LayerZero becomes BitGo’s official interoperability protocol for WBTC

BitGo has selected LayerZero as the digital asset custody provider’s official interoperability provider for the Wrapped Bitcoin token.

On Sept. 10, LayerZero (ZRO) announced that BitGo now uses LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token standard for the crypto company’s Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC). Projects that already tap into OFT are Swell, Ethena and EtherFi among others.

BitGo expands WBTC to BNB Chain and Avalanche

BitGo and its partners launched Wrapped Bitcoin in 2019 with the goal of bringing Bitcoin (BTC) into the DeFi ecosystem on Ethereum (ETH). BTC holders can use WBTC to access decentralized finance applications across lending, borrowing, swapping, and other services.

BitGo’s selection of LayerZero comes as the firm expands its WBTC token, a major asset in the decentralized finance space, to two more blockchain networks—Avalanche (AVAX) and BNB Chain.

WBTC is already available on Ethereum, Tron, Base, Osmosis, and other networks. The latest integrations, BNB Chain and Avalanche, rank as the fourth and seventh largest chains by total value locked respectively as seen on DeFiLlama.

Native WBTC minting

According to LayerZero, BitGo’s choice of the OFT Standard for WBTC allows for the token’s native use and transfer across multiple blockchains.

Users will be able to mint WBTC natively on the supported chains without facing the risks associated with token bridging from Ethereum. Apart from omnichain composability, other benefits of using LayerZero for WBTC interoperability include unified supply and modular security.

As part of the collaboration with LayerZero, BitGo will implement its own decentralized verifier network, which will play a key role in ensuring that every omnichain WBTC transaction is verified. BitGo will collaborate with Polyhedra and LayerZero Labs on the DVN.