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Circle, the company behind USDC, has launched cirBTC, a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed ERC-20 token on Ethereum designed specifically for institutional players who want BTC exposure in DeFi without losing sleep over custody questions.
The product went live on June 9, positioning Circle squarely against established wrapped Bitcoin products in a market worth roughly $12.5 to $13.5 billion.
What cirBTC actually does
At its core, cirBTC is a wrapped Bitcoin product. Users deposit BTC, receive an equivalent ERC-20 token on Ethereum, and can redeem it back for the underlying Bitcoin at any time.
The token uses segregated custody for its Bitcoin collateral. The BTC backing cirBTC sits in dedicated accounts rather than getting commingled with other assets.
Reserve verification runs through Chainlink Proof of Reserve, which provides independent, real-time attestation that the Bitcoin actually exists. With Chainlink’s oracle infrastructure, anyone can check the reserves on-chain at any moment.
As of mid-August 2026, cirBTC is live for minting, redeeming, and reserve management globally. Circle has built the product using the same infrastructure model it developed for USDC and EURC, its euro-denominated stablecoin.
The competitive landscape
WBTC held a market capitalization of approximately $7.3 billion at the time of cirBTC’s launch. Coinbase’s cbBTC was valued at roughly $5.4 billion. Together, WBTC and cbBTC account for the vast majority of the synthetic BTC market.
Why institutions care about wrapped Bitcoin at all
Bitcoin’s native blockchain cannot be natively used as collateral on Aave, as liquidity on Uniswap, or plugged into Ethereum-based DeFi protocols. Wrapped Bitcoin products solve this by creating an Ethereum-native representation of BTC that plays nicely with smart contracts.
For institutions, the appeal is straightforward: they hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets and want to put it to work generating yield or using it as collateral, without selling the underlying asset.
What’s next for cirBTC
A key milestone is coming on September 16, 2026, with the launch of Arc mainnet, which is anticipated to broaden cirBTC’s utility within the DeFi ecosystem.
No circulating supply or trading data was reported at launch, which suggests Circle is prioritizing infrastructure buildout and institutional onboarding over retail hype.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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