21.co Launches Wrapped Bitcoin Product (21BTC) on the Ethereum Blockchain

According to a Sept. 3 statement, 21.co, the parent company of 21Shares, has introduced its Wrapped Bitcoin product (21BTC) on the Ethereum blockchain.

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Sept. 3 statement reveals that 21.co, the parent company of 21Shares, has introduced its Wrapped Bitcoin (21BTC) product on the Ethereum blockchain.

The company said it worked with Flow Traders, a leading global market maker, to launch a product that will give customers “peace of mind as they explore decentralized applications and new opportunities on the Ethereum blockchain.”

21.co’s 21BTC aims to stand out from competing products in the market by keeping the underlying assets in cold storage, eliminating the need for a bridge.

Eliezer Ndinga, 21.co’s head of strategy and business development, said the following regarding the launch

“As one of the world’s largest issuers of crypto ETPs, we bring stringent asset management best practices and our operational excellence to the world of wrapped assets, involving institutional-grade custodians and security protocols.”

Bitcoin wrappers are ERC-20 tokens that are backed by BTC, minted on various blockchains, backed one-to-one by BTC, and held by a centralized custodian. To redeem, holders burn the tokens to receive native BTC, while minting involves depositing native Bitcoin to receive the tokens.

WBTC struggles amid takeover attempt

The launch of 21BTC comes as WBTC, the most popular Bitcoin wrapper with a market capitalization of around $9 billion, faces challenges.

Over the past month, WBTC has come under increased scrutiny due to issues involving BitGo and TRON founder Justin Sun. On Aug. 9, BitGo announced plans to transfer control of WBTC to a joint venture with crypto custody platform BiT Global and Sun.

This announcement sparked concerns within the community, especially regarding Sun’s involvement in the project.

In response, lending protocol Sky (formerly MakerDAO) voted to stop new users from borrowing against WBTC, and demand for the asset declined. According to Dune Analytics data, WBTC’s supply decreased by over 1,000 tokens last month, which was the third-highest monthly negative change this year.

With this development, several competitors, such as Coinbase, are looking to challenge BitGo’s market dominance, while DeFi protocol Threshold has proposed merging its BTC “wrapper” token, tBTC, with WBTC in an attempt to save the more popular BTC product.

Mentioned in this articleOluwapelumi AdejumoOluwapelumi values Bitcoin’s potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.Liam ‘Akiba’ WrightAlso known as "Akiba," Liam is a reporter, editor and podcast producer at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.

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