Circle’s tokenized Bitcoin asset, cirBTC, is now live on Ethereum, but the product remains very small in size. According to BlockBeats on August 13, the latest data shows only about 40 cirBTC in circulation, far below the scale of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Coinbase’s cbBTC.
cirBTC went live on Ethereum on June 8, not on August 12. Ethereum contract data shows a maximum total supply of about 40.02 cirBTC, with 11 holder addresses.
Ethereum is the only live network for now
Circle said eligible institutional participants can mint and redeem cirBTC through Circle Mint. Ethereum is currently the only supported network. The company said it plans to add support for its own Arc blockchain and more networks later.
Issuance and custody structure
cirBTC is issued by Circle International Bermuda Limited. The underlying Bitcoin is held by Circle National Trust and segregated for the benefit of cirBTC holders. Circle said the backing BTC is kept separate from the company’s own assets.
Reserve figures and on-chain verification
Reserve data dated August 11 showed a cirBTC supply of 40.02159077, while BTC reserves stood at 42.5070808. Circle has also disclosed reserve addresses and balances, and those can be verified through Bitcoin on-chain data.
For proof of reserves, Circle uses Chainlink’s Proof of Reserve mechanism rather than a traditional monthly attestation model. Under that setup, verified reserve data is published on-chain so users and protocols can continuously monitor whether the tokenized asset remains fully collateralized.
Still far behind WBTC and cbBTC
Compared with the leading wrapped BTC products, cirBTC is still in an early stage. The Defiant, citing CoinGecko data, said WBTC has a circulating supply of about 116,100 tokens and a market capitalization of about $7.362 billion. cbBTC has a circulating supply of about 97,200 tokens and a market capitalization of about $6.162 billion.
By comparison, cirBTC has not yet developed a trackable market price or market capitalization.
How Circle positions cirBTC
Circle describes cirBTC as a neutral Bitcoin-backed asset aimed at institutions. In this case, “neutral” refers to its commercial positioning rather than decentralized issuance. Circle said it does not operate a centralized exchange, decentralized exchange, or lending protocol that directly competes with cirBTC, though minting and redemption still take place through Circle Mint.