American crypto exchange Coinbase has recently shared plans to bring its wrapped Bitcoin token, cbBTC, to the Solana blockchain. Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase’s Country Director for Singapore, disclosed this during the Solana Breakpoint 2024 event held in Singapore today.
The report comes on the heels of Coinbase’s earlier launch of cbBTC on Ethereum and Base networks, a move that saw the exchange make headlines in early September that the launch took place.
Notably, Coinbase’s version of wrapped Bitcoin, is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin held in reserve. By the firm’s prediction, the move, in its entirety, will allow users to provide Bitcoin liquidity to decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. If this be the case, then there is also the ultimate potential of the move bringing even more liquidity to Solana. More so, at a time that Solana’s ecosystem is growing at an alarming rate after the network recently became the go to place for high-speed, low-cost transactions.
“We recently launched cbBTC on Base, but our users love Solana, and so do we,” said Ahmed during a panel discussion at Breakpoint. Although there has not been any official statements to specify when cbBTC will go live on Solana, Ahmed assured that work is currently ongoing in this regard, and Coinbase will make the announcement at an appropriate time.
Coinbase cbBTC: Testament to A Growing Wrapped Bitcoin Ecosystem
It might be worth mentioning that Coinbase’s decision to delve into the wrapped Bitcoin space is not as random as it feels. The move comes at a time when there is massive demand for interoperable assets in DeFi ecosystems.
As earlier mentioned, the cbBTC token is designed to enable Bitcoin holders to access decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum, Base, and soon, Solana. The move also follows Coinbase’s response to a shift in the ownership of WBTC, a leading competitor token in the wrapped Bitcoin market.
According to CoinGecko data, cbBTC’s market capitalization currently stands at approximately $137 million, a number expected to grow as the token expands to additional blockchain networks. As more blockchain protocols gain support for cbBTC, it could become a significant player in the Bitcoin liquidity market.
