Coinbase's "cbBTC" Teaser Fuels Rumors of New Wrapped Bitcoin Token

On August 14, Coinbase's official X account shared a brief teaser: "cbBTC," with a promise that it is "coming soon."

This cryptic message was echoed by Jesse Pollak, the creator of Coinbase's Layer-2 network Base, who expressed his enthusiasm for Bitcoin and mentioned that Base aims to create a "massive Bitcoin economy."

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Coinbase and Pollak's posts follow a controversy involving Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) creator BitGo and Tron founder Justin Sun. On August 9, BitGo revealed plans to move WBTC's control to a joint venture with custody platform BiT Global and Sun's Tron ecosystem.

In response, BA Labs, a crypto risk management firm, proposed on MakerDAO's forum to limit the growth of WBTC exposure and added:

We find that Sun's involvement as a controlling interest in the new WBTC joint venture presents an unacceptable level of risk.

Matt Belshe, the CEO of BitGo, dismissed these concerns, attributing the backlash to Justin Sun's reputation rather than actual risks and assuring that WBTC's security will remain unchanged.

Justin Sun also addressed the issue on August 10 via X, clarifying that his involvement in WBTC does not grant him direct access to funds and asserting that "no changes to WBTC" have occurred.

The timing of Coinbase's cbBTC teaser has led many to believe that the crypto exchange is positioning itself to offer an alternative to WBTC. The community awaits more details as these developments unfold, anticipating how they will impact the decentralized finance ecosystem.

In other news, Coinbase is dealing with a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that the crypto exchange has violated federal securities laws. A recent update of the case is that Coinbase has requested access to Chair Gary Gensler's private emails, which the SEC opposes.

Gode S. , Web3 Market Analyst

Gode is a Web3 Market Analyst who researches the most important industry events and interprets how they affect the wider Web3 space. Her formal education in media culture & digital rhetoric allows her to employ a methodical approach to evaluating critical Web3 news data, including large-scale events and the wider social sentiment within the ecosystem.
Gode is a mutilingual professional, having studied in multiple universities all across Europe. This allows her to have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to analyze Web3 social sentiments spanning different cultures and languages and, in turn, develop a much deeper understanding of how the Web3 space is growing within different communities. With the rest of her team, Gode works to identify crucial crypto news patterns and provide unbiased and data-driven information.
Gode’s passions include working and communicating with people, and when she’s not researching Web3 news, she spends her time traveling and watching true crime documentaries.

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