Fixed-term bitcoin credit with no margin call — a design review for mining operators.
An invitation to mining operators to review the design of an open-source credit protocol, including where it is going: bitcoin held on Bitcoin as collateral.
The need. Miners and treasuries holding bitcoin may want dollars without selling it, and without a margin call.
The protocol today — v1, live on Arbitrum One. A borrower locks collateral and names the most it will repay; lenders compete by bidding the repayment down. When the auction closes, the repayment and the maturity are fixed for the term.
Nothing during the term depends on a price: there is no liquidation engine and no margin call. If the loan is not repaid, the lender may claim the collateral after a grace period.
The contracts are open source under the MIT licence, ownerless and free of protocol fees; the protocol has no operator.
Stated plainly. The design removes the timing risk, not the price risk: if bitcoin falls far enough during the term, a borrower may choose to leave the collateral at maturity, and the design accepts that. No one can force that outcome early. A borrower who does not repay loses the whole collateral.
Collateral on v1 is WBTC, a wrapped token: what stands behind it is a matter for its issuer and custodian.
As of 3 November 2026, the mainnet deployment is a reference deployment: Aletheia Analytics — the French company that services the protocol's data layer — created all 57 auctions on it and funded the 53 of them that have been funded, on its own account.
Where v2 is going. v2 rebuilds the protocol from building blocks — a shared vault, obligations and liens, a spot auction and an auction for claims and positions — so a lender can sell its claim, and a borrower its position, before maturity. It is in development on Arbitrum Sepolia, unaudited; its building blocks are specified, and the core's first testnet deployment is pending.
Native bitcoin as collateral: a vault for bitcoin held on Bitcoin, through threshold signatures by a set of operators, in place of a wrapped token. It is decision-gated, after v2's core and spot run on mainnet. No dates are given. Designed · decision-gated
What is asked. One 30-minute conversation on how your treasury operates: payout cadence, the timing of fiat costs, how maturities would need to align with billing cycles, and what collateral flow you would and would not accept. Reactions to a short draft specification of the native bitcoin vault and of a loan flow for miners.
In return. Named input on the design — credited or anonymous, as you choose — and a direct line to the author of the contracts.
No payment flows in either direction. Nothing in this brief is an offer, a financial promotion, investment advice or a solicitation to transact.
Who is behind it. Jamie Frame — mechanical engineer (PhD, University of Strathclyde), based in France; author of the Gavel Protocol's open-source contracts and founder of Aletheia Analytics SASU, the French company that operates the protocol's data product and this site. The protocol itself is autonomous, permissionless code with no operating entity.
Contact: contact@thegavelprotocol.org · Site: thegavelprotocol.org · Contracts: github.com/JamieFrame/The-Gavel-Protocol