Coinbase has announced that it is expanding its wrapped Bitcoin product, cbBTC, to the Solana blockchain. This follows the successful launch of cbBTC in September, which was initially only available on Ethereum and Coinbase’s native Layer 2 Base blockchain. Now, cbBTC will also be available on Solana as an SPL token and can represent both fungible and non-fungible assets.
Upon launching on Solana, cbBTC will be integrated into a range of prominent Solana DeFi platforms, including Jupiter Exchange, Meteora, Kamino Finance, Jito, Phoenix, Drift Protocol, Raydium, Orca, Save Finance, Manifest, and Loopscale Labs. This expansion demonstrates Coinbase’s commitment to broadening the reach of cbBTC beyond the Ethereum ecosystem and signifies its role in pioneering a new era for DeFi, as stated by Coinbase.
cBTC’s market capitalization hit a $1 billion milestone just nine weeks after its launch. This demonstrates the strong demand for this wrapped Bitcoin product and the potential it has for further growth. The market for wrapped Bitcoin tokens is expanding rapidly as more providers enter the scene.
The main objective of these tokens is to enable Bitcoin holders to engage with other networks and DeFi applications without liquidating their holdings. Wrapped Bitcoin tokens are mainly on the Ethereum network, with the first one, WBTC, launched in 2019 by BitGo, remaining the largest and most popular.
Other notable wrapped Bitcoin tokens include HBTC from HTX, tBTC by Threshold Network, and renBTC by Ren Protocol. In addition to Coinbase, Kraken has also launched its own wrapped Bitcoin token, kBTC, this year, which is available on both Ethereum and OP Mainnet. This trend showcases the growing interest in wrapped Bitcoin tokens and highlights their potential to connect Bitcoin with the broader world of DeFi.
In summary, Coinbase’s expansion of its cbBTC product to the Solana blockchain is an important step in broadening the reach of wrapped Bitcoin products, enabling more users to engage with DeFi applications and networks without liquidating their holdings. This growing market for wrapped Bitcoin tokens highlights the increasing demand for these products and has the potential to revolutionize the way users interact with Bitcoin and DeFi platforms.
