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Wrapped Bitcoin

WBTC

GBP

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Learn more about asset risks.

Investment Risk

Baseline risk

All crypto-assets are risky, regardless of the type of token you hold. Here are some ‘baseline’ risks to be aware of before deciding to invest.

Investment risk: The performance of most crypto-assets can be highly volatile, with their value dropping as quickly as it can rise. You should be prepared to lose all the money you invest in crypto-assets.

Lack of protections: Crypto-assets are largely unregulated and neither the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) nor the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) will protect you in the event something goes wrong with your crypto-asset investments.

Crypto-assets are complex: It may be difficult to understand the risks associated with a crypto-asset investment. Do your own research and if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: Putting all your money into a single type of investment is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments such as crypto-assets.

Wrapped tokens

Wrapped crypto-assets (e.g. , WBTC) (often referred to as ‘wrapped tokens’) are tokenised representations of other crypto-assets. They are typically created to facilitate compatibility and interaction across different blockchain protocols.

Smart contract risk: Wrapped tokens rely on smart contracts to ensure their value remains pegged to the underlying asset. These contracts could have vulnerabilities or flaws that can be exploited, potentially leading to a loss of funds.

Collateral risk: The value of a wrapped token is typically backed by an equivalent amount of the underlying asset. If the mechanisms ensuring this collateralization fail, the wrapped token's value might not be preserved.

Custodial risk: The underlying assets for wrapped tokens may be held in custody by a third party. If this party becomes insolvent, mismanages the assets, or is subjected to fraud or hacking, the value of the wrapped token might be jeopardized.

Bridging risk: Wrapped tokens are often used to bridge assets between different blockchain ecosystems. The integration layers that facilitate these bridges might suffer from technical issues, hampering the ability to transfer or utilize the tokens as intended.

Pricing disparity: In certain situations, the price of the wrapped asset and its underlying asset might diverge due to market inefficiencies or liquidity issues.

About Wrapped Bitcoin

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) is an Ethereum token that is intended to represent Bitcoin (BTC) on the Ethereum blockchain. It is not Bitcoin, but rather a separate ERC-20 token that’s designed to track Bitcoin’s value. WBTC was created to allow Bitcoin holders to participate in decentralized finance (“DeFi”) apps that are popular on Ethereum. Through a WBTC partner, 1 Bitcoin can be exchanged for 1 Wrapped Bitcoin, and vice-versa. The BTC that backs WBTC is verifiable through a “proof of reserve” system that verifies the 1:1 backing between minted WBTC tokens and Bitcoin stored by custodians. WBTC is maintained by a group called the WBTC DAO that consists of over 30 members. It was originally started by BitGo, Ren, and Kyber.

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) is a tokenized version of Bitcoin (BTC) that operates on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. It adheres to the ERC-20 standard, which is the basic compatibility standard of the Ethereum blockchain. This compatibility allows WBTC to be fully integrated into Ethereum's ecosystem, including decentralized exchanges, crypto lending services, prediction markets, and other ERC-20-enabled decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. WBTC is backed by Bitcoin at a 1:1 ratio through a network of automatically monitored merchants and custodians. This aims to ensure that its price is pegged to Bitcoin and allows users to transfer liquidity between the BTC and ETH networks in a decentralized and autonomous manner.

The creation of Wrapped Bitcoin brings Bitcoin into the world of Ethereum's DeFi ecosystem. When users want to convert BTC into WBTC, the to-be-converted BTC is held by a custodian, who participates in the actual minting and burning of Ethereum-based tokens. When WBTCs are burned, the user can reclaim their BTC balance from the custodian. During minting, users send BTC to the custodian for storage and receive an equivalent in WBTC tokens. The user who wants to swap between WBTC and BTC performs a trade to move funds to the merchant. Once finalized, the user can use their BTC/WBTC as they see fit. If WBTC is converted to BTC, the associated Wrapped Bitcoin balance will be destroyed through a burn transaction.

As Wrapped Bitcoin tokens adhere to the ERC-20 token standard, they can be used across the broader Ethereum ecosystem. This includes trading them on decentralized exchanges and exploring decentralized finance opportunities through protocols and platforms supporting WBTC. DeFi opportunities for WBTC range from lending and borrowing to yield farming, token swapping, and liquidity pools. Various protocols and platforms support Wrapped Bitcoin. Using WBTC as collateral for a crypto-backed loan can be an option for businesses. Additionally, WBTC holders may receive compensation from supplying liquidity. Another potential use case for WBTC is in margin trading, where Wrapped Bitcoin may be used to trade Ethereum, stablecoins, and other ERC-20 tokens.

Wrapped Bitcoin was first announced on October 26, 2018, and officially launched on January 31, 2019. The Wrapped Tokens project, of which WBTC is a part, is a joint project of three organizations: BitGo, Kyber Network, and Ren. BitGo, co-founded in 2013 by American computer scientist and entrepreneur Mike Belshe, is an institutional digital asset custody, trading, and financial services firm. Kyber Network is an on-blockchain liquidity protocol that enables the integration of different cryptocurrency tokens and DeFi applications. It was founded in 2017 by Loi Luu, Victor Tran, and Yaron Velner. Ren is a company focused on cross-blockchain integration of cryptocurrency assets and DeFi applications via solutions such as RenBridge, RenVM, and others. It was founded in 2017 by Taiyang Zhang and Loong Wang.

