US crypto giant Coinbase has successfully gone live with the launch of its wrapped Bitcoin token at a $100 million market cap.
The firm’s Coinbase Wrapped BTC (cbBTC) is a Bitcoin (BTC)-backed, Ethereum (ETH)-based token that aims to help users streamline their decentralized finance (DeFi) experience.
Data from CoinGecko shows that cbBTC started trading on September 12th before getting to a market cap of over $100 million the next day.
Coinbase recently explained how BTC holders can use the firm’s wrapped version of the crypto king to streamline their DeFi experience.
“cbBTC removes a key point of friction by allowing customers to use Bitcoin they already hold in new ways on-chain. cbBTC is built to be seamlessly compatible with DeFi applications, so users can now tap into novel DeFi use cases like providing their Bitcoin as liquidity to DeFi protocols, or using it as collateral to borrow other crypto assets…
When Coinbase users send their BTC from Coinbase to an address on Base or Ethereum, that BTC will automatically be converted 1:1 to cbBTC. When users receive cbBTC in their Coinbase accounts, it will be converted 1:1 from cbBTC to BTC.”
Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun criticized cbBTC, saying Coinbase’s new project was too centralized and based on trust.
“cbBTC lacks Proof of Reserve, no audits, and can freeze anyone’s balance anytime. Essentially, it’s just ‘trust me.’ Any US government subpoena could seize all your BTC. There’s no better representation of central bank Bitcoin than this. It’s a dark day for BTC.”
At time of writing, cbBTC is the 402nd-largest crypto with a market cap of over $97.66 million.
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