Mezo (MEZO) - Bitcoin Banking, Fixed-Rate Loans, MUSD Stablecoin

Your Bitcoin is Sitting Idle While Inflation Eats Your Purchasing Power#

Bitcoin was supposed to be financial freedom. But for most holders, it sits in a wallet doing nothing. You want to buy a home, pay tuition, or cover daily expenses, but the only option is to sell your BTC and watch it moon from the sidelines. Meanwhile, traditional banks offer you 8-9% variable rate loans against volatile collateral and centralized lenders keep losing customer funds. The Bitcoin economy promised a revolution, but it left holders stuck choosing between spending their best asset or watching their purchasing power erode.

What If You Could Bank on Bitcoin Without Ever Selling It?#

There is a platform built specifically for Bitcoin holders who refuse to sell. It lets you borrow dollars at a fixed 1% interest rate using your BTC as collateral, with no credit checks, no repayment deadlines, and no middlemen. Imagine accessing instant liquidity while your Bitcoin stays yours, growing in value. This is not another DeFi experiment built on shaky foundations. It is built by the team behind tBTC, one of the most trusted decentralized Bitcoin bridges in existence. Keep reading to discover Mezo, the self-service Bitcoin bank that is turning HODLers into active participants in the Bitcoin economy.

What is Mezo coin?#

What does Mezo do?#

🏦 Self-Service Bitcoin Banking: Mezo is an onchain Bitcoin banking platform owned by its users. It provides permissionless access to financial services 24/7 without loan officers, credit checks, or operational hours. Users deposit Bitcoin as collateral, mint MUSD (a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed entirely by Bitcoin), and access instant liquidity while maintaining full custody of their BTC.

💵 MUSD Stablecoin with Fixed-Rate Loans: MUSD is a permissionless stablecoin that maintains a 1:1 peg with the US dollar, 100% backed by Bitcoin reserves. Borrowing rates start as low as 1% and stay fixed for the entire life of the loan. There are no minimum payments, no set repayment schedules, and no early repayment penalties. Users can access up to 90% of their Bitcoin’s value through a minimum collateralization ratio of just 110%.

🔒 Dual-Token Staking with Mezo Earn: Mezo Earn is the economic engine powering the network. Users lock BTC to receive veBTC (vote-escrowed BTC) NFTs that grant voting power and fee-earning rights. MEZO tokens can be locked as veMEZO to boost veBTC voting power by up to 5x. This dual-token model creates a matching market where BTC holders and MEZO holders collaborate for maximized rewards.

⛽ BTC as Gas: Every transaction on Mezo is paid in Bitcoin, keeping the experience purely Bitcoin-native. This creates a revenue stream from network activity that flows back to participants in the ecosystem through fee distributions to veBTC holders.

🌉 Built on tBTC Bridge: Mezo leverages tBTC, the most battle-tested decentralized Bitcoin bridge with over 28,000 BTC bridged since 2020. All reserves are verifiable 24/7, eliminating reliance on trusted third parties. The bridge is powered by the Threshold Network, a decentralized signer set that ensures secure custody of Bitcoin collateral.

🔄 Native DEX and Liquidity Pools: Mezo includes a built-in decentralized exchange with volatile pools (0.30% fee) and stable pools (0.02% fee) for low-slippage trading. Users can provide liquidity, earn trading fees, and stake LP tokens for MEZO emissions. The platform also supports concentrated liquidity positions for advanced capital efficiency.

🛒 Mezo Market and MUSD Savings: Users can spend MUSD on real goods and services through the Mezo Market, including gift cards for retailers like Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber. The MUSD Savings Vault offers a native savings product where depositing MUSD earns yield from protocol fees, currently offering approximately 5% variable APR.

🌐 EVM-Compatible and Multi-Chain: Mezo is built on Cosmos SDK with full EVM compatibility, enabling developers to deploy familiar Solidity smart contracts. The MEZO token is bridgeable across Ethereum, Base, BSC, and Solana through Wormhole’s Native Token Transfer (NTT) protocol, maintaining token fungibility across all supported chains.

Who are behind Mezo?#

Mezo was developed by Thesis, one of the longest-standing venture studios building on Bitcoin, founded in 2014.

Matt Luongo - Founder of Mezo & CEO of Thesis

• Co-founded Thesis in 2014, a Bitcoin venture production studio that has built multiple successful projects including tBTC, Keep Network, and Fold
• Holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology (2009)
• Led Thesis to raise over $90 million in total funding across all projects
• Previously served as CEO of Fold, a Bitcoin rewards application
• Gained early career experience as a software developer at The Proven Method and tech lead at Agency Spotter
• Recognized industry voice who has been featured by Pantera Capital, CoinDesk, and The Block discussing Bitcoin’s evolving role in finance

Brian Mahoney - Co-Founder of Mezo

• Long-time contributor at Thesis with 8+ years of experience in the crypto industry
• Background in traditional finance with experience at HSBC and Lazard, two of the world’s leading financial institutions
• Has helped crypto startups raise over $100 million and secure more than $500 million in total value locked

