Switcheo has announced its decision of adding Wrapped Bitcoin Markets, referred to as WBTC, to its DEX (decentralized crypto exchange). Switcheo made an official announcement through their blog post on Medium on 8th July 2019. Switcheo Network also posted a tweet on the same day, updating the larger crypto community around the globe about its new endeavor.
In order to better support future BTC quoted markets, we are delighted to announce that we are introducing a new BTC tab on #Switcheo Exchange.https://t.co/DD2vAPZ0lw
— Switcheo Labs (@SwitcheoLabs) July 8, 2019
With this move, Switcheo has become the first decentralized exchange that enables traders to sell or purchase NEO with tokens which are pegged to Bitcoin. The buying or selling activity can be done via the network’s cross-chain atomic swap.
The WBTC markets of Switcheo have introduced ETH/WBTC and NEO/WBTC as its first 2 trading pairs. The network launched this latest BTC tab on its exchange so that they could provide better support to the future Bitcoin quoted markets, As per the blog.
Wrapped Bitcoin or WBTC is a community-driven project that’s initiated by Republic Protocol, Kyber Network, and BitGo. WBTC is developed for traders, dApps, and institutions. It offers 100% verifiable and transparent BTC ERC20 tokens on the network of Ethereum. In fact, WBTC is the first-ever ERC20 token which is backed with BTC on a 1:1 basis. The initiative would help bridge the liquidity of Bitcoin and Ethereum’s decentralized ecosystem without any complexities which would, in a way, enhance all the decentralized apps.
At present, BitGo is the only custodian while Republic Protocol and Kyber Network play the roles of a merchant along with 0x protocol and MakerDAO among others. As per WBTC’s whitepaper, the custodian is responsible for BTC security as well as holding the keys for minting new WBTC in circulation.
The new WBTC will be minted at the custodian’s end only after the minting process has been initiated by the merchant, BTC has been sent to custodian’s address by the merchant, and the custodian has obtained 6 confirmations. What’s more, these wrapped tokens would burn from and mint to the wallet of the merchant when Bitcoin is redeemed for WBTC.
Switcheo Network is the 1st DEX on the blockchain of NEO that facilitates the trading of Ethereum, NEO, as well as EOS tokens. Achieving a decentralized exchange network that has cross-chain swapping functionalities across more than one blockchains is the goal of Switcheo Network. It wants to focus on offering a great trading experience in a thoroughly decentralized and trustless environment.
