Circle, the stablecoin issuer, has announced plans to launch a wrapped Bitcoin product called cirBTC, placing it in direct competition with existing providers BitGo and Coinbase. The asset was announced on Thursday and is designed specifically for institutional users, including over-the-counter desks, market makers, and lending protocols. Circle describes cirBTC as a highly secure and neutral version of wrapped Bitcoin, backed one-to-one by Bitcoin (BTC).
The token is set to debut on the Ethereum blockchain, with additional availability planned on Circle’s own layer-1 blockchain, Arc, and its Circle Mint platform. Wrapped Bitcoin products allow the asset to function on blockchains other than its native network, enabling holders to participate in decentralized finance ecosystems. Financial institutions, which have grown into significant Bitcoin buyers, have been increasingly exploring such DeFi opportunities.
The wrapped Bitcoin market is currently dominated by two major players. BitGo’s Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) holds the leading position with a market capitalization of approximately $8 billion and around 119,157 tokens in circulation, though that figure represents roughly half of its peak reached in November 2021. Coinbase’s cbBTC, launched in September 2024, has a market capitalization of $5.9 billion with a circulating supply of 88,800 tokens.
Together, WBTC and cbBTC account for a combined supply of roughly 208,000 BTC, according to data from CoinGecko. Several other cryptocurrency exchanges have introduced their own wrapped Bitcoin variants, including Kraken, Gate, Binance, Huobi, and OKX. However, the market capitalizations of those products remain a fraction of the two market leaders.
Circle’s entry into the wrapped Bitcoin space signals growing institutional interest in bringing Bitcoin’s liquidity into DeFi environments. By targeting professional market participants rather than retail users, Circle appears to be positioning cirBTC as a product tailored to the specific needs of large-scale financial operations. Cointelegraph reached out to Circle for additional details but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
