Circle launches wrapped bitcoin cirBTC, targeting Coinbase's dominant BTC DeFi market

Odaily reported that Circle has launched a wrapped bitcoin product, cirBTC, on the Ethereum blockchain. The token is fully backed 1:1 by bitcoin, designed to help users integrate BTC assets into DeFi applications such as lending, decentralized exchanges (DEX), tokenized assets, and stablecoins.

Circle stated that cirBTC is primarily aimed at institutional investors, whose target client base typically holds bitcoin as a core crypto asset allocation and has already built trust in Circle's infrastructure through products like USDC. Currently, USDC's market cap exceeds $75 billion, making it the second-largest stablecoin in the market.

The wrapped bitcoin market is currently dominated by wBTC and cbBTC launched by Coinbase. Among them, wBTC, launched in 2019, has a market cap of approximately $7.3 billion and remains the largest wrapped bitcoin product; cbBTC, launched in 2024, has a market cap of nearly $5.4 billion. With the launch of cirBTC, Circle will directly compete with Coinbase and wBTC's primary custodian BitGo for institutional-grade wrapped bitcoin market share.

Data shows that the total market cap of all wrapped bitcoin tokens currently stands at around $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion, accounting for about 1% of bitcoin's total market cap of approximately $1.25 trillion. (CoinDesk)