BitGo CEO Mike Belshe has assured concerned stakeholders about the safety of the BTC and wBTC. wBTC enables the utilization of BTC in other blockchains apart from the Bitcoin system.
Earlier in an August 9 post on X, Belshe confirmed that Justin Sun was involved in the company’s new partnership. The BitGo boss however stressed that his company had clearly stated Sun’s role in other to emphasize transparency.
Belshe disclosed that Sun has no authority to unilaterally move funds from the jointly controlled system.
In a newer X Spaces discussion on August 13, Belshe once again emphasized that Tron founder Justin Sun has no access to the asset keys of their collaboration.
Belshe used the opportunity to disclose that the keys would be split between BitGo’s U.S., and Singapore entities and BiT Global.
According to him, no single party can mint or steal from the underlying treasury. He further suggested that community concerns were mostly due to a lack of understanding of the operational mechanism of the keys.
Belshe also highlighted that Sun is not an employee of BiT Global. The company, he said, is organized in the form of a public holding company in Hong Kong and has a fiduciary obligation to secure the assets of customers.
According to domestic regulations, no person is permitted to own more than 20% of the company.
MakerDAO Apprehensive About Sun
DAI stablecoin issuer MakerDAO has initiated a motion to minimize its exposure to wBTC. MakerDao fears that joint custody with BiT Global, where Sun wields some influence, could mean too much control by BiT Global and Sun.
However, MakerDAO does not intend to liquidate existing positions. Its decision becomes available for execution after 13:24 UTC on the 15th of August 2024. The decision aims to ensure that the organization stops tapping its wBTC vaults for liquidity.
Such a move will halt further borrowing from these vaults, but there will be no liquidation of existing positions.
Belshe dismissed MakerDAO’s fears, saying they were more about Sun’s reputation than any actual risk.
He said,
This seems to be more a reaction to the Justin Sun name than to facts.
Sun Addresses Concerns
The embattled Justin Sun has also moved to give his own assurances. In an X post also on August 10, he carefully explained that his role is completely strategic.
Sun also disclosed that he neither controls the private keys to the wBTC reserves nor has a unilateral capacity to move any Bitcoin reserves.
Sun went on to assure the community of the unchanging nature of the wBTC minting process, noting that custodians BitGlobal and BitGo continue to manage it according to the same procedures.
