Coinbase Plans to Integrate Its Wrapped Bitcoin Token (cbBTC) With the Solana Blockchain

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.

Crypto exchange Coinbase plans to integrate its wrapped Bitcoin token (cbBTC) with the Solana blockchain, Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase’s country director for Singapore, announced on Monday.

Coinbase launched the cbBTC product on Ethereum and Base on September 12. The ERC-20 token, backed on a 1:1 basis with Bitcoin, allows users to use the original cryptocurrency as liquidity to decentralized finance (DeFi) or as collateral to borrow other digital assets.

The exchange’s wrapped Bitcoin token is currently available to customers in the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, and all states within the U.S. except New York.

Ahmed announced the plan to bring the exchange’s wrapped Bitcoin token to Solana during a session at the Breakpoint 2024 event in Singapore. 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.

Coinbase users hold over $18 billion in BTC 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 comes amid rising competition for wrapped tokens backed by Bitcoin in the DeFi landscape. Rival Stacks recently announced the launch of its wrapped Bitcoin (sBTC) on the Aptos and Solana networks. Meanwhile, BitGo recently announced the expansion of its wrapped BTC (WBTC) presence to new networks and geographical locations.