Today, Coinbase announced it’s using Chainlink’s Proof of Reserve to increase the transparency of over $4.6 billion worth of BTC reserves backing its wrapped BTC, cbBTC, with verifiable onchain data published on Ethereum and Base.
Launched last September, cbBTC is fully transferable and backed 1:1 by BTC held by Coinbase. Coinbase customers can unwrap and redeem cbBTC for the corresponding amount of underlying BTC by depositing cbBTC into their Coinbase accounts.
Wrapped BTC tokens like cbBTC are among key Chainlink-powered use cases scaling Bitcoin-driven DeFi (BTCFi), which brings new utility to the world’s oldest and largest cryptocurrency with an underutilized market capitalization of over a trillion dollars.
As the standard for onchain finance, verifiable data, and cross-chain interoperability, Chainlink has enabled more than $21 trillion in transaction value while providing a comprehensive set of services that are critical for creating and securing digital assets capable of scaling onchain finance to billions of global users.
By providing real-time updates for reserves backing digital assets with superior transparency and reliability compared to annual statutory audits, interim audits, and monthly proof of reserves, Proof of Reserve establishes a new standard for digital assets, DEXs, and crypto ETFs.
Integrating Proof of Reserve elevates cbBTC to the same standard used by leading wrapped BTC issuers including 21.co, the parent company of 21Shares – one of the world’s largest issuers of crypto exchange-traded products – which uses Proof of Reserve on Solana and Ethereum to enhance the transparency of 21BTC.
DLC.Link, an infrastructure provider for the Bitcoin ecosystem, also utilizes Proof of Reserve on Arbitrum and Ethereum to enhance reserves transparency and secure minting of dlcBTC.
Most recently, Zeus Network, a permissionless multi-chain layer that connects Bitcoin and other top blockchains to Solana’s ecosystem, integrated Proof of Reserve to enhance the security and transparency of its decentralized wrapped BTC, zBTC.