Sky,
the
decentralized
finance
lender
formerly
known
as
MakerDAO,
will
vote
on
fully
ditching
wrapped
bitcoin
(wBTC)
from
its
ecosystem,
according
to
a
Thursday
governance
post,
potentially
a
major
development
in
DeFi
since
the
platform
has
$200
million
of
loans
collateralized
by
the
token.
WBTC
is
a
token
that
allows
investors
to
use
bitcoin
(BTC)
on
other
blockchains,
and
plays
a
key
role
in
lending
DeFi
as
collateral,
with
a
$9
billion
market
capitalization.
-
04:41
Is
DeFi
Summer
Making
a
Comeback? -
11:52
Bitcoin
ETFs
Are
Still
‘Wildly
Successful’:
Kraken
Head
of
Strategy -
11:52
Bitcoin
ETFs
Are
Still
‘Wildly
Successful’:
Kraken
Head
of
Strategy -
01:11
DeFi
Market
Rebounds
to
$50B
as
Speculators
Hunt
for
Yield
DeFi
risk
management
firm
BA
Labs,
an
influential
voice
in
the
Sky
protocol’s
governance,
previously
had
proposed
to
reduce
exposure
to
wBTC,
due
to
perceived
risks
from
Tron
founder
Justin
Sun’s
involvement
with
the
custodian
for
the
underlying
assets.
Sky
is
one
of
the
biggest
DeFi
projects
and
issuer
of
the
$5
billion
decentralized
stablecoin
DAI,
so
the
development
had
been
closely
tracked
by
crypto
analysts
and
blockchain
industry
watchers.
On
Thursday,
BA
Labs
proposed
to
gradually
offboard
all
wBTC
exposure
from
collateral
assets
in
five
steps,
with
the
first
one
starting
on
Sep.
26.
Each
step
will
be
voted
on.
“We
find
that
legal
due
diligence
would
not
provide
an
adequate
level
of
assurance,”
BA
Labs
said
in
its
proposal.
BA
Labs
recommended
onboarding
alternative
products
to
the
platform
should
the
proposal
pass.
A
spokesperson
for
Tron
did
not
immediately
return
a
request
for
comment.
Competitors
energized
Currently,
there
are
some
$73
million
worth
of
loans
collateralized
with
wBTC
on
Sky-affiliated
lending
platform
SparkLend,
and
some
$127
million
debt
against
wBTC
in
Sky’s
legacy
vaults,
according
to
the
BA
Labs
post.
Tensions
flared
up
around
wBTC
following
crypto
custody
firm
BitGo’s
announcement
earlier
this
month
that
it
planned
to
transition
control
of
the
asset
to
a
joint
operation
with
a
custody
platform
called
BiT
Global.
The
deal,
which
distributed
control
over
the
project’s
custody
to
three
entities
globally
instead
of
just
one,
was
cast
as
a
way
of
helping
to
decentralize
the
operation.
According
to
an
Aug.
9
press
release,
BiT
Global
is
a
global
custody
platform
with
regulated
operations
based
in
Hong
Kong,
registered
as
a
Trust
and
Company
Service
Provider
(TCSP),
and
is
a
“a
strategic
partnership
between
BitGo,
Justin
Sun,
and
the
Tron
ecosystem.”
Notably,
crypto
exchange
and
custody
giant
Coinbase
debuted
its
own
wrapped
bitcoin
competitor
earlier
Thursday.
