Bitcoin is the largest pool of value in crypto, but on its own, it cannot touch Ethereum’s world of lending, borrowing, and yield. Wrapped Bitcoin is the bridge. This guide explains how WBTC works, the mint-and-burn model behind it, the alternatives, and the custodial risks that set it apart from holding real BTC.

Wrapped Bitcoin, known by its ticker WBTC, is an ERC-20 token that runs on the Ethereum blockchain and is backed 1:1 by real Bitcoin held in reserve, so that one WBTC is always meant to equal one Bitcoin. Its entire purpose is to solve a fundamental incompatibility in crypto: Bitcoin, the largest and most valuable cryptocurrency, lives on its own blockchain and cannot natively participate in the decentralized finance applications built on Ethereum, because those applications run on smart contracts that Bitcoin’s design does not support.

An enormous amount of crypto wealth sits in Bitcoin, while an enormous amount of programmable financial activity happens on Ethereum, and for years, there was no way to bring the two together. Wrapped Bitcoin is the bridge. By locking real Bitcoin with a custodian and issuing an equivalent Ethereum token against it, WBTC lets Bitcoin holders put their Bitcoin’s value to work inside Ethereum’s ecosystem, lending it, borrowing against it, trading it, supplying it to liquidity pools, and using it as collateral, all without selling their Bitcoin exposure. It was the first widely adopted way to do this, and it remains one of the most integrated.

The idea is simple, but the details are where the important nuances live, and they are worth understanding before using WBTC, because the convenience comes with trade-offs that holding plain Bitcoin does not have. A wrapped token introduces extra parties and extra trust assumptions, and the question of who holds the underlying Bitcoin, and whether you can always get it back, sits at the center of the whole arrangement.

This guide explains what WBTC is, why it is needed, exactly how the mint-and-burn mechanism works, who the custodians and merchants are, and why they matter, a concrete example of using WBTC in practice, how it compares to native Bitcoin and to newer alternatives like cbBTC and tBTC, and the specific risks that come with holding a wrapped asset rather than the real thing. The aim is to let you decide whether wrapped Bitcoin fits your needs or whether plain Bitcoin is the cleaner choice.

Why Bitcoin needs wrapping

To understand why WBTC exists, you have to understand a basic limitation of Bitcoin. Bitcoin was designed as a secure, decentralized system for holding and transferring value, and it does that job extremely well, but its scripting language is deliberately limited and is not built to run the complex, self-executing programs known as smart contracts.

Ethereum, by contrast, was built specifically to run smart contracts, and decentralized finance, the ecosystem of lending protocols, decentralized exchanges, and yield platforms, is constructed almost entirely on Ethereum and similar smart-contract blockchains.

The consequence is that Bitcoin, despite being the largest store of value in crypto, simply cannot plug into these applications directly. A Bitcoin holder who wanted to earn yield or use their holdings as collateral in DeFi had no native way to do so.

This is the gap wrapping fills. The core problem is one of interoperability, the ability to use an asset from one blockchain on another, and wrapping is one of the earliest and most widely used solutions to it. By representing Bitcoin as a token that conforms to Ethereum’s technical standards, specifically the ERC-20 standard that Ethereum applications are built to recognize, wrapped Bitcoin makes Bitcoin-linked value fully usable inside the Ethereum environment.

The ERC-20 standard is a set of rules that makes a token fully compatible and interchangeable across Ethereum’s smart contracts, so a wrapped Bitcoin token can be lent, borrowed, swapped, and used as collateral exactly like any other Ethereum token.

Wrapping, therefore, reduces the fragmentation between Bitcoin’s huge liquidity and Ethereum’s rich application layer, turning Bitcoin from an asset that sits outside DeFi into one that can be put to work within it. That is the entire reason wrapped Bitcoin was created, and why it found immediate demand. 

How the mint-and-burn model works

The mechanism that keeps wrapped Bitcoin backed 1:1 by real Bitcoin is called mint and burn, and it relies on a three-party system of custodians, merchants, and users.

