Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Redemptions Vastly Outpaced Minting Since BitGo’s Custodial Changes Announcement

Before the current increase in redemptions, crypto users did not redeem any WBTC in the 14 days before BitGo’s revealing operational changes to WBTC.

Following BitGo’s announcement of custodial changes for Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) involving controversial Tron founder Justin Sun, the cryptocurrency has seen 60 times more redemptions than mints, a sign of decreased demand for the token.

WBTC is a token on several blockchains that is backed one-to-one by BTC held by a centralized custodian. Redeeming WBTC entails holders can burning WBTC tokens and receiving native BTC in return, while minting WBTC involves depositing native Bitcoin and receiving WBTC tokens, as described in WBTC’s whitepaper. 

BitGo is a digital asset custodian that controls the multi-signature wallet holding the bitcoins backing WBTC. On Aug. 9, BitGo began a 60-day transitional period to diversify its custodial operations through a joint venture with BiT Global, a Hong Kong-based custody platform. The joint venture includes the Tron ecosystem and its founder Justin Sun, who has long been a controversial figure in the cryptocurrency industry.

Read More: TRON Memecoin Factory SunPump’s Success Seems to Be Predicated on One Thing, Justin Sun

In the two weeks since BitGo made its announcement, the number of WBTC redemptions stood at 1353.7 bitcoins, worth nearly $90 million, while only 20 new WBTC tokens were minted, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard created by the parent company of crypto exchange-traded products issuer 21shares. That represents a net outflow of more than $80 million USD at current prices.

This is a catastrophic reversal from the two weeks before the custody announcement. Over the same number of days, but without Justin Sun’s name attached, users didn’t redeem any tokens and sent BitGo nearly $11 million worth of Bitcoin to mint 172.1 WBTC tokens.

“To me, this seems to be squarely due to declining trust [in WBTC],” Jim Hwang, chief operating officer of crypto investment firm Firinne Capital, told Unchained. The decrease in trust was also on display  when “Maker passed a proposal [on Aug. 15] to eliminate further exposure to WBTC,” according to Hwang. Read More: BitGo Abruptly Pivots on Holders of WBTC Multi-Sig Keys Following Community Outcry

21shares research analyst Tom Wan wrote on X that the redemption data suggests “the community and industry are in search of a more reliable, institutional-grade alternative.”

Data from CoinGecko shows that WBTC has a total supply of 153,372 tokens, representing claims on roughly 0.8% of the current BTC supply. If measured as a separate token, WBTC is the 15th largest cryptocurrency, with a total market cap of almost $9.8 billion – ahead of Shiba Inu (SHIB), Wrapped ETH (WETH), and Chainlink (LINK).