BitGo’s WBTC move pushes LayerZero-to-Chainlink tally near $15 billion

Crypto infrastructure firm BitGo (BTGO) is set to replace LayerZero with Chainlink as the exclusive cross-chain provider for wrapped bitcoin (WBTC). The move pushes the value covered by announced LayerZero-to-Chainlink migrations to nearly $15 billion.

The move forms part of a migration wave that started following the $292 million exploit of Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge earlier this year, which increased scrutiny of LayerZero bridge configurations. Various other projects, including Mantle, Kelp, Lombard, Solv Protocol, Virtuals, Re and Kraken have since announced moves to Chainlink’s CCIP.

WBTC is a tokenized representation of bitcoin designed to track its value. Unlike native bitcoin, it can be used in decentralized finance applications on other blockchains for trading, lending and collateral.

WBTC currently has a market capitalization of about $7.4 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Adding it to the $7.24 billion covered by earlier migration announcements takes the total funds moving their cross-chain infrastructure to CCIP to roughly $14.6 billion.

BitGo said it will standardize WBTC deployments using Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Token standard and use CCIP by default for future assets it issues.

The structure allows BitGo to retain control of its token contracts and set rate limits and other controls governing transfers between blockchains.

BitGo selected LayerZero in 2024 to expand WBTC across blockchains, initially using it for deployments on Avalanche and BNB Chain. Its configuration required BitGo’s own verifier and either LayerZero or Polyhedra to approve each cross-chain transfer.

Chainlink’s directory already lists CCIP-enabled WBTC pools on Ethereum and Ronin. The announcement did not specify when the broader migration will be completed.