The custodian is a regulated entity that holds the actual Bitcoin in secure reserve; for WBTC, this role has been played by the digital-asset custody firm BitGo. The merchant is an intermediary, such as an exchange or crypto business, that interacts with users, performs the necessary identity and compliance checks, and distributes the wrapped tokens. The user is the person who wants to convert between Bitcoin and wrapped Bitcoin. These three parties, coordinated by a set of smart contracts, keep the supply of WBTC matched to the Bitcoin held in reserve.

The process works in two directions. To create, or mint, wrapped Bitcoin, a user requests WBTC from a merchant, who carries out know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering checks to verify the user’s identity. The merchant then sends the corresponding Bitcoin to the custodian, who holds it in reserve and mints an equal amount of WBTC on Ethereum, which makes its way to the user.

To reverse the process, or burn the tokens, a user who wants their Bitcoin back submits a redemption request, the WBTC is destroyed in what is called a burn transaction, and the custodian releases the equivalent Bitcoin from reserve. Because every WBTC in existence is meant to correspond to a Bitcoin locked with the custodian, the token maintains its 1:1 peg, and its price tracks Bitcoin’s price closely.

Importantly, both the minting and the burning are recorded publicly on the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains, so anyone can verify the activity, and the system is periodically subjected to proof-of-reserve checks that confirm the Bitcoin backing actually exists. This transparency is meant to give holders confidence that the wrapped tokens are genuinely backed, though, as the risks section explains, it does not remove the reliance on the custodian.

Who governs WBTC, and why it matters

A wrapped token raises an obvious question: who controls the system, decides which custodians and merchants are trusted, and can change how it works. For WBTC, the answer is a decentralized autonomous organization known as the WBTC DAO, a governing body made up of a group of stakeholders that has included prominent names in the crypto space.

The DAO operates through a multi-signature wallet, meaning that changes require the agreement of multiple keyholders rather than any single party, and its members can vote to add or remove custodians and merchants and to make changes to the smart contracts on which the system runs. This governance structure exists specifically to reduce the centralization risk that would come from a single company controlling the entire arrangement, spreading authority across a set of stakeholders instead.

Why this matters became vivid in 2024, in what served as the clearest real-world stress test of WBTC’s governance. The custodian BitGo announced a change to its custody arrangements involving a partnership with another firm, and that change sparked significant concern across decentralized finance because of the new partner’s perceived links to a controversial figure and ecosystem.

The episode mattered because it went to the heart of the trust assumption underlying WBTC: holders were trusting that the Bitcoin backing their tokens was held safely and by parties they considered reliable, and a change in who effectively controlled that custody was enough to shake confidence and prompt many users and protocols to reconsider. It also accelerated the rise of alternative wrapped Bitcoin products with different custody models.

The lesson is that the governance and custody arrangements of a wrapped token are not background details; they are central to its safety, because the whole value of WBTC rests on the Bitcoin being there and being controlled by trustworthy parties. Who governs the system, and how, is therefore something a prospective holder should actually look into rather than take for granted.

A worked example: putting Bitcoin to work

A concrete example shows why someone would bother wrapping their Bitcoin in the first place. Imagine a person named Ezra who holds $2,000 worth of Bitcoin and believes in it as a long-term holding, but who also wants to earn a return on that value instead of letting it sit idle. The problem is that the lending protocol Ezra wants to use, which would pay interest on deposited assets, runs on Ethereum, and Ezra’s Bitcoin cannot be deposited there directly because it lives on a different blockchain that the protocol cannot interact with. Without wrapping, Ezra’s only options would be to sell the Bitcoin for an Ethereum-native asset, giving up his Bitcoin exposure, or to leave it earning nothing.

