Wrapped Bitcoin tops $1B after 900% increase in two months

The recent DeFi frenzy has seen $900 million worth of Bitcoin tokenized using Wrapped Bitcoin over the past two months.

The recent DeFi bull-cycle has pushed the total value locked of popular Bitcoin tokenization protocol Wrapped BTC up by 900% to surpass $1 billion.

The milestone comes four weeks after the TVL of all Bitcoin tokenized on Ethereum surpassed $1 billion for the first time.

The current TVL of tokenized Bitcoin is nearly $1.5 billion, of which WBTC currently represents one-third.

Wrapped Bitcoin is now the fifth-largest DeFi protocol in terms of TVL, representing nearly 10% of the entire sector's locked capital.

WBTC's TVL pushed above $100 million for the first time around July 8.

Wrapped Bitcoin lets users lock up BTC in exchange for WBTC - an ERC-20 token pegged to Bitcoin - which allows BTC holders to access the diverse Ethereum-powered decentralized finance ecosystem using it as collateral.

In the first half of 2020, WBTC's TVL grew from $4 million to $36 million, demonstrating the extreme surge in demand for DeFi during the third quarter.

The DeFi bubble has also benefited other Bitcoin tokenization protocols, with Ren's VM locking up more than $300 million worth of BTC since launching at the end of May. The price of REN has increased by roughly 180% over the same period, with the token bouncing 14% over the past 24 hours after listing on Coinbase.

Not all tokenization protocols have enjoyed sustained success, with PieDAO's TVL recently retracing to May's sub-$1 million levels after briefly spiking in July.