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	0.9994BTC	-0,04%	234,81WBTC	4875	0.9998BTC	0.9998BTC
2	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bullish	AA	0.9994BTC	-0,02%	56,43WBTC	807	0.9997BTC	0.9997BTC
3	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	binance	AA	81.055,75USDT	4,46%	50,11WBTC	14.216	77.592,74USDT	81.632,28USDT
4	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT_SPBL	bitget	BB	80.975,20USDT	4,53%	10,31WBTC	1122	77.465,90USDT	81.458,10USDT
5	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bybit	A	0.9995BTC	-0,03%	6,21WBTC	1578	0.9998BTC	1,00BTC
6	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	bybit	A	81.137,20USDT	4,79%	2,72WBTC	1608	77.427,20USDT	81.755,70USDT
7	WBTC-BTC WBTCXBT	kraken	AA	0.9999BTC	0,00%	1,93WBTC	79	0.9999BTC	1,00BTC
8	WBTC-USD WBTCUSD	kraken	AA	80.823,70USD	4,51%	1,19WBTC	134	77.336,90USD	81.789,50USD
9	WBTC-USDT WBTC-USDT	kucoin	BB	81.563,01USDT	5,23%	0.4567WBTC	130	77.508,90USDT	81.563,01USDT
10	WBTC-BTC WBTC-BTC	kucoin	BB	1,00BTC	0,00%	0.1913WBTC	124	1,00BTC	1,00BTC
11	WBTC-EUR WBTCEUR	kraken	AA	70.863,60EUR	4,98%	0.1286WBTC	56	67.498,90EUR	70.863,60EUR
12	WBTC-USDT WBTC_USDT	gateio	A	81.446,00USDT	5,09%	0.08990WBTC	31	77.500,30USDT	81.446,00USDT
13	WBTC-BTC WBTBTC	bitfinex	BB	1,01BTC	1,41%	0.02477WBTC	11	0.9910BTC	1,01BTC
14	WBTC-USD WBTC_USD	cryptodotcom	AA	80.414,84USD	6,60%	0.003546WBTC	4	75.433,05USD	80.414,84USD
15	WBTC-USD WBTUSD	bitfinex	BB	84.333,00USD	16,17%	0.001795WBTC	6	72.593,00USD	86.170,00USD
16	WBTC-USD WBTCUSD	cexio	BB	80.806,80USD	4,51%	0.0₃3594WBTC	1	77.319,30USD	80.806,80USD
17	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	cexio	BB	0.9992BTC	-0,00%	0.0₃3216WBTC	1	0.9992BTC	0.9992BTC
18	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	cexio	BB	81.221,90USDT	4,78%	0.0₃2648WBTC	1	77.514,60USDT	81.221,90USDT
19	WBTC-USDC WBTCUSDC	cexio	BB	80.764,10USDC	5,56%	0.0₃2648WBTC	1	76.508,40USDC	80.764,10USDC
20	WBTC-EUR WBTCEUR	cexio	BB	70.651,00EUR	6,20%	0.0₃1892WBTC	1	66.525,50EUR	70.651,00EUR
21	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	bitrue	D	0.9994BTC	-0,04%	487,29WBTC	3630	0.9998BTC	0.9998BTC
22	WBTC-USDT wbtc_usdt	lbank	C	80.930,03USDT	4,39%	50,42WBTC	84.004	77.525,20USDT	81.800,57USDT
23	WBTC-BTC wbtc_btc	digifinex	D	0.9996BTC	-0,02%	4,66WBTC	1523	0.9998BTC	1,00BTC
24	WBTC-USDT WBTC-USDT	bingx	D	81.099,33USDT	4,77%	2,14WBTC	15.865	77.408,34USDT	81.567,75USDT
25	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	mexc	C	81.053,89USDT	4,47%	1,94WBTC	3210	77.582,90USDT	81.647,50USDT
26	WBTC-USDT WBTC_USDT	bitunix	C	81.052,01USDT	4,46%	1,82WBTC	7829	77.592,70USDT	81.652,45USDT
27	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	mexc	C	0.9995BTC	-0,03%	0.4454WBTC	1487	0.9998BTC	0.9998BTC
28	WBTC-USDC WBTCUSDC	mexc	C	80.987,30USDC	4,54%	0.3994WBTC	1427	77.468,70USDC	81.502,00USDC
29	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	coinex	C	1,00BTC	-0,02%	0.02704WBTC	1441	1,00BTC	1,00BTC
30	WBTC-IDR wbtcidr	indodax	E	1.420.000.000,00IDR	8,31%	0.02674WBTC	36	1.311.000.011,00IDR	1.420.000.000,00IDR
31	WBTC-BRL WBTC-BRL	mercadobtc	C	420.999,00BRL	3,04%	0.02075WBTC	34	408.596,00BRL	420.999,00BRL
32	WBTC-KRW wbtc_krw	korbit	C	106.729.000,00KRW	0,00%	0WBTC	0	106.729.000,00KRW	106.729.000,00KRW
33	WBTC-BTC WBTCBTC	binanceusa	B	0.9993BTC	0,00%	0WBTC	0	0.9993BTC	0.9993BTC
34	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	hitbtc	E	81.063,40USDT	6,17%	0.003310WBTC	1	76.350,00USDT	81.063,40USDT
35	WBTC-USDT WBTCUSDT	bequant	C	81.063,40USDT	6,17%	0.003310WBTC	1	76.350,00USDT	81.063,40USDT
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	12.752.239,00JPY	4,05%	0.0₃9600WBTC	96	12.255.374,00JPY	12.876.569,00JPY
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