Jamie Redman
Avalanche Sees Surge in BTC Bridged to Its Network With Over $44 Million in Bitcoin Ported on Thursday
According to statistics, the number of bitcoin bridged to the Avalanche blockchain saw a significant inflow on March 2, as more than 2,000 bitcoin were bridged on that day. Data further shows that as of Friday, March 3, a total of 8,504 bitcoin worth $190.9 million was bridged over to the Avalanche network.
Bitcoin Bridged to Avalanche Rises
Thirty-eight days ago, Bitcoin.com News reported that the number of bitcoin (BTC) ported over to the Avalanche network had surpassed the capacity of the Lightning Network. On Thursday, a significant amount of bitcoin was moved to Avalanche (AVAX) in the form of Avalanche bridged bitcoin, also known as BTCb.
Statistics from Dune Analytics show that more than 2,000 BTC, or roughly $44.7 million worth of bitcoin, was bridged to the AVAX chain. Since our report on January 24, 2023, the number of BTCb has risen 62%, from 5,248 to 8,504 BTCb.
The BTCb supply is still greater than the number of bitcoin contained in public Lightning Network channels, which is 5,421.50 BTC at the time of writing. Over the 38 days since BTCb surpassed the total on public channels, its supply has grown 38% larger than the Lightning Network capacity.
To date, BTCb has seen 367,392 transfers, and the bridged bitcoins are held by 4,420 unique addresses. A large number of BTCb are stored on the decentralized finance protocols Benqi and GMX. Onchain data recorded on March 3 shows that 1,317 BTCb are stored within the GMX Vault.
Although BTCb has outpaced capacity held on platforms such as the Lightning Network, Blockstream’s Liquid, and RSK’s sidechain, its supply still has some ground to cover to catch up to WBTC and the Binance Smart Chain-issued BEP20 token BTCB. As of the time of writing, there are 53,023 BTCB in circulation and 153,164 WBTC in circulation.
What do you think about the recent surge in bitcoin bridged to the Avalanche network? Share your thoughts about this topic in the comments section below.
