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.

#	Strumento	Borsa	Punteggio di Riferimento	Prezzo	Variazione 24h	Volume 24h	Scambi 24h	Apertura 24h	Massimo 24h
1	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	binance	AA	0.9997BTC	0.04%	50.53WBTC	2,682	0.9993BTC	0.9997BTC
2	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	binance	AA	81,209.17USDT	0.15%	32.06WBTC	7,851	81,089.91USDT	81,878.00USDT
3	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bullish	AA	0.9997BTC	0.04%	23.51WBTC	343	0.9993BTC	0.9997BTC
4	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bybit	A	0.9997BTC	0.02%	6.98WBTC	597	0.9995BTC	1.00BTC
5	WBTC-BTC WBTCXBT	kraken	AA	1.00BTC	0.00%	3.30WBTC	51	0.9999BTC	1.00BTC
6	WBTC-USD WBTCUSD	kraken	AA	80,929.40USD	-0.26%	1.13WBTC	86	81,142.40USD	82,067.90USD
7	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	bybit	A	80,997.30USDT	-0.05%	0.6647WBTC	399	81,041.10USDT	81,972.80USDT
8	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT_SPBL	bitget	BB	81,270.80USDT	0.31%	0.1485WBTC	263	81,023.20USDT	81,933.10USDT
9	WBTC-EUR WBTCEUR	kraken	AA	70,953.70EUR	0.50%	0.1287WBTC	12	70,603.70EUR	71,069.40EUR
10	WBTC-BTC WBTC-BTC	kucoin	BB	1.00BTC	0.14%	0.06940WBTC	21	1.00BTC	1.00BTC
11	WBTC-USDT WBTC-USDT	kucoin	BB	81,588.99USDT	1.10%	0.003500WBTC	16	80,700.49USDT	81,955.01USDT
12	WBTC-USD WBTC_USD	cryptodotcom	AA	80,069.84USD	0.29%	0.003091WBTC	2	79,837.08USD	80,414.84USD
13	WBTC-BTC WBTBTC	bitfinex	BB	0.9921BTC	-0.09%	0.002413WBTC	8	0.9930BTC	1.01BTC
14	WBTC-USD WBTUSD	bitfinex	BB	79,202.00USD	3.22%	0.002388WBTC	5	76,729.00USD	86,170.00USD
15	WBTC-USDT WBTC_USDT	gateio	A	81,120.10USDT	-0.38%	0.001000WBTC	4	81,427.20USDT	81,721.80USDT
16	WBTC-USD WBTCUSD	cexio	BB	81,343.20USD	5.20%	0.0₃6054WBTC	2	77,319.30USD	81,343.20USD
17	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	cexio	BB	0.9992BTC	0.00%	0.0₃5297WBTC	2	0.9992BTC	0.9992BTC
18	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	cexio	BB	81,030.30USDT	4.54%	0.0₃4730WBTC	2	77,514.60USDT	81,221.90USDT
19	WBTC-EUR WBTCEUR	cexio	BB	71,362.40EUR	1.01%	0.0₃3594WBTC	1	70,651.00EUR	71,362.40EUR
20	WBTC-USDC WBTCUSDC	cexio	BB	81,232.80USDC	0.58%	0.0₃3216WBTC	1	80,764.10USDC	81,232.80USDC
21	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bitrue	D	0.9996BTC	0.03%	91.74WBTC	2,140	0.9993BTC	0.9997BTC
22	WBTC-USDT wbtc_usdt	lbank	C	81,206.19USDT	0.30%	46.61WBTC	84,571	80,960.85USDT	81,982.30USDT
23	WBTC-USDT WBTC_USDT	bitunix	C	81,233.17USDT	0.19%	1.45WBTC	6,856	81,076.25USDT	81,877.25USDT
24	WBTC-USDT WBTC-USDT	bingx	D	81,288.12USDT	0.22%	1.26WBTC	12,262	81,109.41USDT	81,926.32USDT
25	WBTC-BTC wbtc_btc	digifinex	D	0.9999BTC	0.04%	0.9755WBTC	476	0.9995BTC	0.9999BTC
26	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	mexc	C	81,215.64USDT	0.14%	0.9590WBTC	3,109	81,105.44USDT	81,878.00USDT
27	WBTC-USDC WBTCUSDC	mexc	C	81,087.80USDC	-0.07%	0.4446WBTC	1,453	81,144.30USDC	81,739.50USDC
28	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	mexc	C	0.9997BTC	0.05%	0.1899WBTC	1,435	0.9992BTC	0.9997BTC
29	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	coinex	C	1.00BTC	-0.00%	0.006180WBTC	1,435	1.00BTC	1.00BTC
30	WBTC-KRW wbtc_krw	korbit	C	106,729,000.00KRW	0.00%	0WBTC	0	106,729,000.00KRW	106,729,000.00KRW
31	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	binanceusa	B	0.9993BTC	0.00%	0WBTC	0	0.9993BTC	0.9993BTC
32	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	hitbtc	E	81,063.40USDT	0.00%	0WBTC	0	81,063.40USDT	81,063.40USDT
33	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	bequant	C	81,063.40USDT	0.00%	0WBTC	0	81,063.40USDT	81,063.40USDT
34	WBTC-BRL WBTC-BRL	mercadobtc	C	415,640.00BRL	0.05%	0.003299WBTC	23	415,420.00BRL	421,000.00BRL
35	WBTC-IDR wbtcidr	indodax	E	1,355,000,008.00IDR	-4.58%	0.002710WBTC	28	1,419,999,984.00IDR	1,420,000,000.00IDR
36	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	hitbtc	E	0.9952BTC	0.00%	0WBTC	0	0.9952BTC	0.9952BTC
37	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bequant	C	0.9952BTC	0.00%	0WBTC	0	0.9952BTC	0.9952BTC
38	WBTC-KRW WBTC_KRW	coinone	C	90,260,000.00KRW	0.00%	0WBTC	0	90,260,000.00KRW	90,260,000.00KRW
39	WBTC-JPY wbtcjpy	huobijapan	E	12,816,851.00JPY	-0.17%	0.0₃9500WBTC	95	12,839,044.00JPY	12,951,478.00JPY
40	WBTC-INR WBTCINR	bitbns	-	1,880,000.00INR	0.00%	0WBTC	0	1,880,000.00INR	1,880,000.00INR
41	WBTC-USDC WBTCUSDC	hitbtc	E	66,130.00USDC	0.00%	0WBTC	0	66,130.00USDC	66,130.00USDC