Wrapping solves this. Ezra converts his Bitcoin into wrapped Bitcoin, either by going through a merchant to mint it directly or, more commonly for an ordinary user, by simply swapping his Bitcoin for WBTC on an exchange or decentralized exchange, which avoids the need to interact with the custodians himself. Now holding WBTC, which is an Ethereum token tracking Bitcoin’s price 1:1, Ezra can deposit it into the lending protocol and earn interest, all while his position still rises and falls with the price of Bitcoin. He has kept his Bitcoin exposure and put it to work at the same time. Beyond lending, WBTC opens the same doors that any Ethereum token enjoys: Ezra could supply it to a liquidity pool on a decentralized exchange to earn trading fees, use it as collateral to borrow other assets, or deposit it into yield strategies.

A further practical benefit is speed, since transactions in WBTC settle on Ethereum, which produces blocks far more frequently than Bitcoin, so moving wrapped Bitcoin between Ethereum wallets and applications is quicker than moving native Bitcoin. This is the everyday appeal of wrapped Bitcoin: it lets Bitcoin holders participate in the full range of Ethereum-based finance without selling the Bitcoin they want to keep.

WBTC versus native Bitcoin and the alternatives

It is essential to be clear that wrapped Bitcoin is not the same as holding native Bitcoin, even though the two share a price.

With native Bitcoin, the only real question about safety is whether you control your own private keys; if you do, the Bitcoin is yours, secured by the Bitcoin network itself. With WBTC, the question expands considerably, because you are now also relying on the custodian to actually hold the backing Bitcoin, on the integrity of the reserves, on the governance of the system, and on the redemption process working when you want to convert back.

You may hold the WBTC token in your own wallet, but the wrapped asset still depends on institutional actors operating correctly behind the scenes. WBTC tracks Bitcoin’s market value, but it does not inherit Bitcoin’s trust model, and that difference is the single most important thing to understand about it. If your only goal is to hold Bitcoin for the long term and you have no interest in DeFi, native Bitcoin is the cleaner and simpler choice.

The 2024 custody controversy spurred the growth of alternative tokenized Bitcoin products, and they are worth knowing because they offer different trade-offs. One prominent alternative is cbBTC, issued by the exchange Coinbase, which appeals to users who already trust Coinbase’s custody and operate within its ecosystem. Another is tBTC, built by the Threshold Network, which is designed to avoid reliance on a single custodian in favor of a more decentralized model, appealing to users for whom minimizing custodial trust matters more than convenience. 

There are others as well, and the broader point is that the tokenized Bitcoin market has become fragmented, offering distinct choices for different priorities. The decision among them is fundamentally about trust model and use case instead of price, since they all track Bitcoin: choose WBTC for the deepest liquidity and the widest integration across established DeFi protocols, choose cbBTC if you prefer Coinbase’s custody, choose tBTC if avoiding a single custodian is your priority, and choose native Bitcoin if you do not need DeFi at all. Wrapped Bitcoin products are tools for a specific purpose, not upgrades to Bitcoin.

Risks and what to check before wrapping

The risks of wrapped Bitcoin all stem from the fact that it adds layers of trust on top of simply holding Bitcoin, and understanding them is essential before wrapping any meaningful amount. The primary risk is custodial centralization. Because the wrapped token is only as good as the Bitcoin held in reserve, the failure of the custodian, whether through a hack, insolvency, mismanagement, or loss of access, could impair the backing and leave holders with tokens that no longer correspond to real Bitcoin.

This is not a theoretical concern: history offers cautionary examples of wrapped or bridged Bitcoin products that became impossible to redeem after the entity backing them failed, turning Bitcoin-backed tokens supposedly into worthless or stranded assets. The custody arrangement is the foundation, and if it fails, everything built on it fails with it.

Several other risks compound the custodial one. Smart contract risk means that bugs or vulnerabilities in the Ethereum-side code, or errors in governance, could affect the token. Bridge risk arises when wrapped Bitcoin is moved onto other networks, such as Ethereum layer-two chains, through additional bridges, since each bridging layer adds another set of trust assumptions and another potential point of failure, and you may encounter bridged representations that wrap an already-wrapped token, compounding the risk further. Governance risk means that the parties controlling the system could make decisions, such as the contested custody change, that holders dislike or distrust. And regulatory risk means that official actions could affect redemptions or lead to address restrictions.

