New History in Cryptocurrency: Will Wrapped Bitcoin WBTC on ERC20 lead to Crypto 2.0?
Friday’s biggest bang, the launch of Bitcoin’s new tokens – Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) running on the smart technology network ERC-20 could well be writing a new history for cryptocurrency evolution and adoption. The launch of the new token is slated for January 2019.
In the long term, the cusping of BTC with ETH could well restructure the crypto ecosystem.
WBTC developed by Kyber Network (KNC), and Republic Protocol (REN) will be secured by BitGo. The latter service provider will act as a transparent custodian for the BTC reserves which will present the value of WBTC.
The aftermath of the launch is KNC’s jump into the Top-100 market cap and a listing on the Upbit exchange, even as REN’s coins gained 13%.
What is WBTC?
WBTC is a new token project jointly developed by KNC and REN to offer cryptocurrency users a key advantage – Liquidity of Bitcoin running on the smart contract developer Ethereum.
According to the CEO of Kyber Network, Loi Luu,
“Applications on Ethereum such as decentralized exchanges and financial protocols will all be able to use Bitcoin seamlessly, creating bitcoin trading pairs which have been impossible until now. At the same time, the usage of Bitcoin will be expanded by having more decentralized use cases, such as exchange, loans, and token payments.”
Aftermath
The venture is expected to have a major impact on the use and adoption of the blockchain-based currencies at the earliest.
The first stage to be impacted is the Ethereum transactions. Thus far in exchanges for tokens, the transaction would be limited to ETH and ERC-20. However, the induction of BTC which carries the asset value of Bitcoin will lead to indirect, or proxy trade.
The final stage of this transaction is that WBTC will become a stable coin as far as the ERC-20 exchange is concerned. It could also see BTC like Tether for Ethereum tokens.
The immediate impact of WBTC is the surge in tokens of KNC and REN.
KNC skyrockets to 27%
KNC token rose by nearly 27% on the back of the WBTC announcement. The unit price rose from $0.442165 to $0.565303. However, the net gains were in the range of $0.49 after the surge subsided over the day.
REN moves up by 13%
Republic Protocol is ranked 236th by market cap, and matches buy to sell transactions in what is termed a ‘dark pool.’ Prices of the token rose by 13% to $0.031845 and the day’s trade for the pair – REN/ETH was on the following exchanges – HADAX, IDEX, and UEX.
BitGo, the custodian services provider has induced more funds lately from Goldman Sachs and venture firm Galaxy Digital. KNC is also liquidity while REN is the dark pool platform used typically by institutional traders.
A new beginning for cryptocurrency 2.0
Hence, the bottom line with the WBTC launch is that it includes the best of the industry participants on a common platform to break the current glass ceiling due to the separation of key financial processes – bitcoin has value, Ethereum has the smart technology and BitGo the custodian services. Thus, WBTC could well be the beginning of Cryptocurrency in 2.0