Dfinity Foundation – a not-for-profit organization that develops the Internet Computer protocol – announced the launch of a “twin” token that is 1:1 cryptographically secured by Bitcoin.
Dubbed “ckBTC,” the new token is being touted as liquid and cost-efficient that will enable layer-2 capabilities on Bitcoin by making it faster and cheaper to transact without compromising security. According to the official press release shared with CryptoPotato, Internet Computer aims to offer a secure solution to Bitcoin’s scaling concerns by integrating directly with the network at the protocol level.
Owing to the latest integration, Bitcoin transactions can be executed 100% on-chain, making it easier to incorporate Bitcoin into decentralized finance (DeFi) as well as Web3 services. This would also eliminate the reliance on centralized bridging services, the statement read.
Dfinity Founder and Chief Scientist Dominic Williams explained,
“The direct integration with the Bitcoin protocol was the first step in bringing ckBTC to life. After months of hard work and discussion with the community, ckBTC is now available for everyone to benefit from. ckBTC means low transaction fees, speed, and, most importantly, no bridges. This is a milestone in the Bitcoin journey, and the DFINITY Foundation is excited to see how projects building on the Internet Computer blockchain implement ckBTC and explore novel use cases.”
The end goal of ckBTC is to deliver a “secure and seamless” transaction with fees set to 0.0000001 ckBTC, significantly lower than that of Bitcoin. However, ckBTC is different than the existing wrapped tokens, which are controlled by a centralized entity.
ckBTC uses “canisters,” which can also be denoted as “smart contracts for asset transfers.” There is no need for intermediaries or risky cross-chain bridges.
Movinig forward, the developers will continue with integration plans of ckBTC with various decentralized applications (dApps) on the network, such as Infinity Swap and ICLighthouse, enabling users to use BTC as collateral in loans and even stake it.
A community governance proposal for ckBTC was rolled out on March 30th for an upgrade that sought to enable the Know Your Transaction (KYT) integration in the ckBTC minter. This would subsequently pave the way for the seamless conversion of BTC into ckBTC by users.
Over 99% of voters have approved the proposal.