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Market

United Kingdom Market stats

Market cap

£7.9B

Volume (24h)

£125.6M

Circulating supply

147.0K WBTC

Typical hold time

12 days

Popularity

#9741

All time high

£56,923.08

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Learn more about asset risks.

This data was sourced in real-time from Coinbase and other third party market vendors. Real-time data may encounter temporary delays due to system performance or downtime.

United Kingdom Market performance

Price change (1h)

-0.47%

Price change (1d)

-2.99%

Price change (1w)

+3.6%

Price change (2w)

+2.1%

Price change (1m)

+12.22%

Price change (1y)

+103.46%

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Learn more about asset risks.

This data was sourced in real-time from Coinbase and other third party market vendors. Real-time data may encounter temporary delays due to system performance or downtime.

Related Assets

Social

Some highlights about Wrapped Bitcoin on social media

530 unique individuals are talking about Wrapped Bitcoin and it is ranked #374 in most mentions and activity from collected posts. In the last 24 hours, across all social media platforms, Wrapped Bitcoin has an average sentiment score of 4 out of 5. Finally, Wrapped Bitcoin is becoming more newsworthy, with 0 news articles published about Wrapped Bitcoin. This is a 0% increase in news volume compared to yesterday.

On Twitter, people are mostly neutral about Wrapped Bitcoin. There were 21.11% of tweets with bullish sentiment compared to 2.01% of tweets with a bearish sentiment about Wrapped Bitcoin. 76.88% of tweets were neutral about Wrapped Bitcoin. These sentiments are based on 199 tweets.

On Reddit, Wrapped Bitcoin was mentioned in 16 Reddit posts and there were 30 comments about Wrapped Bitcoin. On average, there were more upvotes compared to downvotes on Reddit posts and more upvotes compared to downvotes on Reddit comments.

Powered by LunarCrush

Overview

Contributors

530 people

Posts

110 posts

Dominance

0.03%

Volume rank

#374

Average Sentiment

4 out of 5

Twitter

Reddit

Posts

16

Comments

30

Post Score

30

Comment Score

33

Wrapped Bitcoin Calculator

How much is 1 WBTC?

Conversion Table

Wrapped Bitcoin is on the rise this week.

The price of Wrapped Bitcoin has decreased by 0.47% in the last hour and decreased by 2.99% in the past 24 hours. Wrapped Bitcoin’s price has also risen by 3.60% in the past week. The current price is £53,471.20 per WBTC with a 24-hour trading volume of £125.64M. Currently, Wrapped Bitcoin is valued at 6.06% below its all time high of £56,923.08. This all-time high was the highest price paid for Wrapped Bitcoin since its launch.

The current circulating supply of Wrapped Bitcoin is 147,004.693 WBTC which means that Wrapped Bitcoin has as total market cap of 147,004.693.

FAQ

What is the current price of Wrapped Bitcoin?

We update our Wrapped Bitcoin to GBP currency in real-time. Get the live price of Wrapped Bitcoin on Coinbase.

What is the market cap of Wrapped Bitcoin?

The current market cap of Wrapped Bitcoin is £7.86B. A high market cap implies that the asset is highly valued by the market.

What is the all time high of Wrapped Bitcoin?

The all-time high of Wrapped Bitcoin is £56,923.08. This all-time high is highest price paid for Wrapped Bitcoin since it was launched.

What is the 24 hour trading volume of Wrapped Bitcoin?

Over the last 24 hours, the trading volume of Wrapped Bitcoin is £125.64M.

What other assets are similar to Wrapped Bitcoin?

Assets that have a similar market cap to Wrapped Bitcoin include Avalanche, Dogecoin, Wrapped TRON, and many others. To see a full list, see our comparable market cap assets.

How many Wrapped Bitcoin are there?

The current circulating supply of Wrapped Bitcoin is 147 thousand.

What is the typical holding time of Wrapped Bitcoin?

The median time that Coinbase customers hold Wrapped Bitcoin before selling it or sending it to another account or address is 12 days.

What is the relative popularity of Wrapped Bitcoin?

Wrapped Bitcoin ranks 127 among tradable assets on Coinbase. Popularity is currently based on relative market cap.

What is the current trading activity of Wrapped Bitcoin?

Currently, 92% of Coinbase users are buying Wrapped Bitcoin. In other words, 92% of Coinbase customers have increased their net position in Wrapped Bitcoin over the past 24 hours through trading.

Can I buy Wrapped Bitcoin on Coinbase?

Yes, Wrapped Bitcoin is currently available on Coinbase’s centralized exchange. For more detailed instructions, check out our helpful how to buy Wrapped Bitcoin guide.

This data was sourced in real-time from Coinbase and other third party market vendors. Real-time data may encounter temporary delays due to system performance or downtime.

Certain content has been prepared by third parties not affiliated with Coinbase Inc. or any of its affiliates and Coinbase is not responsible for such content. Coinbase is not liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance on any content. Information is provided for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell a particular digital asset or to employ a particular investment strategy. Coinbase makes no representation on the accuracy, suitability, or validity of any information provided or for a particular asset. Prices shown are for illustrative purposes only. Actual cryptocurrency prices and associated stats may vary. Data presented may reflect assets traded on Coinbase’s exchange and select other cryptocurrency exchanges.

This Financial Promotion has been approved by Archax LTD on February 7, 2024