Crypto
Home›Crypto›Regulation›Circle's cirBTC shows early scale despite overcollater…
Circle's cirBTC shows early scale despite overcollateralized reserves
At an Aug. 27 snapshot, Circle had 40.0245 cirBTC outstanding, with 42.5114 BTC in reserve for about 106.2% coverage.
Circle’s wrapped Bitcoin token, cirBTC, entered the market backed by segregated reserves and institutional infrastructure, but it is showing limited on-chain scale, according to CryptoSlate. In an Aug. 27 reserve panel, Circle reported 40.02450077 cirBTC outstanding about 11 weeks after its Ethereum launch, alongside 42.5114162 BTC in reserve.
That reserve cushion indicated roughly 106.2% coverage, or a 2.48691543 BTC buffer across 14 disclosed Bitcoin addresses, CryptoSlate said. The backing helped settle the question of whether cirBTC was properly collateralized at that snapshot.
CryptoSlate framed cirBTC’s small float as a test of whether Circle’s broader “internet financial system” thesis, tied to USDC and its planned Arc network, can translate into real demand for wrapped Bitcoin. The company’s CEO Jeremy Allaire described Circle’s platform in its second-quarter results, while cirBTC now faces the challenge of generating liquidity and integrations beyond launch reserves.
The scale gap vs larger wrapped Bitcoin competitors is also visible in public activity data. CryptoSlate cited DefiLlama figures showing about $110.49 million in 24-hour WBTC trading volume and $3.12 billion in maximum observed lending exposure, versus about $338.55 million of volume and $2.817 billion in maximum observed lending exposure for cbBTC at an Aug. 29 check.
Latest closeBitcoin $77,791.11 ▼0.1%|Ethereum $2,431.08 ▼0.5%