21.co Bitcoin wrapper starts on Ethereum
21.co, the parent of cryptocurrency asset manager 21Shares, is launching its own Bitcoin (BTC) wrapper – 21.co wrapped Bitcoin (21BTC) – on the Ethereum blockchain network, according to a September 3 announcement.
The launch of 21BTC expands 21.co's existing portfolio of bundled tokens on Ethereum, including bundled Avalanche (AVAX), Polkadot (DOT) and Solana (SOL) tokens. 21.co launched 21BTC on Solana in May, the company said.
BTC Wrapper is designed to “bring robust asset management best practices… to the world of bundled assets,” with “institutional-grade safeguards and security protocols,” 21.co's head of strategy and business development for digital assets, Eliezer Ndinga, said in a statement.
21.co says user protections include cold storage and controlled third-party custodians. It is partnering with market maker Flow Trader to control the distribution of 21BTC. Bitcoin wrappers are ERC-20 tokens – or other smart contract compatible tokens – backed by BTC.
21.co's announcement that as a rival BTC wrapper, Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange wBTC's Bitcoin support has faced criticism over its partnership with BiT Global, the semi-custodian BitGo. WBTC is the most popular BTC stack with a market capitalization of nearly $9 billion according to CoinMarketCap.
21.co Packed Tokens on Ethereum. Source: 21.co
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BitGo's announcement was “controversial due to Justin Sun's involvement, along with many in the ecosystem, who expressed concern that projects associated with him are showing serious signs of possible security fraud,” the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol said in August. 29 management proposal.
21.co is best known for its 21Shares subsidiary, which includes cryptocurrency exchange traded funds (ETFs), the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) and the 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF (CETH).
Blocked BTC “acts as a critical source of collateral[es] A wide range of financial activities such as lending, borrowing and trading,” Michael Lieu, Global Head of Digital Assets at Flow Trader, said in a statement.
21.co's wrap said BTC “brings improved liquidity and enables improved interoperability across multiple blockchain networks.”
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