The connection between Bitcoin (BTC) and Avalanche Smart contract blockchain (BTC.b), the largest wrapped version of bitcoin, continues to expand as the supply of wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) grows. Ethereum, in comparison, is diminishing.
On Thursday, more than 2,000 BTC (or $44 million) were ported to Avalanche, according to pseudonymous data from ‘btc.b’, which was the biggest single-day minting of BTC.b on record on the dashboard Dune Analytics. This has resulted in a total circulating supply of 8,572 BTC.b.
As per 0xAcid, half of all bitcoins minted on Thursday were transferred from BENQI Finance. It is possible to use Avalanche, a protocol for decentralized, blockchain-based finance (DeFi), which allows users to lend, borrow, and generate further profits from digital assets, to bridge the gap between the two.
In June 2022, holders of Avalanche BTC will be able to use their coins in the market with added support from bitcoin across-chain bridge. To generate increased returns, the DeFi ecosystem uses decentralized financing (DeFi) based on blockchain. BTC.b’s growth has been remarkable, with more coins in circulation than those held in Lightning Network.
A crypto bridge permits interaction between the two technically and economically distinct blockchains. According to Chainalysis, a forensics firm, 70% of all exploitations in crypto last year were initiated by hackers targeting them.
The new record for BTC.b coin mint comes as the WBTC supply decreases by 15% to 53,164 in February, the lowest level since March 2021. It appears bankruptcies and lack of liquidity in the market are the main contributing factors.
The Avalanche platform has recently set a new record in daily Bitcoin minting through its bridge to the cryptocurrency. Over 2,000 BTC were minted during the previous day, according to a tweet from the anonymous writer known as Emperor Osmo. This significant achievement was propelled by the recent large redemptions of WBTC, the ERC-20 token tied to Bitcoin.
The Avalanche Community is confident that its BTC.b, an alternative to WBTC, is far superior. This is because users can utilize the bridge extension in a non-custodial browser core to mint and redeem BTC.b whenever they wish, without any need for intermediaries. This stands in stark contrast to WBTC, which requires merchants to initiate the burning and minting process.
Despite BTC.b’s impressive surge in supply, the investors of AVAX, Avalanche’s native token, remain unconvinced of its growing popularity in DeFi. Osmo recently tweeted: “Over $200M of BTC has been bridged to Avalanche [to date]. The BTC DeFi narrative is definitely not priced in for AVAX.”
At the time of writing, AVAX was trading at $16, a 6% drop from the previous day. Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency has experienced a 50% increase in its market value over the past year.