What is ckBTC?

Chain-key Bitcoin (ckBTC) is a token on the Internet Computer that is backed 1:1 by bitcoin (BTC). This means that 1 ckBTC can always be redeemed for 1 BTC and vice versa.

Smart contracts on the IC can hold and transfer ckBTC programmatically, allowing BTC holders to participate in DeFi applications, like Bookie. As such, ckBTC unlocks the world’s largest crypto economy for DeFi.

Bookie uses ckBTC to enable peer-to-peer blockchain secured bets with BTC. Not to worry, Bookie handles ckBTC minting and unminting for you! You can simply deposit/withdraw BTC and ckBTC will mint to your wallet safe and sound.

Why ckBTC for Bookie?

Fast: ckBTC can be sent with 1-2 second finality and negligible fees, making it much faster and cheaper than regular Bitcoin transactions which can take roughly an hour and have high fees.

Cheap: The transaction fees for ckBTC are fixed and negligible, costing only 0.0000001 ckBTC. This is approximately two orders of magnitude lower than traditional Bitcoin miner fees. In any case, we pay all ckBTC processing fees so that you don't pay any.

Secure: ckBTC is truly decentralised and backed 1:1 by Bitcoin (BTC), meaning 1 ckBTC can always be redeemed for 1 BTC and vice versa. Unlike other tokens pegged to Bitcoin, ckBTC does not rely on a third-party bridge for conversion between BTC and ckBTC, eliminating centralised custodians, bridges, and traditional cloud providers that could act as attack vectors. The security of ckBTC has been assessed for potential risks, including double-spending of funds, denial-of-service attacks, and insufficient access controls.