Coinbase Teases Possible Launch of Wrapped Bitcoin Token “cbBTC”

In an Aug. 13 X post, the official Coinbase account said just one word, “cbBTC,” before adding “coming soon” in a follow-up comment to the original post.

Crypto exchange Coinbase appears to be teasing the launch of a new product, with many speculating that the United States-based exchange is launching its own wrapped Bitcoin token.

In an Aug. 13 X post, the official Coinbase account said just one word, “cbBTC,” before adding “coming soon” in a follow-up comment to the original post.

Coinbase’s X posts are typically used to announce upcoming products or services from the exchange. In the past, Coinbase has used the platform to announce the upcoming launches of its NFT marketplace and its layer-2 network Base.

In another X post an hour later, Jesse Pollak — the head of Coinbases’ layer-2 network Base — expressed his love for Bitcoin ( BTC ) and stated that Base would build a “massive Bitcoin economy” on its network.

BTC

The cryptic posts about cbBTC from Coinbase and Pollak come just days after a controversy involving BitGo — the team behind Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) — and Tron founder Justin Sun.

On Aug. 9, BitGo announced plans to transfer control over WBTC to a joint venture made up of itself, Hong Kong-based investment manager BiT Global and Sun’s Tron ecosystem.

Many within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem were concerned with Sun’s involvement and called for WBTC support to be pulled from major protocols.

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On Aug. 10, crypto risk management firm Block Analitica (BA) published a proposal on MakerDAO’s governance forum requesting the protocol to close all new wBTC debts and prevent new borrowing against WBTC collateral.

“We find that Sun’s involvement as a controlling interest in the new WBTC joint venture presents an unacceptable level of risk,” BA concluded.

BitGo CEO Matt Belshe brushed aside any security concerns, saying the controversy was a “reaction to the Justin Sun name” rather than a proper assessment of the facts.

Belshe clarified that the underlying WBTC security protocols are not in danger, and they would still remain the “same as what you have today,” regardless of Sun’s involvement.

Sun also addressed the controversy in an Aug. 11 X post, saying there had been “no changes to WBTC” and his involvement did not include direct access to funds.

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