Spark (@sparkfinance): Access Liquidity Without Selling Bitcoin: WBTC on SparkLend

Access Liquidity Without Selling Bitcoin: WBTC on SparkLend Bitcoin holders have traditionally faced an awkward choice: hold BTC and maintain exposure to its price movements, or sell it to access liquidity. Tokenized Bitcoin creates another option. On SparkLend, WBTC can be supplied as collateral to access on-chain liquidity without selling the position and giving up exposure to Bitcoin. Why WBTC is one of the leading tokenized assets WBTC (@WrappedBTC) has been around since January 2019, making it one of the longest-established and most widely distributed tokenized Bitcoin assets. As of August 2026, approximately 116,500 WBTC, around $9.4 billion, is held on Ethereum, representing an estimated 60–65% of the tokenized Bitcoin market. The tokenized Bitcoin market has become significantly more diverse. Assets including cbBTC, LBTC and tBTC have expanded the range of Bitcoin representations available across DeFi, while WBTC supply has declined from its 2024–25 peak as newer assets have gained some market traction. Even so, WBTC remains deeply integrated across major lending markets, DEXs and other DeFi infrastructure. That footprint also extends beyond Ethereum. WBTC is available natively on networks including Solana, Tron, BNB Chain, Kava and Osmosis, with its liquidity extending across other major networks through cross-chain infrastructure. Its long operating history, liquidity and broad integration remain particularly relevant when Bitcoin is being used as collateral for on-chain credit. Why SparkLend supports WBTC SparkLend is a multi-collateral lending and borrowing market where users can supply assets, use supported assets as collateral, and borrow against them. Markets operate within parameters defined by Sky Governance, covering areas such as loan-to-value ratios, liquidation thresholds, supply and borrow caps, and interest-rate models. Within that framework, SparkLend deliberately supports a constrained collateral set, focused primarily on ETH and its liquid derivatives alongside a small number of tokenized Bitcoin assets. This allows collateral risks to be assessed and managed individually rather than expanding into a long tail of assets. WBTC fits within that framework because of its liquidity, long operating history and established use across on-chain markets. WBTC's market price on SparkLend is provided through a Chainlink oracle. WBTC has its own risk parameters defined by Sky Governance, which can be adjusted as market conditions and its risk profile evolve. That support hasn't been unconditional. SparkLend disabled WBTC as collateral in 2024, when BitGo restructured WBTC’s custody structure into a tri-key arrangement. WBTC remained disabled while the new structure established an operating history and was subsequently reassessed through governance. Following that review, WBTC was re-enabled as collateral on SparkLend on March 31, 2026. WBTC as collateral for on-chain credit On SparkLend, WBTC is primarily useful as collateral for accessing liquidity while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin. Around 3,150 WBTC - approximately $200 million at current prices - is currently supplied to the market. More importantly, on-chain data shows how that collateral is actually being used. Around $44 million of current borrowing on SparkLend is collateralized by WBTC, with the overwhelming majority of that debt denominated in stablecoins, principally USDS and USDT. That makes BTC-backed stablecoin borrowing one of the clearest current use cases for WBTC on SparkLend: holders can supply WBTC as collateral and borrow supported stablecoins against it without selling their Bitcoin exposure. In practice, that means: Supplying WBTC and enabling it as collateral. Borrowing supported assets against the position, within WBTC's risk parameters defined by Sky Governance. WBTC currently has a maximum LTV of 77%, although parameters can change through governance. Borrow rates are determined by each borrowed asset market's interest-rate model and current utilization. Monitoring your Health Factor as BTC price moves, since a drop in collateral value relative to your borrowed amount increases liquidation risk. Borrowers can repay debt, add collateral or reduce the position at any time to manage that risk. The result is a straightforward form of overcollateralized Bitcoin-backed credit: WBTC provides the collateral, while the borrower can access stablecoin liquidity through Spark without first selling their Bitcoin position. WBTC's growing role in on-chain credit According to the team at Bit Global, borrowing against WBTC across major DeFi lending markets is predominantly stablecoin-denominated, rather than being used to borrow ETH or pursue leveraged looping strategies. This pattern has remained broadly consistent over the past 6–12 months. USDC is one of the principal stablecoins borrowed against WBTC across major lending markets, alongside USDT, although the exact mix varies by protocol. On SparkLend, WBTC-backed borrowing is concentrated primarily in USDS and USDT. This points to a common use case across lending markets: using WBTC as collateral to access stablecoin liquidity while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin. But headline balances only tell part of the story. WBTC serves different purposes across these venues. It can be supplied as a lending asset, deployed as liquidity, or used as collateral to access other assets. On SparkLend, WBTC is supporting predominantly stablecoin-denominated borrowing. That points to an established use case of how tokenized Bitcoin can be used on-chain. Rather than selling BTC to access dollar liquidity, holders can use Bitcoin as collateral for on-chain credit while maintaining their BTC exposure. Get started WBTC holders can use SparkLend to access on-chain liquidity against their Bitcoin exposure , without selling their position. Visit https://app.spark.finance/ to supply WBTC and view current rates and risk parameters.