Circle has launched cirBTC on Ethereum, a wrapped Bitcoin token backed one-to-one by native BTC held by a regulated Circle entity. This product is meant to bring Bitcoin-backed collateral into Ethereum-based decentralized finance markets.
This launch expands Circle’s business beyond stablecoins and lets institutions use Bitcoin for lending, trading, treasury, and settlement without moving native BTC directly onto Ethereum.
Circle said the reserves backing cirBTC are kept separate from its corporate assets and can be checked using Chainlink Proof of Reserve. This system lets market participants monitor reserve balances on the Bitcoin blockchain through several addresses.
Wrapped Bitcoin products exist because Bitcoin’s network doesn’t support Ethereum-style smart contracts. By putting BTC on Ethereum as a token, users can use DeFi apps while still having exposure to Bitcoin.
Circle pointed out that it doesn’t run a centralized exchange, decentralized exchange, or lending protocol. The company says this helps avoid conflicts of interest for institutions using cirBTC on different platforms.
Circle International Bermuda Limited issues the token, and it’s integrated with Circle Mint for institutional onboarding and settlement. Circle also said cirBTC will likely expand beyond Ethereum as part of a larger multichain strategy linked to its upcoming Arc infrastructure project.
cirBTC is live on @ethereum.
Circle helped establish the institutional standard for dollar collateral with USDC.
Now cirBTC brings that same approach to Bitcoin, bringing 1:1 BTC-backed collateral to institutional DeFi markets with neutrality, transparency, and Circle…
— Circle (@circle) June 8, 2026
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