Mezo is an onchain Bitcoin banking platform that offers permissionless access to financial services. It was launched in April 2024 by Thesis, a U.S.-based venture studio. The system operates on a Cosmos SDK-based chain with EVM compatibility and CometBFT consensus, allowing users to deposit Bitcoin as collateral to mint MUSD, a stablecoin fully backed by Bitcoin and pegged to the dollar.

The platform provides fixed borrowing rates beginning at 1% for the entire loan duration. There are no minimum payments, set repayment schedules, or penalties for early repayment. Users retain custody of their Bitcoin while gaining instant liquidity via MUSD.

Mezo’s architecture features a dual staking model that uses both BTC and MEZO tokens for network validation and rewards. Transaction fees are paid in BTC, which supports Bitcoin’s role as a transactional asset. The chain was built as a modified fork of Evmos, with extensive customizations for Bitcoin-native functions.

The MEZO token acts as the ecosystem’s coordination token with a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens. It is utilized for governance, incentive routing, and emission management. By locking MEZO through the ve (vote-escrowed) mechanism, holders can boost earnings on locked BTC positions by up to 5x.

The project has secured a total of $28.5 million in funding. This includes a $21 million Series A round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Multicoin Capital, Hack VC, Draper Associates, and others. A later $7.5 million strategic round was led by Ledger Cathay Fund, involving ArkStream Capital, GSR, Bybit's Mantle EcoFund, and others.

Thesis (thesis.co), one of the longest-standing venture studios building on Bitcoin and known for tBTC, developed the project. Mezo’s codebase is open source and hosted on GitHub.