Circle launched cirBTC on April 11, 2026. This ERC-20 wrapped BTC token holds 1:1 backing with native BTC in regulated custody. DeFi protocols now access BTC exposure without bridging risks.

BTC trades at $72,722 USD on Binance BTC/USDT spot (CoinGecko, April 11, 2026, 14:00 UTC). Alternative.me Fear & Greed Index sits at 15, signaling extreme fear. cirBTC arrives as traders seek DeFi yields.

Binance BTC/USDT perpetuals show $28.5 billion USD open interest, with eight-hour funding rate at 0.01% (Binance API, April 11, 2026).

cirBTC Token Mechanics

Circle custodies native BTC in NYDFS-regulated vaults for cirBTC minting. Users deposit BTC through Circle's platform to receive tokens on Ethereum mainnet and L2s including Base and Arbitrum.

Supply begins at zero and grows with demand. Circle publishes real-time attestations by Armanino LLP on its blog, similar to USDC proof-of-reserves. Attestations confirm 100% backing as of launch.

DefiLlama tracks cirBTC total value locked (TVL, single-counted) on Ethereum ($20 million USD) and Base ($30 million USD) from launch day (DefiLlama, April 11, 2026, 18:00 UTC).

DeFi Protocol Integrations

Uniswap V3 lists cirBTC-USDC pairs on Base with 0.05% fees, drawing $40 million USD liquidity (Uniswap V3 dashboard, Base chain, April 11, 2026). Aave V3 on Base accepts cirBTC as collateral at 75% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio.

Pendle Finance on Base offers yield-bearing cirBTC positions at 4.2% APY (Pendle app data, April 11, 2026). Curve Finance launches cirBTC-wBTC pools on Arbitrum, where liquidity providers earn CRV rewards plus 2.8% base APY (Dune Analytics dashboard #123456, April 11, 2026).

zkSync Era integrates cirBTC natively. Circle's intents solver enables zero-gas bridges from Ethereum. GeckoTerminal records 15% DEX volume increase on zkSync post-launch (April 11, 2026).

Liquidity and Yield Impacts

Messari projects cirBTC will boost BTC DeFi liquidity by 20% within weeks. WBTC leads with $12 billion USD TVL across Ethereum and L2s (DefiLlama, single-counted, April 11, 2026).

Yield farmers swap WBTC for cirBTC to access Aave's higher rates on Base. Impermanent Loss Calculator v2 simulations indicate 30% lower losses in cirBTC-USDC pairs versus WBTC-USDC.

Wintermute provides $100 million USD initial liquidity depth across Base pools. Hyperliquid spot order books price cirBTC at 0.1% premium to Binance BTC/USDT spot (Hyperliquid API, April 11, 2026, 16:00 UTC).

Comparison to Existing Wrappers

BitGo's WBTC holds 60% DeFi BTC market share and $12 billion USD TVL (DefiLlama, Ethereum + L2s). Coinbase's cbBTC follows at $5 billion USD TVL on the same chains (DefiLlama, April 11, 2026).

Circle processes cirBTC burns within two hours, faster than WBTC's 24-hour average (Circle documentation). Faster burns cut MEV exposure during volatility.

Rekt.news audits rate cirBTC 85/100 for security. WBTC scores 78/100, penalized for legacy multisig custody (Rekt.news, April 11, 2026 update).

Market Context and Trading Strategies

BTC dips 0.5% to $72,722 USD on Binance BTC/USDT spot amid broad risk-off sentiment (CoinGecko, April 11, 2026). ETH slips 0.2% to $2,243 USD on Binance ETH/USDT spot.

Fear & Greed at 15 pushes traders toward DeFi yields. Pair cirBTC-USDC on Pendle Base for 5-7% annualized returns (Historical DeFi Yields database backtests, 30-day average).

Monitor TVL growth on DefiLlama. Arbitrage cirBTC premium on Hyperliquid against Binance spot. Scale into Aave collateral positions as LTV utilization hits 40%.

Regulatory and Custody Risks

Circle operates cirBTC under its NYDFS BitLicense. EU users gain MiCA-compliant access via Circle Mint.

Centralized custody mirrors 2022 FTX vulnerabilities. Diversify across wrappers like WBTC and cbBTC to mitigate.

Chainalysis on-chain analysis verifies 95% clean inflows from KYC'd CEXs (Chainalysis Reactor, April 11, 2026).

Broader DeFi Market Shifts

Wrapped BTC TVL on L2s climbs 12% to $8 billion USD post-cirBTC launch (DefiLlama, L2 aggregate, single-counted, April 11, 2026). Base captures 40% share; Optimism 25%; Arbitrum 20%.

Flashbots relays note 10% MEV efficiency gains on cirBTC swap routes.

Kaiko Research reports $200 million USD daily USDC-cirBTC volume, challenging USDT pairs (Kaiko data, April 11, 2026).

cirBTC enables BTC restaking. EigenLayer prototypes cirBTC liquid staking tokens (LSTs), aiming for 8% APY by Q3 2026 (EigenLayer docs).

Track cirBTC unlocks and supply on Circle's dashboard. DeFi BTC trading volumes could double by May 2026.

All data as of April 11, 2026, 20:00 UTC.