Over 100,000 bitcoin equivalents, worth $1.07 billion, now exist on the Ethereum blockchain. People seeking yield from decentralized finance pushed the figure higher this month—from around 72,000 bitc
Over 100,000 bitcoin equivalents, worth $1.07 billion, now exist on the Ethereum blockchain. People seeking yield from decentralized finance pushed the figure higher this month—from around 72,000 bitcoin up to this new level.
The rush happened fast. In early June, only $47.5 million worth of bitcoin had moved onto Ethereum through protocols like Wrapped Bitcoin and RenVM. Four months later, that amount ballooned 150%. DeFi Pulse data shows 100,133 bitcoins were tokenized on Ethereum-based protocols by September 15th. At Bitcoin's price of roughly $10,740 per coin, those tokens represented over $1 billion locked in DeFi contracts.
The value matters more when you consider the recent volatility. Bitcoin had crashed from $12,000 to below $10,000 within the last two weeks. That bloodbath dragged DeFi down with it. Total value locked in protocols fell from $9.6 billion to $6.14 billion—a $3 billion evaporation between September 2 and 10. Since then, the total climbed back to $8.5 billion.
Wrapped Bitcoin dominates the space. The protocol holds 57,457 tokenized bitcoins, worth over $610 million according to Dune Analytics. RenVM's renBTC follows with 21,500 bitcoins valued above $230 million. Together, these two accounts represent roughly 0.47% of all bitcoin in existence.
Curve Finance, Aave, and Balancer captured most of the action. Curve holds the largest stash at 27,700 bitcoins. Aave has 17,700. Balancer carries more than 9,600. Yield farmers deposit into these pools to harvest protocol tokens.
The Lightning Network presents a stark contrast. Bitcoin's layer-2 scaling solution attracted only 1,078 bitcoins—about $11.3 million—according to Bitcoinvisuals.com. That tracks Bitcoin's checkered history with scaling solutions outside the main chain.
