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Understanding the Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Role In Defi 

  • As it is already known that Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem grows, Bitcoin holders are the ones who increasingly want to take part.
  • All the BTC holders can easily use WBTC to participate in Ethereum’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

Moreover, Bitcoin is the world’s first and largest and most-recognized crypto asset. Also, on smart contract blockchains like Ethereum, all the developers have created a thriving decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

What Does Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Mean?

People need to make sure being an ERC-20 token will always make the transfer of WBTC faster than normal Bitcoin. 

Moreover, in January 2019, Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) was launched on the Ethereum mainnet. This wrapped bitcoin was brought to the world as a collaborative project between major players in the DeFi ecosystem like Ren, BitGo, Dharma, Kyber, and many more. 

Also, the project is now controlled by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that is called the WBTC DAO. There are many popular DeFi Dapps on Ethereum that always require the use of collateral. However, products like MakerDAO and Compound ultimately require users to lock up different crypto assets to borrow other crypto assets. 

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC’s) Role In DeFi

So, it is to be noted that WBTC is the one that offers several use cases within the entire Ethereum ecosystem. Firstly, WBTC always serves as a convenient and efficient means of accessing Bitcoin’s value that too without leaving the Ethereum network. 

It is something that enables users to engage in DeFi applications like borrowing, lending, and yield farming by utilizing the liquidity and price stability of Bitcoin. Moreover, Wrapped Bitcoin is also the one that allows for seamless trading of Bitcoin on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) by eliminating the need for traditional centralized exchanges. 

How WBTC Tokens Are Created?

The overall creation of WBTC tokens always involves a very collaborative process between merchants and users. All the users who want to acquire WBTC can always approach one of the merchants who serve as custodians for the Bitcoin backing WBTC. 

Later, the user would be able to transfer their desired amount of Bitcoin to the merchant by following the specified guidelines. Now, after receiving the Bitcoin, there is a merchant who creates an equivalent amount of WBTC on the Ethereum network. Ultimately, all these tokens are attributed to the user by representing their ownership of the underlying Bitcoin. 

Additionally, Bitcoin is the one that is kept in custody by the merchant until the user decides to redeem their WBTC. 

Conclusion

So, finally, it is already known that the future is less about how individuals use WBTC and more about different developers who build using the same. Later, as a permissionless ERC-20 token, wrapped bitcoin becomes another building block for DeFi applications in the growing ecosystem of money Lego. 

Also, with the increasing popularity of DeFi, WBTC is always expected to continue serving as a bridge connecting all these two prominent blockchain networks. 

Categories: Bitcoin Blog
Antonio K Smith: Antonio is a travel photographer by profession and came across the Crypto world during his profession. Since then his love, knowledge and interest towards the technology have increased. He brings his passion to create in his articles.