TRON, the popular blockchain platform designed to enable a truly decentralized internet, now supports Bitcoin and Ether via TRC-20 assets, thanks to a new partnership with BitGo — the cryptocurrency custodian behind Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Wrapped Ether (WETH).
The new assets have been released following a wave of tests by BitGo and prominent institutions like Alameda Research, who minted 100 BTC worth of TRC-20 Wrapped Bitcoin in late December and 2,000 ETH worth of Wrapped Ether (WETH) earlier today according to WBTC’s public order books.
TRON is now the second blockchain after Ethereum to support BitGo’s wrapped assets. As of early January, the wrapped assets are currently available through two partner institutions: Alameda Research and CoinList. Users will now be able to deposit their native Bitcoin or Ethereum with the two platforms to get their own TRC-20 wrapped assets.
With the launch of WBTC and WETH on TRON, Bitcoin and Ethereum users will now be able to access TRON’s expansive range of decentralized applications, and will be able to use their assets when interacting with popular TRON decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms — which include JustStrap (a decentralized exchange) and JustLend (an open-lending platform), once they’re supported.
But WBTC and WETH are just the first wrapped assets to launch on TRON. Soon, Litecoin (LTC) — a lightweight cryptocurrency supported by over 1,000 merchants worldwide — will also be available as a TRC-20 token thanks to a novel wrapping process.
According to a recent tweet by TRON creator Justin Sun, a wrapped version of Litecoin is currently being worked on by the prominent cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex. While it is unclear how it will work, or when it will be launched, presumably it will be just as accessible as WBTC and WETH are on Ethereum (and now TRON) — which can be either directly minted with various providers or purchased from third-party exchange platforms.
Excited to have $4B mcap $WBTC and $WETH launching on #TRON with @BitGo
— Justin Sun🌞 (@justinsuntron) January 7, 2021
Meanwhile Wrapped #Litecoin $WLTC on #TRON is also in progress w/ @Poloniex. The $11B mcap beast will be on #TRON soon and $LTC #LitecoinFam will be able to enjoy #DeFi on #TRON $TRX $JST @LTCFoundation pic.twitter.com/eHjlR3HKng
As the first blockchain to potentially support Wrapped Litecoin (WLTC), TRON will also be the first to benefit from an influx of new users — in the form of LTC users who want to unlock additional utility for their tokens and use them for various DeFi purposes, such as lending, yield-farming, investing and more.
For the first time, these users will be able to access DeFi tools and platforms that were previously reserved for Ethereum and TRON users, or Bitcoin users via Wrapped Bitcoin. This is in line with TRON’s ambitions to make its DeFi solutions a cross-chain opportunity that holders of other blockchain assets can enjoy — starting with Bitcoin, Ethereum and soon Litecoin.
If the growth of WBTC on Ethereum in 2020 is anything to go by, then TRC-20 WBTC, WETH and WLTC could quickly become some of the most popular tokens on TRON, while fueling the continued growth of TRON’s DeFi landscape.