Avalanche Announces Bitcoin Bridge to Ship with Its Core Wallet, AVAX Token Gets Fresh Price Boost

Ava Labs this week introduced a bridge solution to Bitcoin that will allow users to swap native assets between the pioneer blockchain and Avalanche directly.

The Avalanche-Bitcoin bridge was unveiled as part of the utility in its browser-based Core wallet, per a Wednesday blog post. The blockchain development company also shared on Twitter that the bridge “aims to unlock over half a trillion dollars of value on the Bitcoin network,” offering Bitcoin holders an avenue to let their holdings earn yields on Avalanche.

A non-custodial Avalanche-Bitcoin wrapping process

The Bitcoin bridge will secure a BTC sum and then issue an equivalent sum in Avalanche tokens. The wrapping process in this bridging feature is slightly different from that of other Ethereum-based tokenized bitcoin solutions. Avalanche leveraged a non-custodial setup that will eliminate counter-party risk and trust issues that are a threat, as is the case for Ethereum-based wrapped BTC bridges.

Exposure to DeFi and Subnets

The non-custodial bridge will facilitate the usage of the packaged Avalanche-based token (BTC.b) on Avalanche’s DeFi protocols, including Trader Joe which boasted a TVL of $211 million at writing as per DeFi Llama data. The team also intends to extend the bridge functionality to allow Bitcoin holders to provide exposure to Avalanche subnets.

“This [integration] enables Bitcoin holders to directly access extensive earning and yield opportunities on top DeFi protocols, while still maintaining BTC on their portfolio,” Ava Labs wrote.

The initial Avalanche Bridge was launched in August 2021 and supports ERC20 tokens transfers with Ethereum. Since its launch ten months ago, Avalanche’s bridge has facilitated transfers worth more than $50 billion.

Core (wallet) browser extension

This has partially contributed to the boom in the chain’s DeFi ecosystem. DeFi Llama data shows that Avalanche’s total-value locked swelled more than 500% from $2.1 billion at the end of August when the feature was launched to $13.5 billion at the start of December.

To tap the latest bridge functionality, BTC holders must have the layer one blockchain’s Web3 wallet Core designed to “handle the technical problems” associated with cross-chain bridging within a wallet. Third-party wallets like MetaMask lack this hence unable to support the same.

Curvegrid’s NFTeapot and the MultiBaas now support Avalanche

Blockchain software company Curvegrid on Wednesday introduced Avalanche support to its core product MultiBaas and Shopify Plus NFT minting application NFTeapot. Going forward, all products under the MultiBaas suite will leverage the network to deliver an affordable, fast, and sustainable experience.

Curvegrid co-founder Jeff Wentworth in a statement, described the move as an exact match as it will help the Tokyo-based blockchain outfit meet the demand of its customer base.

“We are delighted to finally offer support for their robust and powerful network,” Wentworth said in a statement adding, “Avalanche overcomes many of the limitations in traditional networks, which is something our customers have been asking for.”

The NFTeapot app, released on the Shopify App Store in April, offers eligible merchants an easier way to handle all processes in their NFT workflow. Thanks to the integration, the application will now allow merchants to mint NFTs on Avalanche. Avalanche’s scalability and low latency transactions, among other advantages, influenced the decision to integrate with the blockchain.

AVAX locks modest gains ahead of the weekend

News of Avalanche’s Bitcoin bridge support boosted the AVAX token, which printed a green candle climbing above $18 yesterday.

ALGO/USD trading chart over the past five days

The AVAX/USD pair was last observed trading at $19.20, marginally below its 24-high of $19.82 as per CoinMarketCap. The native token is up 11.95% on the day, outperforming the two leading crypto assets, Bitcoin and Ether, which are trading 2.63% and 8.15% higher over the same period.

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