Protocol Architecture
Protocol Architecture
This page gives a birds-eye view of how assets move through the Rover protocol — from Layer-1 Bitcoin all the way to rovBTC and back.
1. Actors & Contracts
Bitcoin L1
BTC
Native Bitcoin held by end-users
Botanix
Bridge
Locks / unlocks BTC on L1 and mints / burns wrapped BTC on Botanix
Botanix
pBTC (ERC-20)
1 : 1 wrapped BTC used inside EVM
Botanix
stBTC (ERC-20)
pBTC deposited into the staking pool earning protocol rewards
Botanix
RovBTC (ERC-4626)
Vault holding stBTC and issuing rovBTC shares
2. High-level flow
Bridging back to L1 is optional — users can also keep the unlocked BTC on Botanix.
3. Step-by-step
3.1 Bridging BTC ➜ Botanix
User locks BTC in the Bridge on Layer-1.
The bridge mints the equivalent amount of Botanix native BTC (gas token).
3.2 Deposit routes into RovBTC
Native BTC
depositBTC
Vault wraps BTC → pBTC → stakes to stBTC, then mints rovBTC
pBTC
depositPBTC
Vault stakes pBTC to stBTC, then mints rovBTC
stBTC
depositStakedBTC
Vault pulls stBTC directly and mints rovBTC
All three flows converge on the same outcome: the vault ends up holding stBTC and the user receives rovBTC shares.
3.3 Yield accrual
The stBTC balance inside the vault grows over time as staking rewards are harvested (stBTC.harvest()). Consequently each rovBTC share becomes worth more pBTC/BTC.
3.4 Withdrawals
User calls
withdraw,redeem, orredeemNativeBTC.Vault redeems the required stBTC back to pBTC.
A fee on gains (if any) is transferred to
rewardsFeeReceiver.Net pBTC is transferred, or unwrapped to native BTC, and optionally bridged back to L1.
4. Where to integrate
Bridge
Bridge UI / SDK
Centralised exchanges, wallets
Wrap / Unwrap
pBTC.deposit / pBTC.withdraw
Wallets, bridges, aggregators
Stake / Unstake pBTC
stBTC.deposit / stBTC.redeem
Yield optimisers
Vault
RovBTC (this repo)
Lending markets, portfolio trackers, treasuries
6. Further reading
Staking — Deep-dive into fees and calculations.
Third-Party Integrations — Code examples for front-end and on-chain use-cases.
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