Builder Spotlight: Wrapped
by Claire Topalian on February 21, 2023

Will Binns is the founder of Wrapped, a cross-chain bridge designed for high-performance and speed.

Will is also the former maintainer of Bitcoin.org and current editor of Mastering Bitcoin and Mastering Ethereum. His focuses are protocol, smart contracts, and web3 development.
  • Claire:
    For those who aren’t familiar, can you share what Wrapped does - and your vision?
    Will:
    Our goal is to make it easy for anyone to use their assets on any network or blockchain.
    We work really closely with different dApps on the Stacks network. A lot of us are long-time Bitcoin holders, and STX being so closely aligned to Bitcoin as it is, we want to connect Bitcoin to DeFi. That’s what we do with xBTC.

    Our goal and vision is to make it so that any Bitcoin holder can connect their Bitcoin to DeFi on Stacks through xBTC.
  • Claire:
    What problem are you tackling with your project? What inspired you to address this problem?
    Will:
    We want to make it so Bitcoin holders can connect to DeFi. There’s a bunch of BTC holders out there, and over the last 18-24 months we’ve seen the rise of DeFi. Staking, yield farming, NFTs and whatnot…for BTC holders though, you can’t really do anything like that with your Bitcoin. We want to make it easy for BTC holders to connect their Bitcoin to those types of things, specifically with Stacks on xBTC.

    Through xUSD, we’re making it so that people looking to have a stable asset alongside the other assets they hold on the Stacks network have that option.

    And of course, through Arkadiko already, a stable asset exists, but we hope that in the future there will be stable swap, creating more stability amongst stable assets on a network.
  • Claire:
    What functionality does your work unlock for Stacks entrepreneurs, devs, or other stakeholders?
    Will:
    Enable people building on the Stacks network to connect their dApps with Bitcoin holders - we’re doing that with xBTC. Bringing additional stability to their dApps with xUSD. This brings price stability.
  • Claire:
    Can you share more about your experience working on your project?
    Will:
    I’ve been on the Wrapped team for about a year and a half. I maintained Bitcoin.org for several years, and I’m editor on Mastering Bitcoin and Mastering Ethereum. I know several different core contributors and founders in the Stacks network, and knew them long before there was a Stacks network. The community was small - Bitcoin focus brought us together.
  • Claire:
    Are there any updates/announcements coming up that readers can look for?
    Will:
    The Stacks Bridge is new, and readers can learn more about that here. Basically, ALEX is building Bridge, connecting USDC on Ethereum with xUSD on Stacks. Bridge is a wrapped bridge, with Tokensoft as the tech partner. USDC has a marketcap of over $48B and Bridge serves to facilitate onboarding that liquidity onto the Stacks network.

  • Claire:
    Anything you would share with someone new to the ecosystem? 

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