Coinbase has selected Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) as the exclusive conduit for all Coinbase Wrapped Assets. This partnership links them to the same Chainlink oracle networks that supply pricing and other data to decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, as announced by the firms on Thursday.
The agreement encompasses tokens like cbBTC, cbETH, cbDOGE, cbLTC, cbADA, and cbXRP, which collectively have a market value of approximately $7 billion at the time of writing. These wrapped assets allow Coinbase users to transfer their holdings into other networks and applications that do not directly support these coins.
With these wrapped assets, users can, for instance, utilize bitcoin as cbBTC within the decentralized finance (DeFi) environments of various networks, including Base and Solana.
Cross-chain bridges have been significant points of failure in the crypto space, with several high-profile breaches occurring in recent years. CCIP facilitates the transfer of messages and value between chains using a decentralized network of nodes, as opposed to relying on a single multisig or custom bridge for each pair of networks, a strategy aimed at reducing operator risk.
“We chose Chainlink because they are a leading force in cross-chain connectivity,” remarked Josh Leavitt, senior director of product management at Coinbase. William Reilly, head of strategic initiatives at Chainlink, stated that the collaboration is designed to “accelerate the growth of Coinbase’s wrapped assets.”
This announcement follows the recent launch of a new bridge connecting Base, an Ethereum layer-2 network developed by Coinbase, with the Solana blockchain, which is also protected by Chainlink’s CCIP.
