Midweek with Max: Fusaka, MinerFi, and the Road to hBitVM

This week’s Midweek with Max opened with a packed engineering agenda and the backdrop of Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade, which activates tomorrow afternoon. Max confirmed that the team has been racing to finalize node-side preparations. Updated instructions are now live in the Node Operators channel, with a temporary V1-based client available for anyone who cannot complete the full V2 database migration in time. Both V1 (Fusaka-compatible) and V2 remain interoperable, giving operators flexibility on timing.

Beyond Fusaka, the engineering team has been deep in backend development for a new system, codenamed Bitcoin MinerFi, that will serve as a major onboarding and routing layer for BTC and hemiBTC. MinerFi will let users register a permanent BTC deposit address; any BTC sent to it will be automatically detected and swapped into hemiBTC, then routed into a user-configured strategy. veHEMI holders will also be able to run MinerFi daemons, participating in decentralized threshold signing and earning revenue for liquidity and operational support. More detail expected toward year-end.

The hBitVM whitepaper is now in final internal review, with publication expected before the end of the week alongside a more accessible explanatory blog. A dedicated AMA will follow. Meanwhile, the new Hemi site is live, reflecting a shift toward institutional messaging, clearer Bitcoin-centric branding, and a stronger focus on the Bitcoin-native yield layer Hemi is building.

Staked hemiBTC has cleared a major milestone: contracts are deployed on mainnet, and only UI components remain before launch, expected later this week or early next. On the “when” front, Max offered new timing guidance: BitVM-powered Tunnel Phase 2 is targeting Q1; VBK updates remain a priority but were delayed by V2 and Fusaka; the next veHEMI claim is expected mid-December; and the long-awaited OG role is on track for late December or early January.

A large portion of this week’s discussion centered on security: smart contract safety, safe browsing practices, avoiding malicious UIs, proper use of hardware wallets, oracle risks, fuzzing and integration testing, supply-chain hardening, and Hemi’s ongoing work with Hypernative, BugCrowd, and internal CI policies. The team reiterated that as Hemi decentralizes its infrastructure, systemic risk decreases even further.

Finally, the community was reminded to watch tomorrow’s Fusaka activation and to expect HBVM whitepaper news and a dedicated AMA next week.