This article is about moving your BTC to the Ethereum blockchain through the use of wrapped tokens. If you're trying to swap your BTC for ETH or ERC-20 tokens, please refer to the following article:

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MEW has integrated multiple partner exchanges, such as 1inch, 0x, Changelly, Paraswap, and many more to offer the ability to move your Bitcoin to the Ethereum blockchain through wrapped tokens.

Wrapped tokens have their value pegged to a specific crypto, such as Bitcoin, so that they keep the same price despite the volatility of the crypto market. Some examples include the ERC20 tokens renBTC, wBTC, and BTC++, all of which are available through MEW web’s swap portal.

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Moving your Bitcoin to Ethereum has many different applications. The main benefit is bringing Bitcoin’s value, community, and liquidity to Ethereum. Although Ethereum boasts powerful smart contract technology, Bitcoin is by far the largest crypto in terms of total market cap. Bridging the gap between Bitcoin and Ethereum allows for more DeFi opportunities, more innovation, and less isolation between chains.

It’s important to remember the risks involved when swapping for any crypto assets. Do your own research to determine the authenticity of a project or team before jumping into any investments, and never invest more than you are prepared to lose.

Ren Project has built a RenVM protocol capable of exchanging BTC to ERC20 token renBTC and back again. Each renBTC is pegged 1:1 with a real BTC to back it up, so you can rest assured that you’ll be able to swap your renBTC back to BTC at any time without any liquidity issues. The MEW wallet app has integrated this bridge right into the mobile interface.

Ren is working on making renBTC the first truly decentralized solution for moving BTC to Ethereum. Because of this, sometimes it can take longer to reach all the confirmations necessary to move your BTC over. It’s always recommended to do your own research before fully committing to any crypto asset.

Read up on RenVM’s website for more information about the project and what else you can do with RenVM. You can also read a Medium post on RenVM’s road to decentralization.

pBTC is a token by pNetwork and its flagship project pTokens, a cross-chain system that enables assets to move frictionlessly from one blockchain to another.

Each pBTC is backed 1:1 by real bitcoin secured within the pTokens system, with which users can automatically and transparently peg-in their underlying BTC for Ethereum-compatible pBTC, or peg-out to redeem its underlying bitcoin, as needed.

pNetwork is the progressively decentralized governance layer operating the pTokens bridges among major blockchain protocols, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, and Litecoin. It is home to the pNetwork DAO and the ecosystem’s governance token PNT. Read more at p.Network.com/learn, or by reviewing this Medium post on the project’s commitment to security and progressive decentralization.

The pegged token WBTC stands for ‘wrapped BTC’. It is a token initially developed through a partnership of BitGo, Ren, Dharma, Kyber, Compound, MakerDAO, and Set Protocol. Now it is managed through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) called WBTC DAO. All Bitcoin used by WBTC is kept and maintained by BitGo as a custodial service.

It’s important to note that WBTC is a centralized solution for wrapped Bitcoin; it’s arguably the most popular as well. WBTC will never be as secure as the Bitcoin blockchain itself, since in the end it’s governed by people and not code itself, but it remains a good option for bringing BTC value to the Ethereum blockchain.

You can read more about WBTC on the WBTC website.

BTC++ is a relatively new Bitcoin token that was created by PieDAO, an open-source organization with the main goal of expanding DeFi. BTC++ is a “BTC” token on Ethereum, but it’s made up of several different wrapped Bitcoin tokens, including wBTC, pBTC, sBTC, and imBTC. PieDAO allocates these wrapped BTC tokens in order to create a general and more balanced approach at a BTC peg while minimizing the risk of anyone single wrapped BTC token collapsing from liquidity issues or malicious activity.

As always, it’s recommended that you read up on your investments before committing. Take a look at the PieDAO website for more information.