Jeff Garzik, one of the original Bitcoin Core developers who worked directly with Satoshi, has just announced Mainnet availability for a project that seeks to do more than to simply scale Bitcoin. It wants to rewire how BTC connects with the rest of the blockchain world.
In fact, Hemi is preparing for its token generation event, a milestone that will place it in the running for one of the most interesting projects of 2025. Following a $15 million raise led by Binance Labs, with backing from Crypto.com, Alchemy, and other top-tier investors, the TGE should prove to be quite interesting. The launch is more than a new token in the market. It’s the debut of a network designed to integrate Bitcoin and Ethereum fully into a single, modular blockchain stack. And at its core is a system that could shift the way developers think about cross-chain infrastructure: the Hemi Virtual Machine.
Hemi isn’t just focused on speed or scalability. It’s aiming to connect Bitcoin’s security with Ethereum’s programmability. Instead of using wrapped tokens or relying on third-party oracles like many cross-chain projects, Hemi takes a different approach: it runs a full Bitcoin node inside an EVM-compatible environment. That setup lets smart contracts on Hemi interact directly with native Bitcoin. The result is cross-chain applications that stay on-network, without needing external bridges or layers.
The upcoming token launch marks the formal opening of the full Hemi ecosystem, and it’s coming at a critical moment. Bitcoin’s resurgence in 2024, driven by institutional momentum and new layers like Ordinals and Runes, has pushed the network’s market cap back above $1 trillion. But for all the excitement, the underlying infrastructure for programmability and application development on Bitcoin remains limited. Hemi is stepping into that gap, not by bolting on features but by building a system that lets developers use Bitcoin like they already use Ethereum.
At the center of this network is the hVM, a hybrid environment where Ethereum-based applications can natively monitor and interact with Bitcoin’s chain state. It’s a step beyond the achievements of current Layer 2s. Stacks brought smart contracts to Bitcoin but remained siloed from Ethereum. Lightning enables high-speed payments but isn’t built for complex dApps. Hemi brings both worlds together in a single network that feels like Ethereum but is rooted in Bitcoin’s security model.
One of the major technical milestones behind the upcoming launch is Hemi’s unique approach to cross-chain finality. Bitcoin’s design is famously conservative, built to prevent fraud and double-spending, but that also means it’s slow. Ethereum, by contrast, offers fast finality but doesn’t share Bitcoin’s base-layer trust model. To solve this tension, Hemi developed a mechanism called Proof-of-Proof, a consensus layer that aligns both chains and enables what the team calls “superfinality.” Within a few hours, transactions become irreversible across the integrated stack, so developers can confidently build high-value applications on top of Bitcoin without compromising speed or integrity.
For years, building smart contract infrastructure on Bitcoin was dismissed by purists. But demand-driven use cases like Ordinals have changed that. There’s now a push to put Bitcoin’s deep liquidity to work. Ethereum already has the tools and developer ecosystem to support it. What’s been missing is the infrastructure to connect the two chains. That’s where Hemi comes in — and its token launch marks its public move into that role.
With Garzik at the helm and a strong lineup of backers already committed, the TGE is more than a fundraising event. It’s the entry point to a full-stack modular blockchain that treats Bitcoin and Ethereum not as rivals but as collaborators. In a crypto landscape increasingly fragmented by competing L2s and rollups, Hemi’s thesis is simple but bold: the next phase of blockchain innovation doesn’t belong to one chain. It belongs to the ones that can bring them all together.
