Circle's Wrapped Bitcoin Lags Behind Competitors in Scale

Circle's wrapped Bitcoin product, cirBTC, has entered the market with strong institutional credentials but surprisingly low scale. In an interview, CEO Jeremy Allaire described Circle as 'the platform for the internet financial system', but cirBTC's current numbers tell a different story.

According to Circle's Aug. 27 reserve panel, there are only 40.02450077 cirBTC outstanding about 11 weeks after its Ethereum launch. This is a far cry from WBTC and cbBTC, which have much higher scales of 116,499.2018 and 98,668.19 respectively.

The gap in scale between cirBTC and its competitors highlights the challenge that Circle faces in building a market around its wrapped Bitcoin product. To be useful as collateral, cirBTC needs to demonstrate liquidity, integrations, and borrowing demand, all of which are currently lacking.