WBTC Bridges to Hedera: Bitcoin DeFi Goes Hyperdrive in 2025
Wrapped Bitcoin storms Hedera’s network—proof that even legacy chains want a piece of DeFi’s action.
Why it matters: The move signals institutional players are finally waking up to decentralized finance—albeit three years late to the party.
The fine print: Hedera’s council-backed governance offers a ‘compliant’ escape hatch for TradFi dinosaurs dipping toes into crypto. How very… predictable.
Bottom line: When Bitcoin starts apartment hunting on alt-L1s, you know the smart money’s hedging its bets. Just don’t expect Wall Street to admit they’re FOMO-ing yet.
Hedera enhances DeFi capabilities with wrapped Bitcoin
BitGo, the primary custodian underpinning WBTC and a member of the Hedera Council, supported the launch. BiT Global and LayerZero also participated, offering additional support for cross-chain interconnections.
Hedera advertises itself as a quick, cost-effective network with predictable fees. Its consensus mechanism is also designed to prevent frontrunning and miner-extractable value (MEV), two issues that can harm users on other blockchains.
With WBTC going live on Hedera, Bitcoin holders can wrap their BTC and utilize it across the smart-contracting platforms of Hedera. This facilitates lending and borrowing, trading, liquidity provision, and many other DeFi tricks.
Hedera has been gaining traction in DeFi over the past year. Its total value locked (TVL) has increased, and the network has attracted more developers, as well as institutional partners.
It is still perceived as one of the larger digital currencies by market cap, even based on the market value of its native token, HBAR.
DeFi Bitcoin gains foothold around the world
The addition of WBTC on Hedera is also indicative of a broader trend in the space. Bitcoin is no longer viewed solely as a long-term store of value; it’s also increasingly being considered an asset that can support its own financial ecosystem.
Supporters of the industry builders argue that they are foolish to sit on all that money. Rather, they envision a system in which BTC can be deployed as a productive asset to lend against, stake with, and trade through – without sacrificing its bedrock identity.
At several industry events, it was emphasized that Bitcoin DeFi aims to establish a trustless and permissionless financial LAYER beyond the scope of Bitcoin. This vision views BTC as collateral and capital, the foundation of a global open finance system.
Major exchanges have even flagged “BTCFi” as a trend to watch heading into the medium- and long-term, asserting that this could boost Bitcoin adoption.
The listing of WBTC on Hedera could boost the network’s DeFi activity by introducing new users and increasing liquidity. It may incentivize the creation of more tools and financial products that focus on Bitcoin on Hedera as well.
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