How to Stake Bitcoin with stakefish on Babylon Phase 2
Babylon's Phase 2 brings Bitcoin staking to a new level and stakefish is here to help you navigate it. Whether you're upgrading from Phase 1 or joining for the first time, here’s everything you need to know to stake BTC and earn BABY rewards with stakefish.
A New Era of Bitcoin Staking Has Begun
On April 10, 2025 at 10AM UTC, Babylon Genesis officially launched, ushering in a new chapter for Bitcoin. For the first time, Bitcoin can secure decentralized networks, marking what many are calling Bitcoin’s third native use case after payments and holding: staking.
Built on the Cosmos SDK, Babylon Genesis is the first blockchain secured by Bitcoin staking and serves as the foundational control layer for a broader network of Bitcoin-Secured Networks (BSNs). It’s also the central liquidity and coordination hub for the BSN ecosystem.
The Road to Phase 2
Babylon's Bitcoin staking rollout is happening in three phases:
- Phase 1: Bootstrapped over 57,000 BTC from early stakers in late 2024.
- Phase 2 (now live): Launches Babylon Genesis as the first BSN. Supports both Bitcoin and BABY token staking, slashable security, and on-chain governance.
- Phase 3: Will introduce external BSNs that plug into Babylon Genesis to inherit Bitcoin staking security and liquidity.
Want to dive deeper? Learn more about Babylon Genesis, tokenomics, and the technical docs.
What’s New in Phase 2?
Here’s what makes the Phase 2 launch a milestone event for the Bitcoin and staking communities:
- Airdrop Rewards: Early adopters will receive BABY tokens directly to their registered wallets—no claims or actions required.
- Dual Staking System: Babylon Genesis uses both BABY and Bitcoin staking.
- CometBFT validators secure the chain with BABY
- Finality providers secure with BTC
- Both are slashable for misbehavior
- Rewards are split 50/50 between BABY and BTC stakers (4% each annually from an 8% inflation)
- BABY Staking Enabled on Day 1: Multiple wallets, custodians, and exchanges support BABY staking from launch.
- Bitcoin Staking Activation:
- Phase-1 stakers submit a registration transaction on the Babylon Genesis chain.
- New stakers register similarly, with an option to wait for unbonding pre-approval before finalizing BTC staking on Bitcoin.
- All registration uses BABY for gas and is executed on Cosmos, not Bitcoin.
Two-Week Pilot: What You Need to Know
For the first two weeks post-launch:
- Cap-1 Only Access: Only Phase-1 Cap-1 BTC stakes (about 1,000 BTC) are eligible to register. This is a reward for their early support.
- Permissionless Staking Opens After: All other Phase-1 and new stakers can register freely after the pilot ends.
Additional features now live include on-chain governance and permissioned CosmWasm smart contract deployment.
How to stake Babylon Bitcoin Phase-2 with stakefish
0. How to get the Babylon Genesis (BABY) token
To stake BTC, you’ll need BABY to pay gas fees.
Ways to Get BABY
- Centralized exchanges: Buy from Binance, OKX, etc., then transfer to Keplr, Leap, or Cosmostation or other support wallets. See CoinGecko for a full list of centralized exchanges.
- Decentralized exchange: Swap on Osmosis
Steps to Swap BABY on Osmosis
- Add Babylon Genesis to Keplr
- Open Keplr → Add/Remove Chains → Select Babylon Genesis → Save
2. Navigate to app.osmosis.zone and connect your wallet.
3. If you don’t already have funds in Osmosis, deposit funds to swap to BABY by going to the assets page and selecting the asset to deposit for swap.
4. After depositing your funds you can swap them for BABY.
5. After swapping for BABY, withdraw the funds to your wallet to use for Bitcoin staking.
Now you have BABY in your wallet from Osmosis and can start staking Bitcoin with Babylon!
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1. Upgrading from Phase 1 to Phase 2
Already staked in Phase 1?
To start earning Phase 2 rewards and qualify for the bonus airdrop, you must register your existing stake on the Babylon Genesis chain.
Step-by-step:
- Go to btcstaking.babylonlabs.io
- Connect your BTC wallet
- Submit the registration transaction
You’ll need a small amount of BABY tokens to cover gas fees.
During registration, your BTC and BABY addresses are linked and a signature is required to activate your stake and agree to slashing conditions (up to 0.1%).
After submission, wait for the transaction to be verified on-chain. Once confirmed, your stake is active on Phase 2.
2. New to Bitcoin Staking?
Ready to stake your Bitcoin? Start by visiting the Babylon staking page to lock your Bitcoin and contribute to the security of PoS blockchains.
Phase 2 supports a wide range of wallets:
- Web3 wallets: OKX, Binance, Unisat, OneKey, Keystone, Bitget, Fordefi, and more
- Cosmos-native wallets: Keplr, Leap, Cosmostation
- Others: imToken, Coldlar, Xverse, CoinEX, Tomo
Step 1: From the stakefish homepage, navigate to “Networks” and select “Babylon.”
Step 2: From the Babylon Validator page select “Stake Now.”
Step 3: Connect Your Wallets
- Visit the Babylon staking dashboard
- Connect your BTC and BABY wallets.
Step 4: Once your wallet is connected, select the amount of BTC to stake, the staking term, and the default fee rate. Select "Preview" to continue.
Agree to slashing terms and wallet binding, then sign and submit the transaction via your wallet.
Step 5: Once your request is verified by Babylon Genesis you can stake your BTC!
Once it's finalized (~30 blocks later), you're staked!
Your stake becomes slashable at a max ratio of 0.1% from this point forward.
That’s it. You are now staking Bitcoin and earning staking rewards!
For more detailed information about how to stake Babylon Genesis (BABY) check out this detailed guide to staking with Keplr Wallet.
stakefish
For more staking opportunities, visit us at stake.fish.
4. Airdrop Eligibility FAQs
How do I qualify for the bonus airdrop?
According to the Babylon Foundation, you must:
- Transition your Phase 1 stake to Phase 2
- Stay staked for 100 days before October 10, 2025
- Meet additional eligibility criteria on babylonchain.io
I missed the early adopter airdrop. Can I still get rewards?
Yes. The bonus airdrop is still available if you stake in Phase 2 and meet the criteria.
About stakefish
We’ve supported decentralized networks since 2018 and helped secure billions in staked assets across 20+ chains. As a founding team behind both f2pool and stakefish, we bring unmatched experience in both Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake ecosystems, including Bitcoin.
We're proud to bring our trusted infrastructure to Bitcoin staking with Babylon.
Stake BTC with us today → stake.fish
