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Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Is Now Live on Ethereum

31 points by tmlee 8y ago

JohnJamesRambo 8y ago
I don’t understand why anyone would use this instead of the real BTC or ETH.
- devereaux 8y ago
  At least there's an effort - it's slightly better that yet another fork looking to separate people from their hard earned BTC. Still, 1/10, nothing to see, move along!
- crystaln 8y ago
  Because they can hold BTC for the purpose of using ethereum apps instead of selling BTC.
  - josu 8y ago
    You don't actually hold BTC though, Bitgo does. It's more like a deposit certificate, if Bitgo were to lose the BTCs, all WBTCs would become worthless. I much rather RSK's approach: bring easily programmable smart contracts to Bitcoin. Rather than bringing Bitcoin to smart contracts.
- clanrebornwow 8y ago
  Not just that transaction are faster and cheaper on Ethereum. So you can move bitcoin without actually transacting bitcoins on bitcoin network. Less fee and faster transactions
- jstanley 8y ago
  So that Ethereum contracts can interact with it.
- tmlee 8y ago
  In the context of Ethereum ecosystem, such as dapps or decentralized exchanges; this allows bitcoin to be treated like an ERC-20 token to interact with contracts
askmike 8y ago
The article talks about Dapps and decentralized finance, but WBTC is centralized and managed by a custodians. Sure you could use it in your smart contract, but it has the same kind of risks as using Tether. I think it can be dangerous to build layers of decentralized apps on top of something that's not. (Or maybe I'm not understanding it correctly)
- AgentME 8y ago
  It's technically possible to implement this in a trustless decentralized way: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Atomic_swap https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Atomic_swap. I can't tell if this does it that way or in a centralized way though.
  - dangero 8y ago
    Atomic swaps don't make WBTC feasible in a trustless decentralized fashion. The swap itself is only a very small part of the problem. The article states they are using custodians to hold Bitcoins.
    - askmike 8y ago
      You can lock bitcoin up inside the BTC mainchain by using certain OP codes. This allows you to create a sidechain. For example Liquid does this: https://blockstream.com/liquid/ https://blockstream.com/liquid/
      - LowLevelHacker 8y ago
        Liquid is essentially a "2nd layer" pyramid scheme run by the absolute fraud of a company that is Blockstream. Adam Back has done more to kill decentalized digital cash than any other single person.
      - dangero 8y ago
        Liquid holds btc using multisig not just OP codes.
- 8y ago
kuhhk 8y ago
It’s difficult to keep up with this space...lots of innovation! But what’s the adoption rate of these new tools? Dozens of users a week? Hundreds? I would find it hard to believe thousands of people will use WBTC anytime soon.
- knocte 8y ago
  See comment by @askmike, this is not innovation, this is bullshit. And maybe even deceptive because they took the name "WBTC" to mimic "WETH", however, the latter is truly decentralized and trustless, while the former is not.
LowLevelHacker 8y ago
This is amazing and is the final nail in the coffin for Bitcoin Core (BTC). Now we have ethereum at the number 1 spot acting as "world computer" and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) functioning as the original Bitcoin, a peer to peer digital cash.

31 points by tmlee 8y ago

JohnJamesRambo 8y ago

I don’t understand why anyone would use this instead of the real BTC or ETH.

devereaux 8y ago
At least there's an effort - it's slightly better that yet another fork looking to separate people from their hard earned BTC. Still, 1/10, nothing to see, move along!
crystaln 8y ago
Because they can hold BTC for the purpose of using ethereum apps instead of selling BTC.
- josu 8y ago
  You don't actually hold BTC though, Bitgo does. It's more like a deposit certificate, if Bitgo were to lose the BTCs, all WBTCs would become worthless. I much rather RSK's approach: bring easily programmable smart contracts to Bitcoin. Rather than bringing Bitcoin to smart contracts.
clanrebornwow 8y ago
Not just that transaction are faster and cheaper on Ethereum. So you can move bitcoin without actually transacting bitcoins on bitcoin network. Less fee and faster transactions
jstanley 8y ago
So that Ethereum contracts can interact with it.
tmlee 8y ago
In the context of Ethereum ecosystem, such as dapps or decentralized exchanges; this allows bitcoin to be treated like an ERC-20 token to interact with contracts

askmike 8y ago

The article talks about Dapps and decentralized finance, but WBTC is centralized and managed by a custodians. Sure you could use it in your smart contract, but it has the same kind of risks as using Tether. I think it can be dangerous to build layers of decentralized apps on top of something that's not. (Or maybe I'm not understanding it correctly)

AgentME 8y ago
It's technically possible to implement this in a trustless decentralized way: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Atomic_swap https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Atomic_swap. I can't tell if this does it that way or in a centralized way though.
- dangero 8y ago
  Atomic swaps don't make WBTC feasible in a trustless decentralized fashion. The swap itself is only a very small part of the problem. The article states they are using custodians to hold Bitcoins.
  - askmike 8y ago
    You can lock bitcoin up inside the BTC mainchain by using certain OP codes. This allows you to create a sidechain. For example Liquid does this: https://blockstream.com/liquid/ https://blockstream.com/liquid/
    - LowLevelHacker 8y ago
      Liquid is essentially a "2nd layer" pyramid scheme run by the absolute fraud of a company that is Blockstream. Adam Back has done more to kill decentalized digital cash than any other single person.
    - dangero 8y ago
      Liquid holds btc using multisig not just OP codes.
8y ago

kuhhk 8y ago

It’s difficult to keep up with this space...lots of innovation! But what’s the adoption rate of these new tools? Dozens of users a week? Hundreds? I would find it hard to believe thousands of people will use WBTC anytime soon.

knocte 8y ago
See comment by @askmike, this is not innovation, this is bullshit. And maybe even deceptive because they took the name "WBTC" to mimic "WETH", however, the latter is truly decentralized and trustless, while the former is not.

LowLevelHacker 8y ago

This is amazing and is the final nail in the coffin for Bitcoin Core (BTC). Now we have ethereum at the number 1 spot acting as "world computer" and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) functioning as the original Bitcoin, a peer to peer digital cash.