Crypto exchange Coinbase has announced plans to add native support for its wrapped Bitcoin product, cbBTC, on the Solana blockchain.
On September 21, Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase’s Country Director for Singapore, revealed this during the ongoing Solana Breakpoint conference.
Solana Users to Gain Native Access to Coinbase’s cbBTC
Ahmed stated that the move is driven by Base users’ enthusiasm for Solana. Once implemented, Solana users will gain access to Coinbase’s recently launched cbBTC.
“We recently launched cbBTC on Base, but our users love Solana, and so do we. So we’re very excited to announce that we will be bringing native cbBTC on Solana as well,” Ahmed stated.
cbBTC is a tokenized version of Bitcoin, designed to function on programmable blockchains like Base and Ethereum. It is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin reserves held by Coinbase.
Read more: Coinbase Review 2024: The Best Crypto Exchange for Beginners?
Since its debut, cbBTC has gained significant market attention. Within a week, its market capitalization exceeded $100 million. Data from Dune Analytics shows that cbBTC’s circulating supply has reached 1,969 tokens, valued at around $124 million. Of this, 44.7% resides on Base, with the remaining 55.3% on Ethereum.
Despite its early success, cbBTC trails behind BitGo’s wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), which dominates about 96.6% of the Bitcoin market share on Ethereum, according to Dune Analytics data.
cbBTC has also been criticized. Tron founder Justin Sun raised concerns about its transparency and potential market impact if Coinbase faced challenges. However, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has dispelled the rumors while assuring the community that a centralized custodian manages the underlying BTC.
Read more: Who Owns the Most Bitcoin in 2024?
Meanwhile, Coinbase’s announcement comes as other platforms are also preparing to bring Bitcoin to Solana. Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 platform, recently revealed plans to launch its sBTC on Solana. sBTC is a bridged version of Bitcoin that is available on other blockchains.
Muneed Ali, Stacks’ co-founder, made the announcement during the Solana Breakpoint 2024 Conference. Ali highlighted that sBTC would address issues like wrapping and unwrapping fees present in other Bitcoin products.
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