The practical advice that follows from all this is to verify before you wrap: check which specific wrapped token and contract you are holding, understand its custody model and who controls the reserves, confirm that proof-of-reserve attestations are current, and make sure you understand the redemption path back to native Bitcoin.

Reviewing the custodian’s transparency, the governance records, and any reputable audits or incident reports before committing meaningful funds is simply prudent. Wrapped Bitcoin is a useful tool that fills a real gap, but it should never be treated as identical to the Bitcoin it represents, because the trust model behind it is fundamentally different.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is educational information, not financial advice. Wrapped Bitcoin and decentralized finance involve significant risks, including custodial failure, smart contract vulnerabilities, and loss of funds. Details of custodians, governance, and alternatives reflect information available as of June 26, 2026, and can change. Verify the current custody model, reserves, and redemption process of any wrapped token from primary sources, and consider your own circumstances before making any decision.

Key Highlights

• Micron rallied 17.1% following fiscal Q3 2026 results showing $41.46 billion in revenue, a 346% year-over-year increase, with EPS of $25.11 crushing the $20.5 consensus
• Company provided Q4 outlook of approximately $50 billion in revenue and roughly $31 EPS, significantly exceeding analyst projections
• Micron secured approximately $100 billion in multi-year strategic customer commitments through take-or-pay arrangements with 16 partners
• Leadership indicated supply won’t match demand until at least 2028
• Barclays upgraded MU price target by 70% to $2,000 from $1,175 while maintaining a Buy rating

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Micron Technology posted a quarter for the history books on Wednesday, sparking an immediate and powerful response from investors.

Micron Technology, Inc., MU

The semiconductor manufacturer specializing in memory chips revealed fiscal Q3 2026 sales of $41.46 billion, representing a 346% year-over-year surge and landing approximately 17% higher than Wall Street’s projections. The company’s non-GAAP earnings per share reached $25.11, significantly exceeding the consensus forecast of $20.50. Gross margin expanded dramatically to 84.9%, a stark contrast to the 39% recorded in the same period last year.

MU stock climbed 17.1% following the announcement, reaching $1,209 per share — marking a fresh 52-week high.

While the quarterly performance was impressive in isolation, forward-looking guidance proved to be the real catalyst behind the stock’s momentum.

Micron projected fiscal Q4 revenue at approximately $50 billion with earnings per share around $31. These figures substantially exceeded Wall Street expectations, which had anticipated Q4 revenue near $43 billion and EPS of approximately $25.31.

$100 Billion Worth of Binding Customer Commitments

The chipmaker disclosed it has executed 16 Strategic Customer Agreements (SCAs) — binding take-or-pay contracts spanning data center, consumer, and automotive sectors. Fourteen of these arrangements include a combined minimum revenue obligation of $100 billion throughout their duration.

These represent firm commitments backed by real capital. Partners have already deposited $22 billion. Standard SCAs extend five years (2026–2030), while automotive-focused agreements run for three-year periods.

Barclays analyst Thomas O’Malley characterized the SCA disclosures as exceeding expectations in both dollar magnitude and customer count. He boosted his MU price target by 70% to $2,000 from $1,175, applying a 12x multiple to his updated 2027 EPS projection of $166.74.

O’Malley highlighted that existing SCAs represent roughly 20% of total DRAM volume and 33% of NAND volume. After finalizing all pending agreements, Micron anticipates over 50% of its revenue will originate from these contractual commitments.

Data-center segment revenue exceeded $25 billion during the quarter — translating to an annualized run rate surpassing $100 billion.

Supply Constraints Expected Through 2028

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated the company sees “no line of sight” to supply equilibrium with demand occurring before 2028. DRAM pricing increased in the low-60s percentage range during the quarter, fueled by a fundamental supply shortage affecting the entire industry.

