Circle confirmed it on June 8. cirBTC is live on Ethereum. The USDC issuer just entered the wrapped Bitcoin market.
The token is 1:1 BTC-backed. It’s built for institutional DeFi. Lending desks, market makers, treasury operations. That’s the target audience, per Circle’s official announcement.
This wasn’t a surprise. Cointelegraph reported Circle’s plans back on April 3. Ethereum and Arc network. Both confirmed. June 8 is when it became real infrastructure.
The mechanics are clean. cirBTC holds a 1:1 Bitcoin reserve. Reserves are visible on-chain. It’s accessible through Circle Mint. The transparency isn’t accidental. It’s a direct answer to the credibility problems that have plagued this market.
That history matters. BitGo’s wBTC dominated Ethereum’s BTC collateral layer for years. Then 2023 happened. A proposed custody transfer tied to Justin Sun rattled institutional confidence. Hard. Coinbase moved fast. cbBTC launched in September 2024. Regulated. US-domiciled. A credible alternative. Cointelegraph flagged the competitive dynamics in its April coverage. Now cirBTC is the third entrant.
Circle’s entry hits different. A newer issuer wouldn’t carry this weight. Circle already runs institutional dollar liquidity through USDC. It’s navigating regulatory scrutiny ahead of a planned IPO. A compliant, transparent BTC collateral product fits that posture exactly. Protocols like Aave and Morpho get another credible option for collateral diversification. Specific integrations aren’t confirmed yet.
Arc deployment is coming too. Circle confirmed it in both the April Cointelegraph report and the June 8 blog post.
The user case is straightforward for BTC holders already in DeFi. Post Bitcoin as collateral. Borrow stablecoins or other assets. No liquidation required. In this market, the differentiator has always been the same: custodial trust and reserve transparency. Circle’s bet is that its institutional reputation wins that argument.
Market share is the open question. Protocol adoption will decide it. So will whether Circle’s reserve disclosures clear the bar for institutional treasury due diligence. cbBTC and wBTC aren’t stepping aside.
The wrapped Bitcoin race on Ethereum just got a serious new competitor.
