Bitcoin, which operates on the Bitcoin blockchain, cannot be easily transacted with on other blockchains, such as Ethereum.
This problem is solved by "wrapping" Bitcoin into an ERC-20 token that functions freely on the Ethereum blockchain.
When a user deposits BTC with a 'merchant', the merchant mints new WBTC for the user, and sends the deposited BTC to a 3rd party custodian to be held in a transparent, audited account.
When WBTC is redeemed for BTC, the merchant 'burns' the WBTC, and the custodian sends an equivalent amount of BTC back to the user.
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