Alameda Research mints largest ever quantity of WBTC token for yield farming

Quick Take

  • Crypto trading firm Alameda Research has today minted the largest ever quantity of WBTC, an ERC-20 token backed 1:1 by bitcoin, for yield farming.
  • Alameda Research founder Sam Bankman-Fried told The Block that “there’s a lot of demand for bitcoin on other chains,” and “WBTC remains the largest of those.”

Crypto trading firm Alameda Research has today minted the largest ever quantity of WBTC, an ERC-20 token backed 1:1 by bitcoin, for yield farming.

The largest mint is worth 2,317 WBTC (about $25 million). It is just one WBTC more than what crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital minted yesterday — 2,316 WBTC.

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of Alameda Research, told The Block that the firm is continuing to see strong demand for WBTC due to growth in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.

"Given lower but still significant yield in DeFi, there's a lot of demand for bitcoin on other chains," said Bankman-Fried. "WBTC remains the largest of those, and most widely adopted in DeFi and yield farming, and so there continues to be demand for WBTC."

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Indeed, WBTC is the largest and has a market share of about 75%, according to tracker Nansen. RenBTC follows next, with about 18% market share, and HBTC with about 4% share.

Source: Nansen 

Source: Nansen

Alameda Research is also the largest minter of WBTC to date, with 37,609 tokens. CoinList and imToken are ranked second and third, having minted 28,162 and 8,991 WBTC tokens, respectively.

Source: Nansen, The Block Research 


Disclaimer: The former CEO and majority shareholder of The Block has disclosed a series of loans from former FTX and Alameda founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.