This supply-demand imbalance is visible across competitors as well. Samsung disclosed a 146% spike in DRAM average selling prices during Q1. SK Hynix reported mid-60s percent price increases.

The constrained supply environment is affecting all three leading memory manufacturers.

It’s notable that MU shares had declined 13.6% just 48 hours prior following news that SK Hynix was moderating its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) expansion plans. That selloff now appears to have been an overreaction.

Investors should monitor HBM scaling expenses and new fabrication facility construction, which will contribute approximately $1 billion to FY2027 operating costs, along with the eventual repayment of the $22 billion in customer deposits.

Wall Street maintains a Strong Buy consensus rating on MU, featuring 28 Buy ratings against just one Hold. The average analyst price target of $1,526.67 suggests approximately 36% potential upside from current trading levels.

Micron shares have appreciated 283% year-to-date.

Cardano wallet SecondFi has identified a recovery path for users affected by Tuesday’s exploit and expects to begin returning assets in about two weeks, following testing and security reviews.

According to a Saturday statement by Phillip Pon, CEO of SecondFi developer Emurgo, the company completed forensic investigations and established a recovery pathway for affected users. Pon said the coming week would be spent building the solution, followed by another week of testing before assets begin to be returned.

Pon urged users to refrain from migrating assets or taking actions outside official guidance, saying the recovery process was designed around existing wallet states and that independent action could complicate the secure return of funds.

SecondFi developer Emurgo shared an update on the wallet’s recovery efforts. Source: Emurgo

SecondFi disclosed a security breach on Tuesday that affected approximately 16 million ADA, worth about $2.4 million at the time, across 374 addresses. SecondFi previously said it traced the incident to an address-level issue in its Cardano web wallet generation software that exposed users’ private keys.

Related: Q2 2026 emerges as most-hacked quarter on record with 83 incidents

The company also said it secured roughly 129 million ADA through emergency measures and transferred the funds to an independent third-party custodian, where they will remain until the verification and recovery process is complete.

SecondFi has not yet published a comprehensive post-mortem detailing the vulnerability or how the exploit was carried out.

SecondFi warns of recovery-related scams

In a separate update on Saturday, SecondFi warned that malicious actors are circulating fraudulent messages impersonating the wallet while its recovery effort remains underway. 

The company said no recovery actions requiring user participation have begun and that it will never ask users for private keys, seed phrases, wallet credentials or direct wallet access.

SecondFi said any messages instructing users to submit wallet information, migrate assets or take immediate action outside its verified communication channels should be treated as fraudulent. 

It added that users requiring assistance should submit a ticket through its official support portal while the recovery process continues.

Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto

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Key Takeaways

• Oracle shares plummeted 19% over the past week — the most severe weekly decline since August 2001
• The company’s market valuation has dropped approximately 55% from its September peak near $900 billion
• Capital spending exploded 162% to almost $56 billion during fiscal 2026
• The company’s debt load reached approximately $130 billion by late May, accompanied by nearly $24 billion in negative free cash flow
• Despite the selloff, 71% of Wall Street analysts maintain Buy ratings — a 15-year high

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Oracle has just endured its most punishing week on the stock market in a quarter century. Shares tumbled 19% over five straight trading sessions, with daily losses exceeding 2.6% each day. The last time the enterprise software giant experienced such a devastating stretch was during August 2001, amid the dot-com bubble collapse.

Oracle Corporation, ORCL

The recent downturn represents more than just a bad week. Oracle’s market capitalization has contracted by roughly 55% since reaching approximately $900 billion last September.

Both the extended decline and this week’s brutal selloff share a common culprit: the escalating expenses tied to Oracle’s artificial intelligence strategy.

Oracle has committed heavily to AI infrastructure development, particularly through its involvement with OpenAI as part of the Stargate initiative. Constructing this infrastructure demands massive capital investment — and currently, shareholders are paying a hefty price.

