Swap WBTC at the Best Rate

What is WBTC?

Bitcoin cannot be used directly in Ethereum contracts, so WBTC represents it there: an ERC-20 with 8 decimals, matching bitcoin's own precision, each unit redeemable through the system for one BTC. It made bitcoin usable as collateral and liquidity across Ethereum lending markets and exchanges.

WBTC is a custodial design, not a trustless bridge. The backing bitcoin sits with designated custodians, and the token's honesty is checked by comparing the published bitcoin reserve addresses against the ERC-20 supply, a proof of reserve dashboard the project has operated since launch.

How WBTC works

Only approved merchants deal with the custodian directly. A merchant sends bitcoin and requests a mint, and the custodian creates WBTC; burning works in reverse to release BTC. Merchants perform know your customer checks on the users they serve, while most holders simply buy and sell WBTC on the open market.

Contract changes and the roster of merchants and custodians are controlled by a multisig held by the WBTC DAO, a group of ecosystem organizations assembled at launch. The mint and burn history is public on both chains, so the one to one claim is continuously checkable.

Who builds WBTC

WBTC was announced in October 2018 and launched on 31 January 2019 by custodian BitGo with Kyber Network and Ren as founding merchants, governed from day one by the WBTC DAO. BitGo remained the sole custodian for the first five years.

In August 2024 BitGo announced a joint venture with BiT Global, a Hong Kong trust company associated with Tron founder Justin Sun, moving custody to a multi jurisdictional setup across the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore. The restructuring completed that October, with BitGo stating that no single party can move the reserve alone.

What people use WBTC for

WBTC exists so bitcoin can do things on Ethereum that the Bitcoin chain itself does not support, and much of its supply sits inside other protocols rather than in wallets.

• Collateral for borrowing stablecoins in lending markets.
• Liquidity in trading pools paired against ETH and stablecoins.
• A bitcoin leg for on-chain structured products and vaults.
• Moving bitcoin value through Ethereum infrastructure without a centralized exchange.

WBTC risks and considerations

Every WBTC is a claim on custodians, so custody arrangements are the core risk. The 2024 handover drew public pushback: Sky, formerly MakerDAO, voted to stop new borrowing against WBTC, and Coinbase delisted the token that December citing listing standards after launching its own competitor, cbBTC. BiT Global responded by suing Coinbase.

Redemption runs through approved merchants, not a retail window, so holders depend on that pipeline functioning under stress. WBTC now also competes with newer wrapped bitcoin products from exchanges and trust companies, which splits liquidity across versions. The proof of reserve pages remain the tool for checking the backing at any time.