The Bitcoin Association Switzerland, along with its multiple partners, has launched tzBTC, a Bitcoin-backed Payments token on Tezos blockchain.
Announced on Wednesday, the token is backed one-to-one by Bitcoin and follows Tezos’ FA1.2 token standard. It can interact natively with decentralized applications on the Tezos Blockchain , opening up a wide variety of possibilities for decentralized finance.
According to the company, it is the first smart contract application for decentralized finance on the Tezos mainnet.
Today, we are announcing #tzBTC, a tokenized Bitcoin for the Tezos blockchain. #Tezos #Bitcoin
Check out our blog post to learn more!https://t.co/5SsoJO6rJJ pic.twitter.com/NSxyTG4MrL — Bitcoin Association Switzerland (@bitcoin_ch) April 8, 2020
Multiple stakeholders
The development of the token was initiated by the Bitcoin Association Switzerland in collaboration with the Tezos Foundation. Bitcoin Swiss will serve as the gatekeeper of the project.
Four Swiss companies - LEXR AG, inacta AG, Swiss Crypto Tokens AG, and Taurus Group SA - will act as the keyholders of the project. These companies will mint and burn the token and will be regulated by the Bitcoin Association Switzerland.
The announcement also detailed that the token will be regulated under Swiss laws.
“The tzBTC brings the brand and liquidity of Bitcoin to the Tezos blockchain and gains the potential for rich functionality made possible by Tezos smart contracts,” Lucas Betshart, head of the Bitcoin Association Switzerland, told Coindesk.
“tzBTC brings the liquidity and battle-tested brand of Bitcoin (BTC) into the Tezos ecosystem, enabling BTC-backed use-cases on Tezos. Developers on Tezos can use tzBTC to enable novel financial applications on the Tezos blockchain,” the official website of the project explains.
Many projects are now trying to bring established digital currencies on the decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms as Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) has become very popular on platforms like bZx, Compound, and dYdX.
