Following the launch of cbBTC by its competitor Coinbase, Kraken this week unveiled kBTC, an ERC-20 version of Bitcoin (BTC). On which networks is this new asset available?
Kraken presents its kBTC
THURSDAY, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken presented kBTCits new packaged version of BTC allowing Bitcoin to be brought to blockchains using the ERC-20 standard:
kBTC is a fully collateralized ERC-20 token and compatible with different networks. Each kBTC token is fully collateralized at a 1:1 ratio by an equivalent amount of Bitcoin, held securely by Kraken custodial services. Clients can verify this themselves at any time by inspecting our reserves on the blockchain.
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Thus, this novelty comes 2 months after the initial announcement of cbBTC from its competitor Coinbase, which officially saw the light of day last month.
For now, kBTC has been deployed on 2 blockchainsnamely Ethereum (ETH) and OP Mainnet (OP). A glance at each of these networks shows a capitalization equivalent to 80 bitcoins on Ethereum compared to 20 on OP Mainnet. On Bitcoin, we can see that 100 BTC are indeed stored on the return custody address:
Custody address for BTC as collateral for Kraken’s kBTC
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For this launch, Kraken has joined forces with several decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols in order to propose an initial offer. These include applications deBridge, Definitive, Gauntlet, ParaSwap and Yearn.
In the future, we will be able to see what other networks the asset launches on. First of all, the choice of OP Mainnet is not trivial, given the fact that cbBTC has already launched on Base. Moreover, Kraken explicitly indicates that the asset will land on more blockchains, “including non-EVM ecosystems“.
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In terms of its developments, Kraken also announced the opening of a restaking service in partnership with EigenLayer. More broadly, the company also bought, last month, the Coin Meester exchange, which has held registration as a Digital Asset Service Provider since October 2022.
For its part, BTC is trading at $68,000 at the time of writing, up 1.28% over the last 24 hours.
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Source: Kraken
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Since 2021, I have devoted my free time to seriously educating myself on cryptocurrencies in order to acquire maximum knowledge and credibility. I often have the opportunity to conduct interviews with influential figures in the blockchain industry. I also conduct in-depth analyzes on Web3 themes to offer exclusive content to Cryptoast readers.
Vincent Maire
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