ICP-Based Bitcoin Token 'ckBTC' Will Bridge to Cosmos Through Osmosis
2024-09-18

Chain-key bitcoin (ckBTC), a non-custodial Bitcoin token based on the Internet Computer blockchain (ICP), will soon bridge to the Cosmos ecosystem via decentralized exchange (DEX) Osmosis.
It's the "first time a proven, secure, non-custodial BTC is coming to the Cosmos ecosystem,” according to an emailed announcement on Wednesday.
The development comes as more decentralized-finance (DeFi) developers are increasingly looking for ways to export bitcoin {{BTC}}, which has the largest market capitalization by far of all cryptocurrencies, at $1.2 trillion, to other blockchain ecosystems.
While Cosmos's ATOM token ranks as just the 19th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap in the CoinDesk 20 index, at $1.6 billion, the project occupies an outsize influence in the industry due to its architecture of affiliated networks – a blueprint followed by many other blockchains – and its technology has been used as the foundation for several major decentralized-finance (DeFi) projects.
Osmosis is partnering with ICP-built Omnity Network to provide a service for bridging non-custodial BTC into Cosmos.
CkBTC is a type of Bitcoin token which is pegged 1:1 to the value of BTC, allowing users to store their wealth in the world's largest cryptocurrency while putting it to work on other networks.
The most prevalent existing token of this ilk is Ethereum-based Wrapped Bitcoin WBTC. However, concerns have emerged in recent weeks over Tron founder Justin Sun's perceived influence in BitGo, custodian of the underlying assets in WBTC.
Last month, BitGo proposed to share WBTC custody with BiT Global, an entity partially controlled by Sun, which raised concerns that the agreement would centralize too much control with BiT.
The fallout from that episode energized competitors offering alternative version of WBTC, including dlcBTC and Threshold's tBTC as well as ckBTC.