocols like digital nomads, Sats Terminal aggregates those venues into a single interface. The platform routes trades across multiple decentralized exchange ( DEX) platforms and liquidity pools in search of better pricing and lower fees, while also enabling BTC-backed borrowing and yield strategies from one dashboard.

Gate Ventures said its investment reflects a belief that bitcoin is gradually evolving beyond its long-held reputation as merely a store of value. In practical terms, that means turning BTC into collateral that can unlock liquidity without forcing holders to sell their coins—a feature that has become increasingly common in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.

The platform’s flagship product, Borrow, launched in January 2026 and allows users to post native bitcoin ( BTC) as collateral to obtain stablecoins on networks such as Ethereum, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Base through a noncustodial structure. The idea is simple: users keep their private keys while tapping liquidity across multiple chains.

Another feature, called Earn, is expected to launch in March and will allow users to deploy bitcoin into yield-generating strategies. The company is also working with wallet providers and marketplaces so its routing and borrowing tools can be embedded directly inside third-party applications.

Sats Terminal previously raised about $1.7 million in a pre-seed round led by Draper Associates—the venture firm of longtime bitcoin advocate Tim Draper—with participation from Coinbase Ventures and YZi Labs. The relatively modest funding figure highlights how many crypto infrastructure startups still begin lean, betting that useful plumbing eventually attracts larger pools of capital.

Gate Ventures, which invests in decentralized infrastructure and Web3 applications, said the partnership could eventually connect Sats Terminal’s services with parts of the broader Gate ecosystem. If that integration materializes, it would mark another step in the industry’s ongoing attempt to give bitcoin holders more to do with their coins than simply watch the price chart.

Over the past year, Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi) has been on a tear, with total value locked (TVL) jumping roughly 2,700% year over year in 2025. Non-custodial bitcoin lending, a cornerstone of BTC DeFi, has played a key role in driving that expansion.

FAQ 🧭

• **What is Sats Terminal?**Sats Terminal is a Bitcoin-native decentralized finance platform that aggregates trading, lending and yield opportunities for BTC across multiple blockchains and protocols.
• **Who invested in Sats Terminal?**Gate Ventures recently made a strategic investment, joining earlier backers Draper Associates, Coinbase Ventures, and YZi Labs.
• **How does Sats Terminal’s borrowing system work?**Users can post bitcoin as collateral and access stablecoins across several blockchain networks through a noncustodial framework that keeps assets under user control.
• **How much funding has Sats Terminal raised so far?**The startup previously raised about $1.7 million in a pre-seed round led by Draper Associates with participation from several crypto-focused investors.