Technology
WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin)
Introduction to Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC)
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) is an ERC-20 token that represents Bitcoin (BTC) on the Ethereum blockchain. Each WBTC token is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin, meaning that for every WBTC in circulation, there is an equivalent amount of Bitcoin held in reserve by a custodian. This integration brings the liquidity and stability of Bitcoin to the Ethereum ecosystem, enabling users to leverage Bitcoin in decentralized applications (dApps), decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and other blockchain-based functionalities.
Origin and Development
Wrapped Bitcoin was officially launched on January 31, 2019, as a collaborative project between multiple organizations, including BitGo, Ren, and Kyber Network. These organizations form the WBTC DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), which governs the protocol and ensures the peg between WBTC and BTC remains intact.
Technical Architecture
1. ERC-20 Standard:
WBTC is an ERC-20 token, meaning it adheres to the standard defined for tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. This ensures compatibility with all Ethereum-based wallets, dApps, and smart contracts.
2. Custodians and Minting:
The custodian, primarily BitGo, is responsible for holding the Bitcoin reserves. To mint new WBTC, a user must undergo a KYC/AML verification process through an approved merchant.
After verification, the user sends Bitcoin to the custodian, who then mints an equivalent amount of WBTC and sends it to the user’s Ethereum address.
3. Burn and Redeem:
When a user wants to convert WBTC back into Bitcoin, they must send WBTC to a merchant who then initiates the burn process. The custodian releases the equivalent amount of Bitcoin to the user’s Bitcoin address.
Key Features and Benefits
1. Liquidity:
WBTC brings the liquidity of Bitcoin to the Ethereum ecosystem. This is particularly beneficial for DeFi platforms that require high liquidity for lending, borrowing, and trading activities.
2. Interoperability:
By bridging Bitcoin and Ethereum, WBTC allows Bitcoin holders to participate in the Ethereum ecosystem without having to sell their BTC.
3. Transparency:
The reserves backing WBTC are verifiable through the blockchain. BitGo provides regular audits and proof of reserves, ensuring that each WBTC is fully backed by an equivalent amount of Bitcoin.
4. Speed and Efficiency:
Transactions involving WBTC are processed on the Ethereum blockchain, which generally offers faster confirmation times compared to the Bitcoin network. Additionally, Ethereum’s smart contract functionality enables more complex interactions and automated processes.
Use Cases
1. DeFi Applications:
WBTC can be used as collateral in lending and borrowing platforms like Compound and Aave, or in liquidity pools on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap and SushiSwap.
2. Trading:
Traders can use WBTC to gain exposure to Bitcoin’s price movements without leaving the Ethereum ecosystem. It also allows for arbitrage opportunities between centralized exchanges and DEXs.
3. Yield Farming:
Users can stake their WBTC in various DeFi protocols to earn rewards, participate in liquidity mining, and generate passive income.
4. Payment and Transfers:
WBTC facilitates faster and cheaper transfers of Bitcoin value across the Ethereum network, leveraging Ethereum’s relatively lower transaction fees and faster block times.
Risks and Challenges
1. Centralization:
One of the main criticisms of WBTC is its reliance on centralized custodians. While the custodians are reputable entities, this centralization introduces counterparty risk.
2. Regulatory Risks:
As with all cryptocurrencies, WBTC faces potential regulatory scrutiny. Compliance with KYC/AML regulations may deter some users who prioritize privacy and decentralization.
3. Smart Contract Risks:
WBTC relies on Ethereum smart contracts, which are susceptible to bugs and exploits. While audits and security measures are in place, the risk of vulnerabilities cannot be entirely eliminated.
4. Custodial Risk:
The security and integrity of the custodian (BitGo) are paramount. Any compromise of BitGo’s operations or custodial practices could impact the WBTC peg and user funds.
Governance and Community
The governance of WBTC is managed by the WBTC DAO, which consists of various members from prominent organizations within the crypto space. The DAO structure allows for decentralized decision-making and community involvement in the evolution of the WBTC protocol.
Market Performance and Adoption
Since its inception, WBTC has seen significant adoption and integration across numerous DeFi platforms and exchanges. It has become one of the most widely used Bitcoin representations on the Ethereum network, with substantial trading volumes and liquidity.
Competitors and Alternatives
While WBTC is a leading tokenized Bitcoin, there are other alternatives in the market, including:
RenBTC: Another ERC-20 token backed 1:1 by Bitcoin, created by the Ren Project.
HBTC: An ERC-20 token backed by Bitcoin, issued by Huobi.
tBTC: A decentralized solution for tokenizing Bitcoin on Ethereum, focusing on trustless minting and redeeming processes.
Future Prospects
The future of WBTC looks promising, with continuous growth in the DeFi sector driving demand for tokenized Bitcoin. Potential developments include:
Enhanced interoperability with other blockchain networks.
Increased adoption in traditional finance as the cryptocurrency market matures.
Improvements in governance and decentralization to mitigate centralization risks.
