Last updated on January 22nd, 2022
While you are interacting with the crypto world, you may have noticed that there are 2 versions of Bitcoin: BTC and BTCB.
What exactly is the difference between them, and how can you convert among these 2?
Here’s what you need to know:
Contents
Is BTCB the same as BTC?
BTCB is the Binance-pegged version of BTC on the Binance Smart Chain (BEP20) or Binance Chain (BEP2). This is because Bitcoin has its own blockchain network, and BTCB is the bridged version of BTC on either the BEP20 or BEP2 blockchains. In theory, 1 BTCB is equal to 1 BTC and the value of both cryptocurrencies should be the same.
If you search for BTC on Trust Wallet, you will notice that BTCB and BTC are 2 separate tokens:
This is because BTCB is a token on the Binance Smart Chain, while BTC is a token on the native Bitcoin network.
Why was BTCB created?
When Bitcoin was originally launched in 2009, it has its own blockchain network. This is a separate network compared to other networks, like the Binance Chain (BEP2) and the Binance Smart Chain (BEP20).
With the Binance Smart Chain becoming one of the more heavily used blockchain networks, Binance decided to introduce BTCB as a wrapped token of BTC on the Binance Smart Chain.
This allowed you to use BTC on the Binance Smart Chain to interact with other decentralised apps (dApps).
For example, you may want to deposit your BTCB into one of the liquidity pools on Pancakeswap.
This is the same for other DeFi platforms like BakerySwap on the Binance Smart Chain, where you can only trade coins for BTCB (and not BTC).
You won’t be able to add the original BTC into these pools, since BTC has its separate blockchain network. However, with BTCB, you are able to use BTC on the Binance Smart Chain!
With BTC being the most popular cryptocurrency, this makes sense for the Binance Smart Chain to have its own version of BTC on their blockchain.
If you would like to use BTC on the Binance Smart Chain, you will have to use BTCB, and not BTC.
Binance claims that BTCB is pegged to BTC
Binance mentioned that BTCB is pegged to BTC in a 1:1 ratio. For every BTCB that is being used in the Binance Chain or Binance Smart Chain, there should be 1 BTC that is held in a public address.
This is similar to stablecoins like USDT and USDC, where there is supposed to be 1 USD for every stablecoin on the market.
However, this may not always be the case, where USDT only has 2.9% of its entire reserves in cash!
This may be something that you are concerned of, and Binance has a ‘Proof of Assets‘ page to show the amount of BTC that is being kept in the reserves for the different versions of BTC (ERC20, BEP20 and BEP2).
With this transparency, it should help to ease your mind that your BTCB tokens are really backed by actual BTC in Binance’s reserves!
Transaction fees are lower on Binance Smart Chain compared to Bitcoin’s network
If you are sending and receiving Bitcoin on its native blockchain, the transaction fees can be quite high. However, if you choose to send BTC via the Binance Smart Chain (BEP20) or Binance Chain (BEP2), the fees are actually much lower.
Here are the transaction fees you’ll need to pay on Binance when withdrawing BTC using these different networks:
The transaction fees on BEP2 and BEP20 are much lower compared to using the Bitcoin network. Moreover, the transaction time is much lower (~ 5 minutes) compared to using the Bitcoin network (~ 60 minutes).
While it is advantageous to have BTCB compared to BTC, you may want to double check that the wallet or application that you’re using supports the BEP20 or BEP2 version of BTC.
If they do not support BTCB, then you should only be sending BTC to that wallet or platform. Otherwise, your funds may be lost!
How do I convert BTC to BTCB?
To convert BTC to BTCB, you will need to withdraw BTC from a platform like Binance using either the BEP20 or BEP2 network to your wallet or application.
For example, I may want to send BTCB to my Metamask wallet. In this case, I will have to copy the address from my Metamask wallet.
The Metamask address is the same, even if you’re using the BEP20 or ERC20 network. As such, it depends on which network you’re using to withdraw from Binance.
In this case, I will be sending BTC to my Metamask wallet.
When I’ve pasted my Metamask wallet address on Binance, I will be given 2 networks to send BTC to Metamask:
- Binance Smart Chain (BEP20)
- Ethereum (ERC20)
If you would like to have BTCB in your Metamask wallet, you will need to send it using the BEP20 network.
If you send BTC using the ERC20 network, you will be getting BBTC (Binance Wrapped BTC) instead!
