Mike Belshe, Justin Sun, and BitGlobal representatives held an open discussion on WBTC custody model changes to address community concerns.
BTC Usage Concerns
One of the main concerns raised by the crypto community following BitGo’s initial announcement was how the Bitcoin backing WBTC would be used. Acting as the voice for the broader crypto community, Meow posed this question to BitGo CEO Mike Belshe. Belshe assured over 5,000 listeners, emphasizing, “when you put [Bitcoin] inside of a trust company, you've got it wrapped in a mechanism which has got a fiduciary responsibility in a very legal way.” He further reinforced, “the bitcoin behind [WBTC] is not gonna get hypothecated, rehypothecated, lent out, used, taken, put somewhere else.”
Transfer of Trust Issues
As part of the BitGo and GitGlobal collaboration, multi-signature keys with access to custodied assets will be distributed across several companies. While this aids in decentralization and security on paper, the community raised concerns over BitGlobal's involvement, a new and relatively unknown entity in the space. Meow theorized that the “transfer of trust will take a long time” and would be “quite a hard pill for the community to swallow.” In response, Belshe stated, “BitGo is not asking you to take the same trust that you had in BitGo and just give it to somebody else.” He emphasized that decentralization remains one of the strongest security measures, posing the rhetorical question, “Is it more secure to have the two parties, or is it more secure to have BitGo hold two keys?”
The Justin Sun Factor
Justin Sun's involvement in the project has been one of the hottest points of contention. Some long-standing crypto protocols like MakerDAO have argued that his involvement adds an “unacceptable level of risk” to WBTC. Sun noted during the forum that “the protocol, how to mint, how to burn and also the transparency and all the procedures remain the same.” He further highlighted that the main change involves some keys being moved out of the U.S., downplaying the significance of this move.
The discussion demonstrated the crypto industry's value in having open, transparent dialogues to align processes and decisions with the goals of all parties involved.
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