Conclusion
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) represents a significant innovation in the cryptocurrency space, merging the value and liquidity of Bitcoin with the versatile and robust Ethereum ecosystem. While it offers numerous benefits for DeFi users and traders, it also comes with inherent risks, particularly related to centralization and custodial dependencies. As the cryptocurrency landscape evolves, WBTC is likely to play a crucial role in bridging different blockchain networks and expanding the utility of Bitcoin across various applications
Debates over AI benchmarks — and how they’re reported by AI labs — are spilling out into public view.
This week, an OpenAI employee accused Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, of publishing misleading benchmark results for its latest AI model, Grok 3. One of the co-founders of xAI, Igor Babushkin, insisted that the company was in the right.
The truth lies somewhere in between.
In a post on xAI’s blog, the company published a graph showing Grok 3’s performance on AIME 2025, a collection of challenging math questions from a recent invitational mathematics exam. Some experts have questioned AIME’s validity as an AI benchmark. Nevertheless, AIME 2025 and older versions of the test are commonly used to probe a model’s math ability.
xAI’s graph showed two variants of Grok 3, Grok 3 Reasoning Beta and Grok 3 mini Reasoning, beating OpenAI’s best-performing available model, o3-mini-high, on AIME 2025. But OpenAI employees on X were quick to point out that xAI’s graph didn’t include o3-mini-high’s AIME 2025 score at “cons@64.”
What is cons@64, you might ask? Well, it’s short for “consensus@64,” and it basically gives a model 64 tries to answer each problem in a benchmark and takes the answers generated most frequently as the final answers. As you can imagine, cons@64 tends to boost models’ benchmark scores quite a bit, and omitting it from a graph might make it appear as though one model surpasses another when in reality, that’s isn’t the case.
Grok 3 Reasoning Beta and Grok 3 mini Reasoning’s scores for AIME 2025 at “@1” — meaning the first score the models got on the benchmark — fall below o3-mini-high’s score. Grok 3 Reasoning Beta also trails ever-so-slightly behind OpenAI’s o1 model set to “medium” computing. Yet xAI is advertising Grok 3 as the “world’s smartest AI.”
Babushkin argued on X that OpenAI has published similarly misleading benchmark charts in the past — albeit charts comparing the performance of its own models. A more neutral party in the debate put together a more “accurate” graph showing nearly every model’s performance at cons@64:
Hilarious how some people see my plot as attack on OpenAI and others as attack on Grok while in reality it’s DeepSeek propaganda
(I actually believe Grok looks good there, and openAI’s TTC chicanery behind o3-mini-*high*-pass@”””1″”” deserves more scrutiny.) https://t.co/dJqlJpcJh8 pic.twitter.com/3WH8FOUfic— Teortaxes▶️ (DeepSeek 推特🐋铁粉 2023 – ∞) (@teortaxesTex) February 20, 2025
But as AI researcher Nathan Lambert pointed out in a post, perhaps the most important metric remains a mystery: the computational (and monetary) cost it took for each model to achieve its best score. That just goes to show how little most AI benchmarks communicate about models’ limitations — and their strengths.
We’ve all been there. A favorite item is suddenly unavailable for purchase. Couldn’t the manufacturer have given you advance warning?
Whether owing to low sales, changing habits, production costs, or even because something is a little wrong with your favorite product (shh), discontinued items are part of life. In a weekend piece, the New York Times delves into the not-so-dark underbelly of online places where shoppers find these items, share tips and yes, find emotional support.
The story highlights a padded laptop bag made by Filson that a super fan now hunts “down everywhere” to snag as many as possible “before everyone figures out how great they are.” It points to Discontinued Beauty, a site whose offerings are old to visitors but new to the site. Among its latest products: an “essential protein restructurizer” by Redkin priced at an eye-popping $169.95. (The newest version of the product costs shoppers $32.)
Could it be dangerous to use these discontinued products? Who cares, suggests one creative director, who tells the Times about a lip pencil the beauty company NARS no longer sells and she has found elsewhere. “Now, do I know the proper way to store this for optimal conditions? No,” she says. “They’re under my sink.”
The National Institute of Standards and Technology could fire as many as 500 staffers, according to multiple reports — cuts that further threaten a fledgling AI safety organization.
Axios reported this week that the US AI Safety Institute (AISI) and Chips for America, both part of NIST, would be “gutted” by layoffs targeting probationary employees (who are typically in their first year or two on the job). And Bloomberg said some of those employees had already been given verbal notice of upcoming terminations.
Even before the latest layoff reports, AISI’s future was looking uncertain. The institute, which is supposed to study risks and develop standards around AI development, was created last year as part of then-President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI safety. President Donald Trump repealed that order on his first day back in office, and AISI’s director departed earlier in February.
Fortune spoke to a number of AI safety and policy organizations who all criticized the reported layoffs.
“These cuts, if confirmed, would severely impact the government’s capacity to research and address critical AI safety concerns at a time when such expertise is more vital than ever,” said Jason Green-Lowe, executive director of the Center for AI Policy.
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