Latest news with #WBTC
Time of India
21-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Cryptocurrency Live News & Updates : Ethereum Tests Resistance at $3,877 to $3,987
21 Jul 2025 | 11:55:12 PM IST Ethereum (ETH) is encountering a crucial resistance zone between $3,877 and $3,987, with strong support at $3,434, according to on-chain data from Glassnode. Ethereum is currently navigating a significant resistance range between $3,877 and $3,987, as highlighted by on-chain analysis from Glassnode. This resistance zone could trigger selling pressure due to the concentration of ETH holders in this price range. Meanwhile, a solid support level at $3,434 may encourage buyers to step in if prices decline. In related news, a whale investor is contemplating selling 50 WBTC, potentially realizing an impressive profit of $2.404 million after a 15-month hold. Additionally, StablecoinX has emerged as a new player in the market, planning to acquire Ethena and implement a treasury strategy with a substantial $360 million capital raise. This move aims to provide public market investors with access to the Ethena ecosystem. On the NFT front, Fat Penguin NFTs have seen a surge in sales, with a notable 15.6% rise in floor price, driven by whale purchases. Lastly, Michael Saylor warns that Bitcoin availability may become extremely limited in the next decade, urging investors to act swiftly. Show more
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitlayer's BitVM Bridge Debuts Its Mainnet, Offers Trust-Minimized Bitcoin DeFi
Bitlayer's BitVM Bridge launched its mainnet on Wednesday, enabling bitcoin (BTC) liquidity for decentralized finance through a trust-minimized framework. The bridge keeps users' BTC safe by locking it in the BitVM smart contract that operates under the assumption that at least one honest market participant exists, ready to expose malicious attempts to move funds. This trust-minimized setup starkly contrasts traditional custodians that involve centralized custody or distributed custodianship. "Over the past year, we've dedicated significant resources to developing the BitVM bridge, and we're thrilled to finally deliver this milestone to the community," Bitlayer co-founder, Kevin He said in a press release shared with CoinDesk. "Post-mainnet deployment, our focus shifts to scaling asset compatibility and deepening integration with additional blockchain networks," He added. Central to Bitlayer is YBTC, a token that directly represents the user's locked bitcoin. Its value is pegged 1:1 with BTC, and it opens decentralized finance to BTC holders looking to generate additional yield by allowing them to stake, lend, borrow, trade and provide liquidity across multi-chain decentralized exchanges. The token's security stems directly from the transparent and verifiable BitVM smart contract – unlike wrapped BTC (such as WBTC), which relies on a trusted central entity to hold the actual BTC. Note that YBTC is distinct from Bitlayer's native token, BTR, which is used for governance, fees and staking within the ecosystem and is slated to be listed on major centralized exchanges. Typically, eliminating centralized custodians implies longer waiting times, especially in the case of fraud-proof systems like Bitlayer. Here, while transactions are assumed to be honest, anyone watching can step in to prove if something went wrong. To allow enough time for these crucial security checks, there's a built-in waiting period, typically seven days, during which a fraudulent transaction could be challenged. This can lead to longer withdrawal times. However, Bitlayer employs an innovative "front-and-reclaim" model, transferring the waiting period to specialized brokers or third-party liquidity providers. These entities provide the withdrawn BTC from their own funds to users within approximately one hour. Meanwhile, they wait for their original seven-day security period to end before getting their funds back from the smart contract. This approach offers both trustless security and a fast, convenient user experience. "There is a front mechanism in BitVM bridge design, the pegout user will get their BTC back at bitcoin block time," He told CoinDesk. "The waiting time will be left to the broker(operator)." Bitlayer is prioritizing integration with the Ethereum mainnet and major layer 2 solutions, as well as exploring Solana and Bitcoin-native layer 2s, such as Lightning Network applications. It has already secured integration with other leading ecosystems, including Sui, Base, Starknet, and Arbitrum, Sonic, Plume Network and Sundial. "Our goal is to make YBTC universally accessible wherever significant DeFi liquidity exists, enabling bitcoin to flow securely and seamlessly into diverse ecosystems," BitLayer's team told CoinDesk. The team added that it plans to establish a security committee, release audit reports and conduct bug bounties and open-source their code, creating a roadmap that positions BitLayer's BitVM Bridge as a crucial piece of infrastructure for BTC's future in in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The End of Bitcoin Maximalism
The launch of Bitcoin in 2009 created a resilient and decentralized monetary asset. Early adherents rallied around it as a singular innovation — immutable, fixed-supply, and leaderless. Over time, this coalesced into a belief system: Bitcoin maximalism. The argument was simple. Bitcoin came first. It had the most Proof-of-Work security. The most conservative monetary policy. All other assets were distractions or regressions. But that framing increasingly diverges from how Bitcoin is now being applied in practice. Today, the crypto ecosystem is no longer a collection of isolated silos or, at least, it needn't be. Interoperability is the backbone of Web3. The same technologies that maximalists once dismissed, like wrapped bitcoin and cross-chain bridges, are now exposing the limitations of that worldview. While these technologies are far from perfect, they prove that users want more than ideological purity; they want utility and functionality. This evolution is particularly