Coinbase’s Wrapped Bitcoin Debuts on Solana, Targeting the Decentralized Finance Sector

Coinbase has launched its wrapped Bitcoin on the Solana platform to boost its usage in the DeFi landscape.

Coinbase has brought its wrapped Bitcoin to Solana in a bid to further integrate the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

Coinbase is launching its wrapped Bitcoin on the Solana platform to enable its use in Solana’s burgeoning DeFi ecosystem, the leading U.S. exchange announced in a post on X Nov. 7.

“This is the first token Coinbase has issued on Solana, and with it, we’re excited to bring easy access to BTC,” Coinbase said.

The exchange will be offering cbBTC as a Solana Program Library (SPL) token, a format that can hold both fungible and non-fungible assets on Solana, according to Coinbase.

“The token is backed 1:1 with Bitcoin and allows users to utilize Bitcoin in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem,” it added.

Coinbase listed several Solana-based decentralized exchanges and DeFi protocols where cbBTC will be available, including Jupiter, Meteora, Kamino Finance, Raydium, Phoenix, Jito, and Drift.

“Bitcoin is king, and the vision is for Kamino to be one of the largest cbBTC venues in DeFi,” the team behind the Solana-based lending, liquidity, and leverage protocol said in a statement.

During Breakpoint in September, Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase’s country director for Singapore, disclosed the plans to bring cbBTC to Solana.

According to Solscan, the Solana blockchain explorer, the firm already moved 135 cbBTC, totaling about $10 million, to the Solana network.

The move comes after the failure of soBTC during the collapse of the FTX exchange, which saw the Solana-based wrapped Bitcoin asset being delisted.

The Solana team noted on Nov. 7 that Coinbase’s wrapped BTC joins a rapidly expanding range of programmable Bitcoin variants on Solana, including Threshold’s tBTC, Zeus Network’s zBTC, and WBTC via Wormhole.

Since its launch in mid-September, Coinbase’s wrapped Bitcoin asset has grown to a market value exceeding $1 billion.

BitGo’s Wrapped Bitcoin, seen as the industry benchmark with a market cap of $11 billion, is available on many layer-1 and layer-2 networks, positioning it as a competitor to Coinbase’s wrapped Bitcoin.

According to DefiLlama, Solana DeFi saw a substantial recovery in 2024, with total value locked expanding by 250%, reaching a total of $8.25 billion.

The recovery in Ethereum DeFi has been more gradual, yet its TVL has risen by 72% in 2024, reaching $60 billion.

As per CoinGecko, prices increased by 3.4% since the announcement, rising to $200 in early trading on Nov. 8.