Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Depeg Linked To Alameda Research; FUD Or Truth?

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) Depeg News: Following the chaos around FTX collapse in recent weeks, speculation is now rife around the Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) depegging from the Bitcoin price. While the rumors suggest certain wBTC is missing as it belonged to Alameda Research, the BitGo team cited routine maintenance of DAO multisig rotation. BitGo’s wBTC order book shows that there is a slight excess in Bitcoin custody than the total wBTC in the network. It means there are more Bitcoin (BTC) to support the number of issued wBTC.

Also Read: Popular Analyst Predicts Bitcoin (BTC) Price Risks Fall To $10,000

wBTC Linked To Alameda Research?

Kia Mosayeri, product manager at BitGo, cited presence of assets in cold storage for gaps in the transaction stream. Contrary to the speculation around links to Alameda Research, he said the bankrupt firm is not relevant in this case. The speculation began after Duo Nine, who claims to be a technical analyst on Twitter, shared some data on wBTC holdings. He shared data that showed Alameda held around wBTC, which can’t be reclaimed now as it is bankrupt.

A total of 72k #WBTC cannot be reclaimed by #Alameda investors, aka #FTX users, since they are both bankrupt!

Who exactly owns those 72k #BTC now? Are they even real?

What a mess. pic.twitter.com/X6GvM1EZBK

— Duo Nine | discord.gg/ycc (@DU09BTC) November 25, 2022

However, according to the wBTC order book details of BitGo, the firm claims to be holding custody for 225,862 wBTC against a total of 235,452. This means BitGo essentially holds around 10,000 BTC in excess. The firm also has a dashboard with Bitcoin addresses that are controlled by the custodian. On the flip side, if the speculation comes to be true, it could effectively mean that Alameda Research might still be owing the assets of sold them off.

Mosayeri said there is a lot of WBTC related FUD. “WBTC redemptions are being processed pretty well. Due to assets being in cold storage there are intervals for arbs rather than a constant stream.”

wBTC Depeg

Meanwhile, the price of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) is currently at 0.9836 BTC, compared to the value of 1 Bitcoin it should maintain. The depegging resulted in a difference of around $250 between BTC and wBTC. As of writing, wBTC price stands at $16,256, down 1.40% in the last 24 hours, according to price tracking platform CoinMarketCap. Whereas Bitcoin price is currently at $16,528.60, down 0.29% in the last 24 hours.

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