Nomic activates nBTC upgrade to bring tokenized Bitcoin into Cosmos ecosystem

Nomic, a decentralized non-custodial Bitcoin bridge protocol, has activated its native Bitcoin (nBTC) interchain upgrade, paving the way for native, tokenized Bitcoin transfers within the Cosmos ecosystem. The upgrade, which went live today, aims to facilitate users who wish to bridge Bitcoin from its mainnet for use across applications within the Cosmos network.

Before the introduction of the nBTC interchain upgrade, there were no options for users wanting to transfer Bitcoin into the Cosmos Network via decentralized methods. The lack of a dedicated bridge protocol meant that users had to convert their Bitcoin into other cryptocurrencies, adding an extra layer of complexity.

Nomic’s nBTC solution removes this obstacle by offering a token that enables users to bring their Bitcoin directly into the Cosmos ecosystem. Announced earlier this year by the Nomic DAO, the nBTC activation underwent an extensive auditing process to verify the bridge’s security.

“The Cosmos ecosystem is too important for it to lack a seamless and secure way to receive BTC,” said Matt Bell, CEO of Turbofish, the core-contributor of Nomic. “We see today’s announcement as the beginning of the most seamless and secure way to on-ramp users into the Cosmos ecosystem with BTC. With these upgrades, we are thrilled that Nomic will now unlock the exciting DeFi capabilities of the Cosmos ecosystem for any user holding BTC.”

nBTC will also be compatible with Cosmos appchains

Starting today, nBTC will be accessible across blockchains that run the inter-blockchain communication protocol (IBC), Cosmos' cross-chain messaging and bridge protocol. As such, it will available for trading on Osmosis, the largest decentralized exchange network on Cosmos.

In addition to Osmosis, nBTC will be compatible with other well-known Cosmos apps like Kujira and Levana. This will enable users to directly deposit and withdraw nBTC within these platforms, extending its utility as collateral across multiple applications.

Beyond Nomic’s nBTC, another tokenized Bitcoin will soon be available in the Cosmos ecosystem. The developers behind Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), the largest tokenized Bitcoin project, plan to launch on the network via a bridge deployment. Currently, there are over 163,000 WBTC on Ethereum, valued at $5.6 billion.