Once you have approved the withdrawal, BTCB will be sent to your Metamask wallet. If you have not added the BTCB token to your Metamask wallet, you can check out my guide here.
How do I convert BTCB back to BTC?
To convert BTCB back to BTC, you will need to send your BTC to a platform that supports both BTCB (BEP20 or BEP2) and BTC. Some examples of these platforms include Binance and Gate.io, while SafePal offers an option to bridge between these 2 assets.
The process of converting BTCB back to BTC is somewhat similar to converting BTC to BTC, and here’s a guide on how you can do so:
How to convert BTCB to BTC on Binance
If you would like to convert BTCB back to BTC, you will need to send BTCB from your wallet to Binance using the BEP20 network.
For example, I may have some BTCB in my Metamask wallet, so I will send it back to my Binance account.
First, I will need to obtain the BTC (BEP20) deposit address on Binance.
This address should start with ‘0x‘.
After that, I will copy this BEP20 address to my Metamask wallet which holds BTCB on the Binance Smart Chain.
After processing the transaction, I will receive BTC in my Binance account.
Binance does not separate out the different versions of Bitcoin based on the network you’ve used to send to Binance. As such, it does not matter whether you send BTCB or BTC to your Binance account.
Ultimately, all of them will be aggregated into one account balance.
How to convert BTCB to BTC on Gate.io
The process for converting BTCB to BTC on Gate.io is similar to how you would do so on Binance.
First, you will need to obtain the BEP20 deposit address of BTC from Gate.io.
After that, you can send BTCB to your Gate.io account, and it will be aggregated into your BTC balance.
Similar to Binance, it does not matter which network you use to send BTC to Gate.io. All of your BTC balances will still be aggregated together.
How to convert BTCB to BTC on SafePal
Another option to convert BTCB to BTC is on your SafePal wallet. You can send BTCB to your SafePal wallet via the BEP20 deposit address.
Once you have deposited BTCB to your SafePal wallet, you can go to the ‘Swap‘ feature and swap from BTCB to BTC.
You will have to pay a transaction fee for each swap that you make.
Can I convert BTCB to BTC on Trust Wallet?
You are unable to convert BTCB to BTC directly on Trust Wallet. You will need to send your BTCB on Trust Wallet to either Binance, Gate.io or a SafePal wallet to perform the swap to native BTC.
If you’ve sent some BTCB to your Trust Wallet, there is no way for you to change it back to BTC.
On the BTCB page, there is a ‘Swap‘ option that is available.
If you select the option, there are 2 methods that you can choose:
- Trade BTCB
- Swap to Binance Chain
If you select the ‘Swap to Binance Chain‘ option, you will just be swapping your BEP20 BTC to BEP2 BTC.
Ultimately, you will still obtain BTCB, which is not what you want!
Moreover, if you chose to use the Swap feature, you are only able to swap BTCB to another token, but not native BTC.
If you searched for BTC on the options, you won’t be able to find BTC either!
As such, you will need to send your BTCB to a platform that supports both BTCB and the native BTC.
Can I convert BTCB to BTC on Metamask?
You are unable to convert BTCB to BTC on your Metamask wallet, as Metamask does not support native Bitcoin on their wallet. You will need to send your BTCB from Metamask to either Binance, Gate.io or a SafePal wallet to perform the swap to native BTC.
Metamask does not support the native Bitcoin network, so you won’t be able to swap BTCB to Bitcoin directly on Metamask.
If you used the Swap feature on Metamask, you are only able to swap BTCB to another coin that is on the Binance Smart Chain.
As such, it is not possible to switch BTCB back to native BTC on your Metamask wallet.
Can I send BTCB to a BTC wallet?
You are only able to send BTCB to a BTC wallet that supports the BEP20 version of BTC. However, if you sent BTCB to a BTC deposit address (e.g. starting with ‘bc’ or ‘1’) instead of an ‘0x’ address, there may be a chance that your BTC may be lost forever.
When you are sending BTCB, it will be best to double check that you are sending it to a wallet that supports BEP20 deposits of BTC.
Your address should start with ‘0x‘ in this case.
Otherwise, your BTCB may be lost if you’ve sent it to a normal BTC wallet!
Conclusion
BTCB is a Binance-pegged version of BTC to allow you to use BTC on the Binance Chain (BEP2) or Binance Smart Chain (BEP20).
This is because the Bitcoin blockchain network is separate from the BEP20 or BEP2 networks.
There are only a few ways that you can convert between BTC and BTCB, which include:
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