Coinbase to delist wBTC as Justin Sun gains influence over protocol, launches its own wrapped bitcoin token

Coinbase announced on Tuesday that it will suspend trading in wrapped bitcoin, or wBTC, next month. Wrapped bitcoin is the largest tokenized version of BTC that trades on Ethereum and other blockchains.

“We regularly monitor the assets on our exchange to ensure they meet our listing standards. Based on our most recent review, Coinbase will suspend trading for wBTC (wBTC) on December 19, 2024, on or around 12pm ET,” the company wrote on X. 

“We have moved our wBTC order books to limit-only mode. Limit orders can be placed and canceled, and matches may occur,” the company said, adding that users can still move their wBTC tokens off the exchange even after it is delisted.

The move comes as TRON creator Justin Sun is set to take on greater influence over the wBTC protocol after BitGo, the primary wBTC custodian, signed a deal to enter into a joint venture with BiTGlobal.

WBTC, launched in January 2019, brings bitcoin liquidity to the wider crypto ecosystem. The asset, backed one-to-one by bitcoin, roughly tracks bitcoin’s price and has a current market capitalization of over $13.6 billion. 

For years, BitGo served as the primary key holder for the wBTC protocol and was responsible for maintaining the underlying bitcoin tokens that represented the minted wBTC tokens on various blockchains.

In August, BitGo announced it would distribute control over the project's custody to three entities in what it called a bit to increase its geographical resilience. This included the Hong Kong-based trust company BiT Global, which has ties to Sun.

This so-called “strategic partnership between BitGo, Justin Sun and the Tron ecosystem” caused stirs among the crypto industry, partly because of longstanding controversies surrounding Sun, one of the most influential figures in the space. 

In response, for instance, stablecoin issuer MakerDAO initially voted to limit minting its DAI stablecoin using wBTC as collateral while decentralized lender Aave said it would monitor the situation. 

For its part, Coinbase launched its own tokenized version of wrapped bitcoin, cbBTC, which has seen its market cap grow to nearly $1.5 billion in a matter of months.