Financial Metrics Paint a Concerning Picture

As of May’s conclusion, Oracle’s outstanding debt stood at roughly $130 billion. The company’s capital expenditure soared 162% during fiscal year 2026, hitting close to $56 billion.

Free cash flow registered at nearly negative $24 billion for the fiscal year.

To continue financing its infrastructure expansion, Oracle intends to secure an additional $40 billion in fiscal 2027 through combined debt and equity offerings. This follows the previous year’s $43 billion in debt issuance plus $5 billion raised through equity sales.

The fundamental challenge is clear: Oracle finds itself competing against Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in the race to construct AI data center capabilities — yet unlike these rivals, it cannot offer a comprehensive technology ecosystem. This constraint puts pressure on margins for what amounts to an extraordinarily expensive gamble.

Analyst Community Remains Largely Optimistic

Remarkably, analyst confidence hasn’t wavered despite the sharp decline. FactSet data shows 71% of ORCL analysts maintain Buy ratings — representing the strongest bullish sentiment in 15 years. The overall consensus stands at Strong Buy, reflecting 28 Buy recommendations, five Hold ratings, and zero Sell calls over the most recent three-month period.

The mean price target stands at $263.86, suggesting potential upside exceeding 77% from present levels.

Evercore, which holds a Buy rating on the stock, explained the situation in Wednesday’s research note: “We expect financing/leverage and the pace of equity issuance to remain the central investor debate near term, even as demand signals stay strong.”

This disconnect between professional analyst optimism and actual market performance represents the key narrative entering the following week.

As a footnote, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has also dropped several spots on global wealth rankings this week, falling behind Google’s co-founders, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Dell.

Key Highlights

• Starting July 1, AWS will implement a 20% price increase on reserved GPU compute resources, affecting Nvidia B200, B300, H100, and H200 processors.
• H200 pricing has now increased for three consecutive quarters — AWS GPU reservation costs have surged 20–50% since the start of the year.
• Wells Fargo reaffirmed its Buy recommendation on AMZN with a $312 price objective, viewing the increase as confirmation of cloud infrastructure pricing strength.
• Analyst consensus shows 57 Buy ratings on AMZN, with an average price objective of $312.78 — suggesting approximately 38.5% potential appreciation from current prices.
• Institutional shareholders control 72.2% of AMZN shares, with several major funds expanding their holdings during Q1 2026.

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Amazon (AMZN) shares climbed 2.5% Thursday following Wells Fargo’s positive commentary on AWS’s latest 20% reserved GPU compute price adjustment, interpreting the move as evidence of robust pricing dynamics and sustained AI infrastructure appetite.

Amazon.com, Inc., AMZN

AMZN began Friday’s session at $232.69. The shares currently trade beneath their 50-day moving average of $255.53 while maintaining a position above the 200-day moving average of $234.13. The stock’s 52-week trading band extends from $196.00 to $278.56.

The pricing adjustments become effective July 1 and apply to multiple Nvidia processor architectures — including the B200, B300, H100, and H200 models.

Regarding the H200 particularly, this marks the third straight quarter of upward pricing pressure. AWS implemented a 15% H200 price increase in Q1, followed by 10% in Q2, and now an additional 20% entering Q3. Cumulatively this year, AWS GPU reservation pricing has escalated between 20% and 50% across different chip configurations.

Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski maintained his Buy recommendation while establishing a $312 price objective. His interpretation: the sustained pricing increases demonstrate that AI compute demand continues exceeding available supply, enabling hyperscale providers like AWS to transfer elevated infrastructure expenses to end customers.

Understanding AWS Reservation Pricing Dynamics

AWS reservation blocks enable clients to secure GPU capacity for periods extending up to six months. The willingness of customers to accept escalating prices for guaranteed access reveals the persistent tightness in available supply.

Wells Fargo recognized that these price adjustments may not translate immediately into revenue gains, given that certain clients operate under existing contractual arrangements. Nevertheless, the firm views this development as reinforcing AWS’s extended growth trajectory.

