WBTC loses its peg to Bitcoin on Justin Sun-backed Poloniex

by

As a researcher with experience in the cryptocurrency market, I find it concerning to see Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) trading at a significant discount on Poloniex compared to its peg to Bitcoin. The 22% discrepancy between WBTC and BTC prices raises questions about the stability of this crypto asset and the exchange’s ability to maintain its value.

The cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex run by Justin Sun is observing a 20% price disparity between Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Bitcoin, sparking worry about the stability of WBTC’s connection to Bitcoin.

The cost of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) relative to Bitcoin (BTC) on Poloniex has decreased by 22%, causing apprehension regarding Poloniex’s capacity to facilitate WBTC/BTC transactions.

Based on Poloniex’s information, there have been no trades conducted in the WBTC-BTC pair during the recent days. At present, WBTC is available for purchase at a 22% lower price compared to BTC on this exchange, which equates to around $48,738 per pair. The trading of WBTC on Poloniex came to a halt on March 26 without any subsequent changes in activity.

It’s ambiguous if Poloniex is providing Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) on the Ethereum or TRON network. Although Poloniex announced a TRON version of WBTC earlier, their description for the WBTC/BTC trading pair on the platform still refers to WBTC as an ERC-20 token, which is a standard used in the Ethereum blockchain.

In spite of WBWrapped (WBTC) losing its connection to Bitcoin (BTC), or “depegging,” on Poloniex, it remains freely tradable against the US Dollar stablecoin, USDT, issued by Tether. On HTX, previously known as Huobi, another exchange associated with Justin Sun, WBTC seems to be preserving its link to Bitcoin, although there has been no trading activity in this pair during the last 24 hours. At present, neither Poloniex nor Justin Sun have made any public announcements concerning this situation.

Read More

2024-04-30 14:11