Coinbase’s Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC) will launch on Base and Ethereum

The US-based largest crypto trading platform has announced the release of batch Bitcoin (cbBTC) on two blockchains – Base and Ethereum.

This comes months after the company integrated the Lightning network for BTC transfers.

The exchange's announcement announced that the tokenized Bitcoin (cbBTC) would be “1:1 with Bitcoin (BTC) held by Coinbase.”

So far, the new product is only available on Base and Ethereum, but the support is expected to expand to other networks. However, the statement did not mention any names.

“At cbBTC, we will continue to advance economic freedom by giving users more ways to spend their Bitcoin. Starting today, millions of Coinbase customers will be able to seamlessly and securely access financial applications in the Ethereum ecosystem using Bitcoin they hold – reads the announcement, and will be available early this year for faster and cheaper BTC Transfers Highlight Coinbase's Lightning Network Integration

The new product promises a variety of DeFi applications due to its compatibility with the sector. BTC holders can “tap into novel DeFi use cases”. These include offering their BTC as liquidity to DeFi protocols or “using other crypto assets as collateral to borrow”.

Some of the DeFi projects that have supported CbBTC since its inception include Curve, Ave, Compound, Mellow, Definitive, Steakhouse, and Maple.

cbBTC will not have a separate order book or trading pair on Coinbase. Once users send BTC from the exchange to the designated Base and Ethereum addresses, the funds are automatically converted 1:1 to cbBTC and vice versa.

Customers of the exchange can trade cbBTC on DEXs using Coinbase Wallet and third-party trading platforms that want to support it.

Currently, cbBTC is available to Coinbase users in the US (from New York State), UK, EEA states, Singapore, Australia and Brazil.