Coinbase Eyes cbBTC Integration with Solana Blockchain

• Coinbase has revealed expansion plans for its wrapped Bitcoin token (cbBTC).
• cbBTC initially launched with native support for Ethereum and Base networks.
• The token’s expansion to a new network will help Coinbase users tap a $6.2 billion DeFi ecosystem.

Crypto exchange Coinbase has revealed plans to integrate its wrapped Bitcoin token (cbBTC) with the Solana blockchain, the third-largest network by market capitalization.

Coinbase initially launched the cbBTC product on Ethereum and Base on September 12, targeting customers in the UK, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, and all states within the U.S. except New York. The ERC-20 token, backed on a 1:1 basis with Bitcoin, allows users to leverage the original cryptocurrency as liquidity to DeFi or as collateral to borrow other digital assets.

cbBTC’s Coming to Solana

Coinbase’s country director for Singapore, Hassan Ahmed, recently announced the plan to bring the exchange’s wrapped Bitcoin token to Solana during a session at the Breakpoint 2024 event in Singapore.

“We recently launched cbBTC on base, but our users love Solana, and so do we. So we are very excited to announce that we will be bringing native cbBTC to Solana as well.” Ahmed told the audience.

While Ahmed didn’t mention the tentative date for the integration, cbBTC’s native support on Solana is expected to unlock new opportunities for Coinbase retail users, who hold over $18 billion worth of the largest crypto by market cap on the exchange. This includes access to Solana’s $6.2 billion decentralized finance ecosystem, leveraged by an estimated three million active addresses.

The development came amid rising competition for wrapped tokens backed by Bitcoin in the DeFi landscape, which has seen rivals like Stacks and BitGo launching their own version. While BitGo recently expanded its WBTC presence to new networks and geographical locations, Stacks is gearing up to launch its sBTC on the Aptos and Solana networks.

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