AMZN maintains a Strong Buy consensus rating throughout Wall Street. Among analysts providing coverage within the last three months, 44 assign Buy ratings while one assigns a Hold rating. The consensus price objective stands at $319.24, implying roughly 38.5% upside potential.

Recent price objective adjustments include: JPMorgan elevating its target to $330, Truist increasing to $320, Wolfe Research establishing a $320 target, and Deutsche Bank moving to $315.

Institutional Holdings and Additional Growth Drivers

Institutional ownership represents 72.2% of outstanding shares. Clark Asset Management acquired 4,879 additional shares during Q1, expanding its complete AMZN holdings to 38,238 shares valued at approximately $7.96 million. Arrowstreet Capital expanded its position by 21% in Q4, currently maintaining over 24.6 million shares worth roughly $5.7 billion.

Beyond GPU pricing developments, Amazon has several additional strategic initiatives underway. The company revealed a $13 billion commitment to India extending through 2030 for AI and cloud infrastructure expansion. Prime Day performance also appears promising, with industry observers anticipating record-breaking sales figures.

Regarding potential headwinds, EU regulatory authorities have suggested AWS could encounter more stringent competitive oversight — representing a possible concern for investors. Certain analysts have additionally expressed reservations regarding the company’s substantial capital investment requirements.

Amazon’s latest quarterly performance delivered $2.78 EPS, exceeding the $1.63 consensus estimate by $1.15. Revenue reached $181.52 billion, representing 16.6% year-over-year expansion.

CEO Andrew Jassy divested 20,000 shares on May 21 at $263.42 through a previously established 10b5-1 trading arrangement.

Ripple CTO emeritus David Schwartz has pushed back on a fresh social media debate over whether XRP existed before Bitcoin. 

The exchange began after Crypto Dyl News claimed on X that “Bitcoin was NOT the 1st” and that XRP was created in 1988.

That claim drew a question from XRP community user MitchRob, who asked Schwartz whether Ryan Fugger had conceptualized XRP and the XRP Ledger before or after Bitcoin. Schwartz replied that Fugger had conceptualized a decentralized payment and settlement network around 2004, well before Bitcoin.

Schwartz added one key limit to that answer. He said Fugger’s idea did not include decentralized assets. That distinction separates RipplePay, Fugger’s early payment concept, from XRP and the XRP Ledger, which arrived later.

Ryan Fugger built RipplePay, not XRP

Fugger’s RipplePay concept dates back to 2004. It focused on payments, IOUs and trust lines between users. It did not operate as a blockchain in the modern crypto sense, and it did not include XRP as a native asset.

Ryan Fugger conceptualized a decentralized payment/settlement network (but without decentralized assets) around 2004, well before bitcoin.

— David ‘JoelKatz’ Schwartz (@JoelKatz) June 26, 2026

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Schwartz’s answer makes that point clear. He wrote that Fugger conceptualized a decentralized payment and settlement network “but without decentralized assets” around 2004. That means the idea came before Bitcoin, but XRP itself did not.

The official XRP Ledger history page places XRP’s launch in 2012. It says Schwartz, Jed McCaleb and Arthur Britto built a distributed ledger that aimed to improve on Bitcoin’s limits. The ledger included a native asset that became XRP.

The XRPL learning portal also says the three developers joined forces in 2011 to create a faster and more scalable digital asset. That timeline puts XRP after Bitcoin, not before it.

XRP origin debate continues online

MitchRob later asked whether Satoshi Nakamoto may have drawn any inspiration from Fugger’s earlier concepts. He also asked which network was built with a better framework for payments and settlement.

Schwartz had not answered that follow-up in the provided thread at the time of writing. The question remains speculative because no public evidence in the thread shows that Satoshi used Fugger’s work when designing Bitcoin.

The confusion comes from the Ripple name. Fugger’s RipplePay project came before Bitcoin, while the XRP Ledger came after Bitcoin. Ripple Labs later used the Ripple name, but the technical system behind XRP was built separately.

