LayerZero Selected as Official Interoperability Protocol by BitGo for WBTC

BitGo has selected LayerZero’s OFT Standard for Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), one of the important DeFi assets in the crypto space. BitGo’s adoption of the OFT Standard for WBTC enables the asset to exist natively across many blockchains.

As part of the launch, BitGo is deploying WBTC to Avalanche and BNB Chain, with more chains coming soon. Furthermore, BitGo has implemented its own decentralized verifier network (DVN), which is required to verify each omnichain WBTC transaction in collaboration with either Polyhedra’s zkLightClient DVN or LayerZero Labs’ DVN.

This blog describes the history of WBTC and BitGo’s decision to implement LayerZero as its official interoperability provider.

WBTC and BitGo: A Historical Perspective

WBTC was introduced in January 2019 as a collaborative effort between BitGo and other crypto-native partners. The primary objective of WBTC was to bring Bitcoin to the Ethereum network, enabling BTC holders to participate in the nascent DeFi ecosystem. WBTC is an ERC-20 token representing Bitcoin at a 1:1 ratio, with BitGo, the leading digital asset custody provider, acting as the primary custodian.

Since its inception, WBTC has played a critical role in bridging the gap between Bitcoin and Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem. It allows users to leverage Bitcoin’s value in various DeFi applications, such as lending, borrowing, and swapping. As of writing, WBTC is the 15th largest asset in crypto, with more than 153,000 WBTC in circulation, equating to a market capitalization of roughly $9B. It is the 4th largest Bitcoin product in the world, behind Bitcoin itself ($1T) and the BlackRock ($18B) and Grayscale ($14B) ETFs.

As a trusted custodian with tens of billions in assets under management, BitGo has demonstrated leadership in security, transparency, and innovation since the earliest days of the crypto industry. The decision to adopt LayerZero’s OFT Standard for WBTC cements BitGo’s commitment to making interoperability seamless for WBTC users and developers while also maintaining the stringent security standards that made WBTC such a popular asset in the first place.

Why BitGo Selected LayerZero

LayerZero was chosen to take WBTC from multi-chain to omnichain, without compromising on the security principles that BitGo prioritizes. With LayerZero and the OFT Standard, BitGo maintains ownership of all WBTC contracts, verifies each WBTC omnichain transfer, and controls the native deployment of WBTC, which can now be extended to 80+ chains.

Furthermore, LayerZero has proven to one of the most secure protocols in crypto. Since its inception in 2021, LayerZero has facilitated 135 million omnichain messages and $50 billion in value transfer across chains without downtime or a security incident.

How WBTC as an OFT Works

Traditionally tokens are confined to the blockchain they are issued on. This creates technical complexities for token issuers looking to expand an asset to new chains. The OFT Standard addresses these problems by providing a standardized framework for tokens to operate uniformly across disparate blockchains.

The first chains BitGo is extending WBTC to are BNB Chain and Avalanche, ranked 4th and 7th, respectively, in total value locked (TVL) according to DeFiLlama, with up to 80+ more chains coming soon.

• Unified Supply: Omnichain asset transfers are a matter of accounting — using locks, burns, and mints as digital equivalents of debits and credits, tracked across blockchains by LayerZero (and, therefore, token issuers) to prevent double-spending and ensure a consistent global supply. sers can send any amount (from $1-$1MM+) of WBTC between chains for just the price of an omnichain message — there are no liquidity pools or middlemen to pay.
• Omnichain Composability: OFTs are omnichain composable, maintaining consistent behavior across all chains. This means that WBTC can be used in lending markets on different chains without any additional setup from BitGo or other developers.
• Modular Security: LayerZero’s primary focus has always been security. The protocol provides battle-tested security through immutable, censorship-resistant endpoints, application-owned contracts, and flexible verification options. BitGo is implementing a security stack for WBTC that requires BitGo’s DVN and either the Polyhedra zkLightClient DVN or LayerZero Labs’ DVN to verify each cross-chain WBTC transaction. This configuration requires that BitGo’s DVN approves each transfer while the additional verifiers provide diverse, independent verification methods to further strengthen the security of WBTC transfers. Going forward, BitGo may reconfigure this security stack to point to different verifiers. BitGo retains sole ownership of WBTC contracts, ensuring sovereignty around WBTC supply, chain deployments, and all underlying smart contracts associated with WBTC.

Conclusion

BitGo choosing the OFT Standard for WBTC emphasizes LayerZero’s position in the market as the most trusted interoperability protocol. The OFT Standard is the solution for standardization, liquidity, security, and inventory management across multiple blockchain ecosystems, which now secures over $40 billion in assets with WBTC. Other top 20 projects like Ethena, EtherFi, and Swell have also adopted the OFT Standard.
As the ecosystem continues to evolve, the importance of universal asset standards like OFTs will only grow, driving greater efficiency, security, and innovation in crypto.

Getting Started

• For Users: BitGo adopting the OFT Standard for WBTC offers users a simple and cost-effective way to move WBTC across multiple blockchains. With the OFT Standard, users can transfer large amounts of WBTC for just the price of an omnichain message, avoiding the extra costs and complexities of liquidity pools or third-party bridges. The first place to offer WBTC bridging is Stargate Finance.
  Bridge WBTC Now: https://stargate.finance/bridge
• For Developers and Token Issuers: Integrate WBTC into your application on Avalanche or BNB Chain. For other asset issuers looking to take their token omnichain, check out the LayerZero docs.