Coinbase’s Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC) Launches on Base and Ethereum

The largest US-based crypto trading platform announced that its Wrapped Bitcoin product (cbBTC) has gone live on two blockchains – Base and Ethereum.

This comes months after the company integrated the Lightning Network for BTC transfers.

The announcement by the exchange informed that the Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC) will be “backed 1:1 by Bitcoin (BTC) held by Coinbase.”

So far, the new product is available only on Base and Ethereum, but the support is expected to expand to other networks. However, the statement didn’t mention any names.

“With cbBTC, we continue to increase economic freedom by giving users more ways to use their Bitcoin. Starting today, millions of Coinbase customers can seamlessly and securely access financial apps within the Ethereum ecosystem using Bitcoin they already hold.” – reads the announcement and highlighted Coinbase’s integration of the Lightning Network earlier this year for faster and cheaper BTC transfers.

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The new product promises various DeFi applications due to its compatibility with the sector. BTC holders will be able to “tap into novel DeFi use cases.” These include providing their BTC as liquidity to DeFi protocols or “using it as collateral to borrow other crypto assets.”

Some of the DeFi projects that will support cbBTC from its inception include Curve, Aave, Compound, Mellow, DeFinitive, Steakhouse, and Maple.

cbBTC will not have a separate order book or trading pair on Coinbase. Once users send their BTC from the exchange to the designated Base and Ethereum addresses, the funds will be automatically converted 1:1 to cbBTC and vice-versa.

Customers of the exchange will be able to trade cbBTC on DEXs using Coinbase Wallet and other third-party trading platforms that want to support it.

So far, cbBTC will be available for Coinbase users based in the US (aside from New York State), UK, EEA states, Singapore, Australia, and Brazil.