BitGo Is Bringing DeFi-Friendly Wrapped Bitcoin to the Tron Blockchain

The partnership will bring BitGo’s wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) into the Tron ecosystem as a TRC-20 token.

Sep 24, 2020 at 3:06 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. UTC

Tron, the blockchain launched in 2017 by former Ripple devotee Justin Sun, has entered a strategic alliance with custody specialists BitGo.

The partnership will bring BitGo’s wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) into the Tron ecosystem as a TRC-20 token. (The token is backed roughly 1:1 by bitcoin deposited by users at BitGo Trust, a qualified custodian in the U.S.)

The introduction of WBTC – plus a newly-created wrapped ether token from BitGo – is meant to help fuel the incipient decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem on Tron. WBTC has been a key driver in the growth of DeFi on Ethereum. (Note: BitGo has nothing to do with the existing wrapped ether (WETH) token used widely in Ethereum DeFi applications.)

Tron founder Sun said the move will help sidestep surging transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain.

“Everyone may now use their BTC/ETH to enjoy all the benefits of the Tron DeFi ecosystem without the high gas fees on Ethereum,” Sun said in a statement.

Sun also pointed to a service similar to Uniswap on Tron called JustSwap, which he said has achieved $100 million 24-hour volumes since it was launched about a month ago.

BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said WBTC has seen tremendous growth in concert with DeFi’s boom.

“Our new strategic alliance with Tron creates even greater opportunities for users to expand to other chains and tokenize their BTC on the Tron dApp ecosystem while transacting at a lower cost and faster speed,” Belshe said in a statement.

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