Introduction

Abstract

eBTC is a collateralized crypto asset soft pegged to the price of Bitcoin and built on the Ethereum network. It is backed exclusively by Lido's stETH and powered by immutable smart contracts with minimized counterparty reliance. It is designed to be the most decentralized synthetic Bitcoin in DeFi and offers the ability for anyone in the world to borrow BTC at no cost.

The State of Bitcoin in DeFi

eBTC is a protocol that allows anyone to use Lido’s Staked Ether (stETH) as collateral to borrow a synthetic Bitcoin asset with zero borrowing fees. Powered by non-custodial, immutable, governance-minimized smart contracts, it aims to be the most trustless and censorship-resistant synthetic Bitcoin in DeFi.

eBTC is the first protocol to focus exclusively on the ETH/BTC ratio. While most of the trading and strategies for this pair are currently done off chain using centralized counter-parties, eBTC empowers users to now bring this activity on chain with extreme transparency. Further, due to its immutability and composability, it enables any protocol to integrate its functionality and build on top of it.

Its vision ignited by the abundance of highly publicized financial collapses in 2022, eBTC has been designed as a direct response to the shortcomings of the centralized and opaque financial infrastructure that is commonplace within the blockchain space. By moving more ETH/BTC activity on chain within immutable smart contracts, eBTC moves the space further away from the centralized solutions for borrowing Bitcoin currently seen in the market today.