The Ethereum network now has more bitcoin held in reserves than the Lightning Network, according to onchain statistics. At the time of publication, Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) has close to 4,000 BTC ($34.7M) held in reserves, while the Lightning Network has only 925 BTC ($8.3M).
Wrapped Bitcoin Project’s Total Value Locked Climbs to 3.9k Bitcoin
Just recently a number of people on Twitter congratulated the Ethereum network for becoming Bitcoin’s (BTC) largest second layer or unofficial side-chain. This is because the Total Value Locked (TVL) for BTC-pegged ETH tokens has surpassed both Lightning Network and Blockstream’s Liquid platform combined. According to statistics on the web portal Defi Pulse, the Lightning Network (LN) has a TVL of around 925 BTC today. This means the LN reserves hold around 0.01% of all BTC in circulation. The TVL on the LN platform has held around $8 to $9 million since May 7, 2020. Prior to that, the LN had about a million dollars less than the current TVL on April 28, 2020.
The BTC-pegged ETH tokens called Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) have seen massive demand lately, and at the moment there is 3.9k BTC held in the WBTC reserves. Using today’s exchange rates there is around $34.7 million worth of BTC held and the demand spiked significantly during the last week and a half. For instance, on May 11, 2020, WBTC’s TVL only held $11 million worth of BTC. After that date, the TVL for the BTC-pegged ETH token jumped significantly and now captures 4X more than the LN platform.
