Question 1

Wrapped bitcoin price

Accepted Answer

Because of the 1:1 mapping with bitcoin, the WBTC price tends to track that of the larger cryptocurrency. It touched an all-time low of $3,139.17 on April 2, 2019, before climbing to a record-high price of $66,109.97 on Oct. 20, 2021, the same day as bitcoin.

Question 2

How does Wrapped Bitcoin work?

Accepted Answer

Wrapped bitcoin uses smart contract functionality for bitcoin transfers to provide a way for bitcoin holders to access DeFi. In doing so, it brings the greater liquidity of the world’s largest cryptocurrency to the DeFi arena.

For new WBTC to be produced, or minted, a so-called merchant places a request with another party, the custodian. WBTC’s [white paper](https://wbtc.network/assets/wrapped-tokens-whitepaper.pdf) specifies that the merchant sends bitcoin to the custodian, which mints the WBTC and sends it to the merchant’s wallet on the Ethereum blockchain. The merchant can then swap the wrapped bitcoin with an end user in exchange for the equivalent amount of bitcoin. Merchants are responsible for carrying out know-your-customer and anti-money laundering processes with the end users.

Custodians are the institutions that hold the backing bitcoin and mint the token. For WBTC, BitGo is the sole custodian as of October 2021. The founding merchants were Kyber Network and Ren, though others have now joined. In June 2021, it was reported that [more than 1% of bitcoin](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/06/15/hunt-for-yield-wrapped-btc-now-holds-more-than-1-of-bitcoins-circulating-supply/) was held in wrapped bitcoin tokens.

Removing WBTC from circulation – for example, when a user wants to convert WBTC back to bitcoin – is accomplished through burning, a process that can be carried out only by a merchant. The merchant calls the “burn” function in the governing contract, and its WBTC balance is reduced. The custodian is then free to release the held bitcoins to the merchant, who can reimburse the end user.

Proof of assets is shown on the protocol’s [web page](https://wbtc.network/dashboard/audit).

Question 3

Key events and management

Accepted Answer

Wrapped bitcoin [was announced in October 2018](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2018/10/26/a-new-token-is-coming-to-ethereum-and-its-fully-bitcoin-backed/) and officially launched in January 2019. It was developed by BitGo, Kyber Network, and Ren, who retain their roles in the protocol.

The network is managed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which votes on adding or removing custodians and merchants. Current [members of the DAO](https://wbtc.network/dashboard/partners) are listed on the website.

Wrapped bitcoin was [released for the Tron blockchain](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/01/06/bitgo-launches-wrapped-bitcoin-ether-on-tron-blockchain/) in January 2021.

