Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol (CCIP) now allows Coinbase’s wrapped Bitcoin token, cbBTC, to move from Base into the Monad blockchain, enabling access to more than $5 billion in cbBTC liquidity within Monad’s ecosystem.
Monad announced the integration, saying the bridge will introduce cbBTC into its DeFi stack where protocols such as Curvance and Neverland are already adding cbBTC markets. That brings Bitcoin-backed liquidity into lending, borrowing and other decentralized finance applications on Monad, an EVM-compatible layer-1 built for high-throughput trading and financial services.
Chainlink Labs’ head of strategic initiatives, William Reilly, said the system was designed to scale with growing Bitcoin-backed assets. He highlighted that CCIP employs multiple layers of decentralized validation to lower cross-chain risk and help maintain consistent 1:1 backing as tokens move between networks.
Monad positions itself as infrastructure for transaction-intensive finance, advertising throughput up to 10,000 transactions per second and sub-second finality. By supporting cbBTC transfers from Base, the chain lets users and protocols tap Bitcoin liquidity without using native BTC, enabling a range of DeFi primitives and products.
Coinbase introduced cbBTC in September 2024 as a wrapped Bitcoin token available on Ethereum and Base. cbBTC is backed 1:1 by BTC held in custody and is designed to mint and redeem automatically against Bitcoin deposits on Coinbase.
The integration comes as market participants push to make Bitcoin a yield-bearing asset and to extend tokenized Bitcoin across smart-contract platforms. Institutional demand for yield strategies on BTC has risen, with teams exploring approaches such as staking integrations, delta-neutral trading, and other mechanisms to generate returns while preserving Bitcoin exposure.
Recent industry developments include Coinbase’s Bitcoin Yield Fund aimed at institutions, Kraken’s staking offering built with Babylon Labs, WBTC’s expansion to the Hedera network, and new wallet vaults like Telegram’s TON Wallet adding DeFi paths to earn yield on Bitcoin.
By enabling ccBTC transfers from Base to Monad via CCIP, Chainlink seeks to reduce the friction of cross-chain movement and support the increasing flow of tokenized Bitcoin into decentralized financial markets.