Chainlink has enabled the transfer of Coinbase’s wrapped Bitcoin token, cbBTC, from Base to the Monad blockchain using its Inter-Chain Shared Protocol, allowing over $5 billion worth of cbBTC to flow into the Monad ecosystem.
According to Monday’s announcement from Monad, the integration brings cbBTC into the Monad DeFi ecosystem, where a number of applications, including Curvance and Neverland, accept cbBTC markets.
The move introduces Bitcoin-backed liquidity to lending, borrowing and other decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on Monad, an EVM-compliant layer-1 blockchain designed for high-volume trading and financial use cases.
“As Bitcoin-backed assets grow into the tens of billions, the infrastructure that transports them must scale,” said William Reilly, head of strategic initiatives at Chainlink Labs. CCIP is built with multiple layers of decentralized authentication to reduce chain risks and maintain consistent 1:1 support across networks, he added.
Monad offers transmission of up to 10,000 transactions per second and secondary termination, positioning itself as an infrastructure for intensive financial applications.
Coinbase launched cbBTC in September 2024 as a wrapped Bitcoin token on Ethereum and Base, held 1:1 by BTC in custody and designed to automatically withdraw Bitcoin deposits on the exchange.
related to: Bitcoin Fold company pays off $66 million debt and releases BTC collateral
The new products aim to turn Bitcoin into a profitable asset
Unlike proof-of-stake networks like Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), where users can earn rewards by staking tokens, Bitcoin’s proof-of-work design does not inherently generate revenue. This limitation has historically limited on-chain income opportunities for the largest cryptocurrency holders, but new financial structures have begun to bridge the gap.
In May, Solv Protocol co-founder Ryan Chow said demand for Bitcoin yield strategies is accelerating, especially among companies looking for liquidity without selling Bitcoin. He pointed to the integration of proof-of-stake and delta-neutral trading strategies as ways Bitcoin can scale up and profit while supporting the security and liquidity of the network.
That same month, Coinbase launched the Coinbase Bitcoin Income Fund, which aims for 4% to 8% annual net income for institutional investors outside the US. About a month later, Kraken introduced a bitcoin product through an integration with Babylon Labs that allows users to lock up their BTC and leave it to the safety of proof-of-stake networks without money or tying.
Wrapped Wikipedia also continued to expand across networks. In November, WBTC merged with the Hedera network with support from BitGo and LayerZero, expanding the largest tokenized version of Bitcoin into another smart contract ecosystem.
Last week, Telegram added vaults within the TON Wallet, allowing users to earn money within the messaging app through a decentralized financial infrastructure.
Magazine: Would Bitcoin Really Be $200K If Not For Jane Street? Trade secret
