Coinbase Expands Bitcoin Access to Solana with Launch of cbBTC

Coinbase has announced plans to introduce cbBTC, its wrapped Bitcoin product, on the Solana blockchain, aiming to broaden Bitcoin access for Solana users. The news was revealed by Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase’s Country Director for Singapore, during the Solana Breakpoint conference on September 21. This expansion follows the successful launch of cbBTC on Base and Ethereum.

Ahmed highlighted that Coinbase users have shown great enthusiasm for Solana, motivating the decision to bring cbBTC to the network. He expressed excitement over the move, noting that Solana users will soon have access to Coinbase's tokenized Bitcoin product. cbBTC, which is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin reserves held by Coinbase, is designed for programmable blockchains like Base and Ethereum.

Since its debut, cbBTC has gained notable market attention. Within just a week, it reached a market capitalization exceeding $100 million, and according to Dune Analytics, its circulating supply is 1,969 tokens, valued at about $124 million. Of this supply, 44.7% is on Base, with 55.3% on Ethereum.

However, cbBTC still trails behind its main competitor, BitGo’s WBTC, which dominates 96.6% of the wrapped Bitcoin market on Ethereum. Despite this competition, Coinbase sees potential in expanding cbBTC to Solana and is confident in its growth trajectory.

There have been concerns regarding cbBTC's transparency, with critics like Justin Sun, founder of Tron, questioning the risks it poses if Coinbase faces any operational difficulties. However, Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO, has reassured the community, emphasizing that the Bitcoin backing cbBTC is safely held by a centralized custodian.

Coinbase’s move comes as other platforms are also looking to bring Bitcoin to Solana. Recently, Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 platform, announced plans to launch sBTC on Solana. Muneeb Ali, co-founder of Stacks, highlighted that sBTC will offer solutions to some of the current challenges of wrapped Bitcoin products, such as high fees during wrapping and unwrapping.

While cbBTC has had early success, it will face competition not just from WBTC but also from new Bitcoin offerings like sBTC. Coinbase remains optimistic, however, that expanding to Solana will solidify cbBTC's position in the growing wrapped Bitcoin market.