If we look at the entire encryption era from an intergenerational perspective, everything will be very interesting:

Bitcoin players (veteran players): wealthy, low risk appetite, tend to hold, focus on long-term value storage.
Ethereum ecosystem (middle-aged): Prefers "money making money", pursuing returns through mechanisms like DeFi and NFTs, with moderate risk tolerance.
High-performance public chains like Solana (new generation): high risk appetite, keen on high volatility Meme coins, and enjoy "betting" on high return opportunities.

The flywheel of BTCFi has started: a leap from HODL to productive assets.
To promote the flywheel effect of BTCFi, the key lies in breaking the HODL culture of Bitcoin players. The low DeFi participation rate of Bitcoin indicates that the enormous potential of the large pie as a productive asset has yet to be tapped. If BTCFi can provide safe, transparent, and high-return earning strategies, it may reshape the financial role of Bitcoin.
The breakthrough of BTCFi needs to focus on the following directions:
Safety-first earning mechanism
Simplification of user experience
Ecological Integration and Cross-chain Collaboration
Therefore, in my opinion, Merlin 2.0 has taken a very important step in the right direction, clearly focusing on three core points:
1) BTC interest market, targeting trillion-dollar level
2) BTC cross-chain transactions, supported by chain abstraction technology.
3) AI assistant simplifies the trading experience and helps users execute operations.
The significance of AI + cross-chain trading lies more in the narrative aspect, but most importantly, it is still the earning of BTC.

Under the impetus of positive news, $MERL, which has been falling for almost a year, finally shows signs of rising. However, Merlin's historical baggage is a bit heavy, and the road to rebuilding trust is long.