significant for Bitcoin, which has historically been limited by its transaction speeds and a lack of smart contract functionality. The watershed moment came with the emergence and explosive growth of DeFi, offering yield farming, lending, and trading opportunities that Bitcoin — at least in its native form — couldn't directly participate in (most early DeFi activity was concentrated on Ethereum). To bridge this gap, solutions like wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) were conceived and launched, tokenizing BTC for use on Ethereum and other chains. While this was a step forward, wrapped tokens came with associated risks, such as centralized custodians, potential security vulnerabilities and an overall departure from Bitcoin's trustless ethos. New systems, including trust-minimized tunneling and Bitcoin-anchored consensus proofs, are enabling BTC to be integrated into smart contract environments without compromising its core properties. These architectures avoid the need for wrapping. Instead, they treat Bitcoin as a foundational, external settlement layer that can interact directly with the rest of the blockchain ecosystem — through tunneling and specialized Bitcoin-aware virtual machines. The result is simple: Bitcoin is no longer isolated. And it no longer needs to be. Bitcoin maximalism asserts that BTC alone is sufficient. But the infrastructure now being deployed across the ecosystem proves otherwise. BTC is being used in DeFi. BTC is supporting NFT standards. BTC is moving across chains. And it is doing so without compromising its consensus layer or monetary properties. The future of crypto belongs to collaboration, not isolation. Blockchain infrastructure will be shaped by interoperability and modular design. Bitcoin need not compete for dominance in such an ecosystem; rather, it can complement and secure a broader multi-chain ecosystem. As developers build bridges between chains rather than walls, they prove that Bitcoin can coexist with other networks, enhancing its utility instead of competing for dominance. In this environment, the maximalist mentality of 'one coin to rule them all' already feels out of touch. Regular crypto users want flexibility and different options to stake, lend, or trade their assets across multiple platforms, which interoperability enables — unlike Bitcoin maximalism that restricts all out-of-the-box use cases. As multi-chain ecosystems mature, users are increasingly drawn to infrastructure that supports cross-chain utility, including secure integrations of BTC. Finally, Bitcoin maximalism has always been rooted mostly in ideology — but the crypto industry is driven by innovation, and new technologies are proving that BTC can evolve without losing its importance or advantages. This way, maximalists risk being left behind if they dismiss these advancements as mere 'distractions.' Bitcoin continues to serve as the most secure and censorship-resistant settlement network in the world. That is not changing. What is changing is the environment around it. Decentralized systems are growing more interoperable. The expectation that networks will remain isolated is no longer viable. BTC is becoming a core layer in a multi-chain stack, and more integrated into systems it once stood apart from. Where once Bitcoin maximalism offered clarity during crypto's early phases of growth, the ecosystem has evolved. Today, Bitcoin can serve as a cornerstone in a broader system emphasizing security, interconnectivity, and composability. As this trend continues to gain momentum, Bitcoin maximalism may fade because the idea that one coin must dominate all others ignores the power of collaboration and innovation. Interoperability isn't a threat to Bitcoin — it's a catalyst for growth. The future of crypto isn't about choosing a single winner but rather about building a decentralized world where every chain, including Bitcoin, plays a vital role. The decentralized future will rely on systems that are secure, interoperable, and modular. Bitcoin's role as a resilient base layer ensures that it will persist as an integral component of that future, not as the only chain, but a fundamental cornerstone among others.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The End of Bitcoin Maximalism
The launch of Bitcoin in 2009 created a resilient and decentralized monetary asset. Early adherents rallied around it as a singular innovation — immutable, fixed-supply, and leaderless. Over time, this coalesced into a belief system: Bitcoin maximalism. The argument was simple. Bitcoin came first. It had the most Proof-of-Work security. The most conservative monetary policy. All other assets were distractions or regressions. But that framing increasingly diverges from how Bitcoin is now being applied in practice. Today, the crypto ecosystem is no longer a collection of isolated silos or, at least, it needn't be. Interoperability is the backbone of Web3. The same technologies that maximalists once dismissed, like wrapped bitcoin and cross-chain bridges, are now exposing the limitations of that worldview. While these technologies are far from perfect, they prove that users want more than ideological purity; they want utility and functionality. This evolution is particularly significant for Bitcoin, which has historically been limited by its transaction speeds and a lack of smart contract functionality. The watershed moment came with the emergence and explosive growth of DeFi, offering yield farming, lending, and trading opportunities that Bitcoin — at least in its native form — couldn't directly participate in (most early DeFi activity was concentrated on Ethereum). To bridge this gap, solutions like wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) were conceived and launched, tokenizing BTC for use on Ethereum and other chains. While this was a step forward, wrapped tokens came with associated risks, such as centralized custodians, potential security vulnerabilities and an overall departure from Bitcoin's trustless ethos. New systems, including trust-minimized tunneling and Bitcoin-anchored