{"id":95871,"date":"2026-04-03T09:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/?p=95871"},"modified":"2026-04-03T10:26:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T07:26:01","slug":"circle-to-launch-wrapped-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/circle-to-launch-wrapped-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"Circle to Launch Wrapped Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The company behind <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-is-the-usdc-stablecoin\">USDC<\/a>, Circle, has unveiled a <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-is-a-wrapped-token\">wrapped<\/a> version of the original cryptocurrency \u2014 cirBTC.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Circle Wrapped Bitcoin is coming.<\/p>\n<p>Backed 1:1 by BTC and readily verifiable onchain, cirBTC is being built to work seamlessly with Circle infrastructure and the broader DeFi ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wWzVBZdIz1\">https:\/\/t.co\/wWzVBZdIz1<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Db5U3InaNA\">pic.twitter.com\/Db5U3InaNA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Circle (@circle) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/circle\/status\/2039734602281918874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The token will be backed by real bitcoins at a 1:1 ratio. Its aim is to enhance the functionality of digital gold. The issuer has opened registration for the waiting list.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201ccirBTC is ideal for over-the-counter platforms, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-is-a-market-maker\"><em>market makers<\/em><\/a><em>, lending protocols, and anyone needing a neutral, secure, and high-performance <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-are-tokenised-assets\"><em>tokenized<\/em><\/a><em> bitcoin,\u201d states the issuer&#8217;s website.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Circle will fully integrate cirBTC into its technology stack: <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/circle-launches-arc-blockchain-testnet\">Arc blockchain<\/a> and the Circle Mint platform for issuing and redeeming <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/what-are-stablecoins\">stablecoins<\/a>. Initially, the asset will launch on Arc and Ethereum.<\/p>\n<p>The wrapped bitcoin will be one of the few products from the company not linked to stablecoins. The issuer manages the income-generating tokenized money market fund USYC and, according to unofficial sources, is preparing a native token for the Arc network.<\/p>\n<p>Circle closed its previous bitcoin payment service \u2014 Circle Pay \u2014 in 2019, shifting its focus exclusively to stablecoins.<\/p>\n<p>There are several wrapped versions of bitcoin on the market. The largest remains WBTC from BitGo, with a capitalization exceeding $7.9 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-461beed2ce727f04-799792955358523.webp\" alt=\"Wrapped Bitcoin price WBTC \u0446\u0435\u043d\u0430 \" class=\"wp-image-277913\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coingecko.com\/en\/coins\/wrapped-bitcoin\">CoinGecko<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In September 2024, a similar token was <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/coinbase-introduces-wrapped-bitcoin-token\">launched<\/a> by the Coinbase exchange. The market value of cbBTC reached $5.9 billion, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coingecko.com\/en\/coins\/coinbase-wrapped-btc\">CoinGecko<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To stand out among competitors, Circle positions cirBTC as a \u201cglobal institutional-grade standard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In recent weeks, the USDC issuer has faced criticism from community members. In March, on-chain detective ZachXBT <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/zachxbt-accuses-circle-of-wrongfully-freezing-16-wallets\">accused<\/a> the company of unjustly freezing 16 wallets.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In early April, the same researcher and other industry representatives were <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/drift-protocol-on-solana-loses-280m\">outraged<\/a> by Circle&#8217;s response to the Drift Protocol hack. The firm did not promptly block funds related to the attack, despite having all necessary tools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The company behind USDC, Circle, has unveiled a wrapped version of the original cryptocurrency \u2014 cirBTC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"Circle unveils cirBTC, a wrapped bitcoin backed 1:1 by BTC, enhancing digital gold functionality.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,1220,910],"class_list":["post-95871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-bitcoin","tag-circle","tag-usdc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"66","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"Circle unveils cirBTC, a wrapped bitcoin backed 1:1 by BTC, enhancing digital gold functionality.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95872,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95871\/revisions\/95872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}