Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Wrapped BTC (cbBTC) is now live.
Coinbase is officially rolling out cbBTC – Coinbase Wrapped BTC – an ERC20 token “that is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin (BTC) held by Coinbase.”
At launch, cbBTC will be supported on Base and Ethereum, with plans “to support more chains.”
With cbBTC, they continue to “increase economic freedom by giving users more ways to use their Bitcoin.”
As the oldest and most widely held crypto asset, Bitcoin plays “an important role in onboarding users to crypto.”
Coinbase has been increasing utility for Bitcoin, “first through the integration of the Lightning Network to drive instant low cost payments, and now with cbBTC.”
Starting now, millions of Coinbase customers “can seamlessly and securely access financial apps within the Ethereum ecosystem using Bitcoin they already hold.”
Coinbase is pioneering a new era for DeFi with cbBTC—”a trusted and reputable wrapped version of Bitcoin. cbBTC is backed 1:1 by BTC held in custody by Coinbase – which has a 10+ year record of securely custodying billions in Bitcoin for institutions and customers across the globe.”
Coinbase is for the first time linking deep off-chain Bitcoin liquidity “to low cost, high speed financial rails on Base and Ethereum.”
By bringing assets across more chains, wrapped assets “like cbBTC help build a more efficient, interconnected and expansive financial ecosystem.”
cbBTC removes a key point of friction by “allowing customers to use Bitcoin they already hold in new ways onchain. cbBTC is built to be seamlessly compatible with DeFi applications, so users can now tap into novel DeFi use cases like providing their Bitcoin as liquidity to DeFi protocols, or using it as collateral to borrow other crypto assets.”
They are pleased to announce that many popular DeFi apps will support cbBTC on day one:
- DEX: Aerodrome, Curve, Matcha, Uniswap
- Lending apps: Aave, Compound, Morpho, Moonwell, Spark
- Yield Vaults: Mellow, Veda
- xChain Swaps: DeBridge, DeFinitive
- Oracles: Chronicle Labs
- Risk Curators: Block Analitica, Gauntlet, Steakhouse,
- RWA: Maple
This is just the start. By bringing Bitcoin onto Base and Ethereum, Coinbase is excited to spur innovative financial apps and wider “adoption of Bitcoin in DeFi. We’re also working to expand native cbBTC support to additional chains.”
When Coinbase users send their BTC from Coinbase to “an address on Base or Ethereum, that BTC will automatically be converted 1:1 to cbBTC.”
When users receive cbBTC in their Coinbase accounts, it will be “converted 1:1 from cbBTC to BTC. Notably, cbBTC will not have a separate order book or trading pair on Coinbase. cbBTC will also be available to trade on DEXs using Coinbase Wallet, and may be available on other third party exchanges that choose to support it. At launch, cbBTC send & receive will be available on Coinbase in the US (excluding New York State), UK, EEA states, Singapore, Australia, and Brazil. cbBTC will be accessible globally on Base and Ethereum.”