Antonio Salazar Cardozo - CTO of Thesis

• Serves as Chief Technology Officer overseeing the technical architecture across all Thesis portfolio projects
• Brings more than 15 years of software engineering experience spanning both frontend and backend web technologies, as well as desktop application development

Victoria Chan - COO of Thesis

• Chief Operating Officer overseeing operations across Thesis’s entire BitcoinFi portfolio
• Over 20 years of experience in technology, including leadership roles at Coinbase and Google
• Brings deep expertise in scaling blockchain products and managing global operations

Why This Team Inspires Confidence#

Decade-Long Bitcoin Track Record: Thesis has been building Bitcoin-focused products since 2014, making them one of the most experienced teams in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Their portfolio includes tBTC (28,000+ BTC bridged), Keep Network, and Fold, all of which have demonstrated real-world adoption and technical reliability over years of operation.

Institutional-Grade Funding: Mezo has raised a total of $28.5 million from top-tier investors. The $21 million Series A was led by Pantera Capital with participation from Multicoin Capital, Hack VC, Draper Associates, and others. A subsequent $7.5 million strategic round was led by Ledger Cathay Fund with participation from ArkStream Capital, GSR, and Bybit’s Mantle EcoFund. This level of institutional backing signals deep confidence in the team’s execution ability.

Traditional Finance Expertise: The team blends crypto-native experience with traditional finance credentials. Co-founder Brian Mahoney’s background at HSBC and Lazard brings institutional rigor, while COO Victoria Chan’s tenure at Coinbase and Google adds proven operational scaling experience at the highest levels.

Open Source and Fully Audited: Mezo’s entire codebase is open source and available on GitHub. The protocol has been audited by multiple firms including Quantstamp, Cantina, Halborn, and OtterSec across its core smart contracts, bridge, MUSD system, and Mezo Earn infrastructure. This level of transparency and security verification is among the most comprehensive in Bitcoin DeFi.

Battle-Tested Bitcoin Infrastructure: Mezo is built on tBTC, a decentralized Bitcoin bridge that has operated successfully since 2020 with proof of reserves live for the entire life of the bridge. The Threshold Network powering tBTC provides decentralized custody that has never experienced a security breach, giving users confidence that their Bitcoin collateral is safe.

What to Know Before You Buy Mezo#

1. Bitcoin Banking Without Selling

Mezo solves the fundamental dilemma every Bitcoin holder faces. Instead of choosing between selling BTC to cover expenses or holding indefinitely and missing opportunities, Mezo lets you borrow MUSD at fixed rates starting at just 1% while keeping your full Bitcoin exposure. This is the most capital-efficient way to unlock liquidity from your Bitcoin.

2. The ve-Tokenomics Model Creates Strong Demand

MEZO uses a vote-escrowed tokenomics model where locking MEZO as veMEZO amplifies your Bitcoin staking rewards by up to 5x. This creates powerful incentives for long-term holding and reduces circulating supply as participants lock tokens for up to 4 years. The matching market between veBTC and veMEZO holders creates a unique economic engine where both sides benefit from active participation.

3. Bitcoin-Inspired Emissions with Halving Schedule

MEZO follows a predictable emission schedule inspired by Bitcoin itself. Emissions start at 25% annually and halve every two years, eventually reaching a terminal rate of 2%. Early participants who lock their MEZO benefit the most from the higher initial emissions, creating a strong first-mover advantage.

4. Real Yield from Real Economic Activity

Unlike many DeFi protocols that rely solely on token emissions for yield, Mezo generates revenue from actual economic activity. Swap fees, MUSD lending interest, and bridging fees all flow back to participants. veBTC holders earn passive yield from chain fees simply by holding, plus active yield from voting on pools with trading volume.

5. Multi-Chain Accessibility

MEZO is available across Ethereum, Base, BSC, and Solana through Wormhole’s NTT bridge, giving holders maximum flexibility in how they acquire and manage their tokens. This multi-chain presence significantly expands the addressable market and liquidity options for the token.

6. Massive Bitcoin DeFi Market Opportunity

Bitcoin remains the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, yet only a tiny fraction of BTC is used productively in DeFi. Mezo positions itself at the center of the Bitcoin DeFi narrative with a working product, institutional backing, and a user-owned platform. As more Bitcoin holders look for ways to put their assets to work without selling, Mezo stands to capture significant market share.

How to buy Mezo?#

Mezo is listed on MEXC, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges serving over 40 million users globally. To get started, you will want to have USDT ready in your MEXC account to trade for the MEZO/USDT pair. MEXC offers zero trading fees and a straightforward spot trading experience, making it easy to acquire Mezo with minimal cost.

Buy Mezo on MEXC

You can also purchase Mezo through GMGN. Move your Ethereum from central exchanges like Binance to your GMGN Ethereum wallet and swap for Mezo. GMGN also supports BSC and Solana chains for MEZO trading.

Buy Mezo on GMGN Ethereum

Buy Mezo on GMGN BSC

GMGN is a popular decentralized trading platform that allows you to swap tokens directly from your wallet without creating an account. It provides real-time price charts, holder analytics, and a smooth trading experience for both new and experienced traders.