#	Instrument	Exchange	Benchmark Score	Price	24h Change	24h Volume	24h Trades	24h Open	24h High
1	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	binance	AA	0.9980BTC	-0.02%	111.25WBTC	1,957	0.9982BTC	0.9982BTC
2	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	binance	AA	84,574.64USDT	1.98%	30.19WBTC	7,573	82,934.43USDT	84,749.85USDT
3	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bybit	A	0.9982BTC	0.00%	6.15WBTC	667	0.9982BTC	0.9990BTC
4	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bullish	AA	0.9980BTC	-0.01%	5.77WBTC	67	0.9981BTC	0.9981BTC
5	WBTC-BTC WBTCXBT	kraken	AA	0.9979BTC	0.02%	4.14WBTC	618	0.9978BTC	0.9981BTC
6	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	bybit	A	84,252.10USDT	1.59%	1.06WBTC	419	82,932.90USDT	84,538.30USDT
7	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT_SPBL	bitget	BB	84,682.70USDT	2.16%	0.3956WBTC	253	82,894.60USDT	84,793.40USDT
8	WBTC-USD WBTCUSD	kraken	AA	84,456.10USD	2.13%	0.2242WBTC	92	82,696.00USD	87,756.00USD
9	WBTC-EUR WBTCEUR	kraken	AA	74,948.20EUR	2.23%	0.1287WBTC	39	73,309.90EUR	75,529.60EUR
10	WBTC-BTC WBTC-BTC	kucoin	BB	0.9981BTC	0.00%	0.02600WBTC	6	0.9981BTC	0.9981BTC
11	WBTC-USDT WBTC_USDT	gateio	A	84,158.80USDT	1.82%	0.008800WBTC	8	82,657.30USDT	84,419.00USDT
12	WBTC-USD WBTC_USD	cryptodotcom	AA	83,433.90USD	3.16%	0.007764WBTC	5	80,881.89USD	83,433.90USD
13	WBTC-USDT WBTC-USDT	kucoin	BB	84,220.00USDT	1.68%	0.004100WBTC	10	82,830.06USDT	84,220.00USDT
14	WBTC-USD WBTUSD	bitfinex	BB	80,835.00USD	-7.43%	0.003278WBTC	2	87,321.00USD	87,321.00USD
15	WBTC-BTC WBTBTC	bitfinex	BB	0.9900BTC	0.00%	0.003278WBTC	3	0.9900BTC	0.9900BTC
16	WBTC-USDC WBTCUSDC	cexio	BB	83,365.40USDC	2.63%	0.0₃3594WBTC	1	81,231.70USDC	83,365.40USDC
17	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	cexio	BB	0.9984BTC	-0.00%	0.0₃2838WBTC	1	0.9984BTC	0.9984BTC
18	WBTC-USD WBTCUSD	cexio	BB	83,208.40USD	0.45%	0.0₃2270WBTC	1	82,832.80USD	83,208.40USD
19	WBTC-EUR WBTCEUR	cexio	BB	75,055.80EUR	1.75%	0.0₃2081WBTC	1	73,767.60EUR	75,055.80EUR
20	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	cexio	BB	82,673.80USDT	1.38%	0.0₃1892WBTC	1	81,547.60USDT	82,673.80USDT
21	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bitrue	D	0.9980BTC	-0.02%	174.78WBTC	1,575	0.9982BTC	0.9982BTC
22	WBTC-USDT wbtc_usdt	lbank	C	84,674.18USDT	1.95%	45.91WBTC	81,857	83,057.99USDT	84,799.88USDT
23	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	mexc	C	84,552.17USDT	1.96%	2.29WBTC	3,083	82,926.14USDT	84,702.09USDT
24	WBTC-BTC wbtc_btc	digifinex	D	0.9982BTC	0.05%	2.21WBTC	1,128	0.9978BTC	0.9985BTC
25	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	mexc	C	0.9988BTC	-0.07%	1.52WBTC	1,594	0.9995BTC	1.05BTC
26	WBTC-USDT WBTC_USDT	bitunix	C	84,555.11USDT	1.94%	1.32WBTC	6,610	82,942.71USDT	84,734.44USDT
27	WBTC-USDT WBTC-USDT	bingx	D	84,591.02USDT	1.96%	1.26WBTC	11,814	82,963.06USDT	84,739.74USDT
28	WBTC-USDC WBTCUSDC	mexc	C	84,494.20USDC	2.06%	0.3920WBTC	1,396	82,787.30USDC	84,497.10USDC
29	WBTC-IDR wbtcidr	indodax	E	1,489,500,815.00IDR	0.00%	0.02306WBTC	16	1,489,499,652.00IDR	1,500,000,000.00IDR
30	WBTC-BRL WBTC-BRL	mercadobtc	C	419,815.00BRL	1.36%	0.004087WBTC	33	414,181.00BRL	426,037.00BRL
31	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	binanceusa	B	0.9993BTC	0.00%	0WBTC	0	0.9993BTC	0.9993BTC
32	WBTC-KRW wbtc_krw	korbit	C	111,010,000.00KRW	1.72%	0.001434WBTC	3	109,137,000.00KRW	111,010,000.00KRW
33	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	hitbtc	E	0.9952BTC	0.00%	0WBTC	0	0.9952BTC	0.9952BTC
34	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bequant	C	0.9952BTC	0.00%	0WBTC	0	0.9952BTC	0.9952BTC
35	WBTC-JPY wbtcjpy	huobijapan	E	13,411,946.00JPY	2.47%	0.0₃9200WBTC	92	13,088,748.00JPY	13,411,946.00JPY
36	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	hitbtc	E	84,144.00USDT	0.00%	0WBTC	0	84,144.00USDT	84,144.00USDT
37	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	bequant	C	84,144.00USDT	0.00%	0WBTC	0	84,144.00USDT	84,144.00USDT
38	WBTC-USDC WBTCUSDC	hitbtc	E	86,011.00USDC	0.00%	0WBTC	0	86,011.00USDC	86,011.00USDC
39	WBTC-KRW WBTC_KRW	coinone	C	110,610,000.00KRW	0.00%	0WBTC	0	110,610,000.00KRW	110,610,000.00KRW
40	WBTC-INR WBTCINR	bitbns	-	1,880,000.00INR	0.00%	0WBTC	0	1,880,000.00INR	1,880,000.00INR