As previously reported, David Schwartz recently explained his XRP Ledger role after stepping back from daily leadership. The report noted that he remains CTO emeritus and one of XRPL’s co-creators.

XRPL history still matters

The debate comes as XRP Ledger development continues. In a previous article, crypto.news discussed Schwartz backing the XRP Ledger 3.2.0 upgrade, which renamed the core server software from rippled to xrpld.

That update moved XRPL further away from older Ripple-branded software names. It also added cleanup fixes for features tied to DeFi tools, vaults, lending, permissioned domains and token functions.

Previously, crypto.news explored XRPL’s growing tokenized finance use cases. Schwartz said XRPL use is expanding from payments into tokenized assets, stablecoins and other financial tools.

The latest exchange does not change XRP’s history. Fugger helped shape an early payment idea before Bitcoin. XRP and XRPL, however, began later as separate code written by Schwartz, McCaleb and Britto.

Cathie Wood has said that rising global instability has created the conditions for another Bitcoin rally as investors increasingly look for assets that can protect wealth across borders.

According to a June 27 X post by ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood, capital leaving economically and politically unstable countries is likely to provide fresh momentum for Bitcoin and other digital assets.

Capital outflows from less stable countries around the world will light another fire under bitcoin and other digital assets. AI has launched a technology revolution, deservedly sucking a lot of oxygen out of the investment world, but it cannot serve as the insurance policy… https://t.co/Xmtt1DnroX

— Cathie Wood (@CathieDWood) June 27, 2026

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She argued that while artificial intelligence has captured investor attention and a large share of market liquidity, it cannot replace the role digital assets play during periods of uncertainty.

Bitcoin remains a hedge against global instability

In her post, Wood said AI has launched a technological revolution and is attracting substantial investment, but described digital assets as a form of “insurance policy” for protecting wealth when confidence in traditional financial systems weakens.

She linked this view to growing capital outflows from less stable nations, saying those flows could “light another fire” under Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market.

Rather than competing directly, Wood suggested AI and crypto serve different purposes in today’s investment landscape. While AI companies continue drawing fresh capital because of their growth prospects, she argued that Bitcoin addresses a separate need by offering an alternative store of value that can move across borders more easily than many traditional assets.

Her comments come as investors continue weighing geopolitical tensions, inflation concerns, currency weakness in several regions, and uncertainty surrounding monetary policy. According to Wood, these conditions are increasing demand for assets that can preserve purchasing power while remaining accessible outside domestic financial systems.

The remarks also follow a post by ARK analyst Lorenzo Valente, who argued that many investors are overlooking crypto’s original purpose. Valente wrote that although the market has become increasingly institutional, digital assets should not be viewed only as risk-on investments because they continue to serve as financial protection in uncertain environments.

ARK continues adding crypto-related investments

Wood’s latest comments coincide with continued buying activity across ARK Invest’s exchange-traded funds.

According to ARK Invest’s latest daily trade disclosure, the firm purchased about $25.54 million worth of shares in Coinbase, SpaceX, Circle, Bullish, and Robinhood.

Coinbase represented the largest purchase by value. ARK acquired 68,366 shares through the ARK Innovation ETF, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF, and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF. Based on Friday’s closing price of $149.06, the transaction was worth about $10.19 million.

SpaceX ranked second after ARK bought 45,728 shares through four of its ETFs, including ARKQ and ARKX, for roughly $7.01 million using the company’s closing price of $153.23.

The investment manager also added 78,756 Circle shares valued at approximately $5.79 million, alongside smaller purchases of Bullish and Robinhood shares worth around $1.34 million and $1.21 million, respectively.

The latest buying activity is consistent with Wood’s positive view on financial markets despite ongoing concerns about inflation and interest rates.

As crypto.news previously reported, she said discussions with investors across Asia and Europe indicated many expect inflation to remain persistent and believe the Federal Reserve could tighten monetary policy further. Even so, Wood argued that incoming economic data points toward a different outcome.