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- 1.1 percent of Bitcoin wrapped on Ethereum.
- 80 percent of wrapped tokens on Bitcoin are in WBTC accounts.
About 240,000 Bitcoin have been wrapped onto Ethereum, representing 1.3 percent of the total circulating supply of BTC. In addition, the total Bitcoin on the Ethereum blockchain also equals 1.1 percent of the total supply of BTC. Out of the maximum supply of 21 million Bitcoins, the circulating supply is 18,729,756.
Data shows increasing Bitcoin wrapped onto Ethereum
The increasing amount of Bitcoin circulating supply wrapped onto Ethereum was revealed on a data dashboard by The Block. The amount of tokenized Bitcoin was lower some months ago. Since the beginning of 2021, tokenized Bitcoin has been constantly rising, surging by 100,000 BTC.
BTCs are wrapped on Ethereum when an amount of the token is locked up, and an equivalent number of tokens on ETH is issued. Tokens that are backed by Bitcoin are pegged to the value of Bitcoin. However, they can be used across all DeFi platforms and also in other protocols. Additionally, the tokenization process can be reversed by destroying the tokens, after which the Bitcoin will be released.
The data revealed that most of the tokens had been transferred to wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). At press time, 80 percent of all tokens wrapped onto Ethereum are in the WBTC accounts. These tokens stand as 1 percent of the total circulating supply of Bitcoin.
Other tokenized versions of Bitcoin on Ethereum, as highlighted on the data dashboard, include HBTC and renBTC. Others are imBTC, sBTC, and tBTC. All tokenized versions except HBTC are managed on protocols that allow users to convert to their version of tokenized BTC vice versa. HBTC, on the other hand, is the tokenized version of the crypto exchange platform Huobi.
Bitcoin halving
Although Bitcoin has about 3 million more coins to mine before it reaches its maximum supply, the final BTC is not to be mined until 2140. Bitcoin miners get rewarded with a chunk of the coin after the successful verification of each block.
The mining process has evolved over the years. Notably, the mining reward was 50 BTCs at the initial launch of the first cryptocurrency. The reward halved to 25 Bitcoin in 2012 and halved again to 12.5 bitcoins in 2016. As of February 2021, miners receive 6.25 BTCs as a reward for each block they mine. When the halving occurs every four years, it tends to reduce BTCs’ inflation rate. The halving will continue every four years till there is no more Bitcoin for mining.
Since its creation in 2009, Bitcoin has grown to be the largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Bitcoin has attracted a lot of investors- retail and institutional. A recent report revealed that 32 institutions hold nearly $12 billion in BTC. Several prominent names like Michael Saylor are bullish on Bitcoin and its future in the financial market. Despite the recent crypto market fall, analysts are optimistic that Bitcoin is positioned to surge higher. At press time, Bitcoin is down nearly 10 percent to around $32,900.
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