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The bridge gets a makeover with Badger branding and will allow users to deposit newly wrapped BTC into yield-bearing vaults with a single click.
Decentralized finance protocols Badger DAO and RenVM have announced today the launch of âBadger Bridge,â a Bitcoin-to-Ethereum bridge that will allow Bitcoin (BTC) holders to bring their BTC to Ethereum and deposit it into yield-bearing vaults, purportedly with a single click.Â
âThe Badger Bridge is the first of its kind to enable users to earn yield on their tokenized Bitcoin immediately, all while transacting within the same app. What used to be an arduous process to obtain yield on your Bitcoin is now just a few short clicks,â reads a blog post from the Badger team. âWith the launch of the Bridge within the Badger App, we have taken a significant step towards realizing the Badger mission of being the one-stop shop for users to put their Bitcoin to work.â
The announcement notes that since June 2020, RenVMâs âwBTC.cafe has been responsible for successfully minting over 25,000 BTC,â or $1.3 billion in BTC, to Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) conversions. Users of the rebranded Ren bridge are also incentivized with upward of $6 million in BADGER and synthetic Bitcoin DIGG rewards in what the teams are referring to as a "bridge mining" program, possibly an industry first.Â
âBadgerDAO is becoming the one stop shop for BTC in DeFi, and RenVM is underpinning this functionality by providing seamless interoperability for their users,â RenVM chief operating officer Michael Burgess said of the integration. âTogether we're truly expanding breadth and utility for that Bitcoin, and all of DeFi."
The integration via Ren notably removes the RenVM branding for the Bitcoin-to-Ethereum bridge/wrapper, redirecting Renâs wBTC.cafe website to BadgerDAOâs Badger Bridge page. Ren will continue to provide the infrastructure for the swaps, however.
Burgess said that the decision was driven by an effort to streamline the user experience when it comes to wrapping Bitcoin and using it as collateral in the DeFi ecosystem.
"We wanted to strengthen our relationship with the BadgerDAO team and really make it the go to place for putting your BTC to work, so itâs a natural fit. Further, it helps from a UX perspective by consolidating this functionally for users under one roof."
The use of a second protocol on the back end bears similarities to Badgerâs recent agreement with Yearn.finance to build a WBTC vault. While Yearn strategists developed the vault, access to it is hosted on Badgerâs website with a small âYearnâ tag, and the two protocols will split the vaultâs fees. It is currently under a guarded launch, with over $9 million in BTC locked earning an over 125% annual percentage yield.
Badger currently accounts for $999 million in total value locked. Both BADGER and REN are up on the day after weeklong pullbacks, rising 9.28% to $28.91 and 7.86% to $0.8497, respectively.
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