consensus proofs, are enabling BTC to be integrated into smart contract environments without compromising its core properties. These architectures avoid the need for wrapping. Instead, they treat Bitcoin as a foundational, external settlement layer that can interact directly with the rest of the blockchain ecosystem — through tunneling and specialized Bitcoin-aware virtual machines. The result is simple: Bitcoin is no longer isolated. And it no longer needs to be. Bitcoin maximalism asserts that BTC alone is sufficient. But the infrastructure now being deployed across the ecosystem proves otherwise. BTC is being used in DeFi. BTC is supporting NFT standards. BTC is moving across chains. And it is doing so without compromising its consensus layer or monetary properties. The future of crypto belongs to collaboration, not isolation. Blockchain infrastructure will be shaped by interoperability and modular design. Bitcoin need not compete for dominance in such an ecosystem; rather, it can complement and secure a broader multi-chain ecosystem. As developers build bridges between chains rather than walls, they prove that Bitcoin can coexist with other networks, enhancing its utility instead of competing for dominance. In this environment, the maximalist mentality of 'one coin to rule them all' already feels out of touch. Regular crypto users want flexibility and different options to stake, lend, or trade their assets across multiple platforms, which interoperability enables — unlike Bitcoin maximalism that restricts all out-of-the-box use cases. As multi-chain ecosystems mature, users are increasingly drawn to infrastructure that supports cross-chain utility, including secure integrations of BTC. Finally, Bitcoin maximalism has always been rooted mostly in ideology — but the crypto industry is driven by innovation, and new technologies are proving that BTC can evolve without losing its importance or advantages. This way, maximalists risk being left behind if they dismiss these advancements as mere 'distractions.' Bitcoin continues to serve as the most secure and censorship-resistant settlement network in the world. That is not changing. What is changing is the environment around it. Decentralized systems are growing more interoperable. The expectation that networks will remain isolated is no longer viable. BTC is becoming a core layer in a multi-chain stack, and more integrated into systems it once stood apart from. Where once Bitcoin maximalism offered clarity during crypto's early phases of growth, the ecosystem has evolved. Today, Bitcoin can serve as a cornerstone in a broader system emphasizing security, interconnectivity, and composability. As this trend continues to gain momentum, Bitcoin maximalism may fade because the idea that one coin must dominate all others ignores the power of collaboration and innovation. Interoperability isn't a threat to Bitcoin — it's a catalyst for growth. The future of crypto isn't about choosing a single winner but rather about building a decentralized world where every chain, including Bitcoin, plays a vital role. The decentralized future will rely on systems that are secure, interoperable, and modular. Bitcoin's role as a resilient base layer ensures that it will persist as an integral component of that future, not as the only chain, but a fundamental cornerstone among others. Sign in to access your portfolio
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Time of India
New temple impact: Digha Rath train WL crosses 100
Kolkata: While Rath Yatra, scheduled on June 27, is still three weeks away, bus and train bookings to Digha, where the occasion will be celebrated for the first time at the Jagannatham Dham complex, are almost full. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The popular Tamralipta Express has a waitlist of over 100. The waitlist begins as early as June 24, with the non-AC bogies seeing a waitlist of 91 and the AC chair car at 20. On June 27, the waitlist stands at 117 and 67, respectively. The chair car tickets for Kandari Express, which leaves Howrah in the afternoon and reaches Digha in the evening, are waitlisted at 15 and 19 on June 26 and 27. Railway officials advise passengers to keep checking for tickets as cancellations might open up seats. "We're monitoring the situation closely and will take necessary steps to accommodate the rush," said a senior Railways official. "I've been trying to book tickets on Tamralipta Express for three days now. Everything seems full," said Shankha Banerjee, a Bhowanipore resident who plans to attend the Rath Yatra at the new temple with his family. "We might have to drive down now, though we are worried about parking and traffic arrangements." For many, this is a unique opportunity. "Witnessing the first Rath Yatra at Digha's new temple complex is special. That's why we booked tickets a month in advance," said Ashok Dutta, a retired government employee from Jadavpur. The pre-bookings have started even on buses to Digha, a rare development given such rush is witnessed only on the Kolkata-Siliguri route but rarely for Digha. There are eight operators, including government ones run by NBSTC and WBTC, and there are queries on apps and even the Esplanade and Howrah terminuses. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "Though actual bookings are not as high as trains, queries for reaching Digha on the morning of Rath Yatra and leaving in the evening are coming. We are telling them that we will firm up the plans once the traffic measures are announced as chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be present in Digha on that day," said a private operator that runs four daily services to Digha, including a night service. The state transport department is planning to deploy additional buses. "We are looking at running extra buses from Kolkata to Digha on June 26 and 27 based on the demand," said a WBTC official. "We've never seen such advance bookings for Digha," said Santosh Dutta, who operates bus services. "Usually, people book 2-3 days in advance. But this time, we're getting calls weeks ahead."
