Cardano launches Wrapped Bitcoin on its testnet | Invezz

Cardano (ADA) has today launched its version of Wrapped Bitcoin token cBTC on the Cardano testnet. The project’s development team aims to attract Bitcoin (BTC) users to the nascent Cardano decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

The cBTC will run on Cardano’s anetaBTC protocol that aims at attracting Bitcoin liquidity to the Cardano ecosystem.

Cardano users will now be able to mint cBTC tokens from the anetaBTC protocol. The cBTC tokens can fund, trade, or provide liquidity to Cardano testnet protocols.

The wrapped Bitcoin tokens will be a 1:1 representation of Bitcoin on the Cardano blockchain.

Transferring value across blockchains

Generally, wrapped tokens make it easy for users to transfer value across blockchains, which otherwise lack interoperability. This allows users to access different DeFi protocols without requiring them to acquire the native tokens of those protocols.

Cardano has recently seen a surge in DeFi protocols aided by various DeFi enhancements on the blockchain since the start of 2023. As a fact, the total value locked (TVL) on Cardano has risen from $50 million to over $150 million.

Of the many DeFi protocol that has debuted on Cardano, DeFi exchanges such as Indigo, Wingriders, and Minswap, hold a majority of the TVL on the blockchain. Stablecoin project Djed has attracted over $15 million since its early March launch.