Circle Brings Institutional-Grade Bitcoin to Ethereum

Circle has launched a new asset called cirBTC on the Ethereum blockchain. This innovative product allows institutional investors to utilize Bitcoin in various financial applications within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

cirBTC is pegged 1:1 with native Bitcoin, meaning each token represents one unit of Bitcoin. The underlying Bitcoin is securely held in custody by a regulated Circle entity, ensuring that users can access DeFi tools without having to sell their Bitcoin holdings.

The introduction of cirBTC brings Bitcoin collateral into the large on-chain financial ecosystem of Ethereum, where lending platforms, decentralized exchanges, tokenized assets, and stablecoin markets are already widely used. This expansion enables institutions involved in trading, lending, treasury management, and settlement to utilize cirBTC in supported third-party protocols.

Circle has implemented reserve transparency through Chainlink, a blockchain data and oracle network, which allows market participants to independently verify the Bitcoin backing cirBTC using on-chain data and public blockchain records. This added layer of security provides users with confidence in the authenticity of cirBTC.