Circle Internet, known for its USDC stablecoin, has launched cirBTC, a wrapped version of Bitcoin, live on Ethereum. The new asset competes directly with Coinbase's cbBTC and wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) for dominance in the synthetic BTC market, particularly targeting institutional participants.
Synthetic bitcoin tokens allow traders to deploy Bitcoin within DeFi protocols—lending, decentralized exchanges, tokenized assets and stablecoins. The Bitcoin network lacks native programmability for complex DeFi operations; wrapped tokens solve this constraint.
WBTC remains the largest player in the market with a market cap around $7.3 billion since its 2019 launch. Coinbase's cbBTC, which launched in 2024, holds just under $5.4 billion in market capitalization. Collectively, all synthetic bitcoin tokens have a market cap between $12.5 billion and $13.5 billion—approximately one percent of Bitcoin's $1.25 trillion market value.
Circle positions cirBTC toward institutions already familiar with its infrastructure. USDC, the company's flagship stablecoin, holds a market cap exceeding $75 billion and is the second-largest stablecoin by that measure.
CircBTC is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin held in segregated custody by Circle National Trust. The token is implemented as an eight-decimal ERC-20 token on Ethereum at address `0x72DFB2E44f59C5AD2bAFE84314E5b99a7cd5075E`. Its reserves are verifiable on-chain, providing transparency for users.
The token launched with 40 Bitcoin in reserve on Ethereum. Circle plans native support on its Arc layer-1 blockchain once mainnet launches, expanding utility across its ecosystem.
The cirBTC asset page provides metrics for on-chain tracking including market cap, total holders, transfer activity, DeFi TVL and DEX trading volume.
