Aave co-founder: There is no proposal to strip wBTC, Sky may bear legal responsibility for forced stripping

On September 20, in response to false information regarding Aave's proposal to strip wBTC, Aave co-founder Stani Kulechov stated, "Aave is not eliminating wBTC; the proposal does not imply an exit decision." On the same day, the law firm Kneupper & Covey, located in Georgia, USA, announced on its official website that the forced liquidation of Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) by the cryptocurrency lending platform Sky (formerly MakerDAO) would harm users' interests, and they are collecting information from affected victims and offering assistance for a class action lawsuit.

On the very day that Sky officially planned to strip wBTC, rumors circulated that the DeFi platform Aave had initiated a proposal to strip wBTC, once again stirring up controversy surrounding wBTC. In response, Aave co-founder Stani Kulechov stated, "This is incorrect; Aave is not eliminating wBTC. This is a proposal to limit wBTC put forth by one of the risk providers. Aave DAO is a true DAO, and the proposal does not imply an exit decision; this specific proposal is not about exiting."

According to The Defiant, ACI founder Zeller and some community representatives opposed this radical proposal, calling for a more cautious approach. Currently, Aave has not delisted or adjusted any parameters related to wBTC. Zeller explicitly stated in the forum, "Unless there are sufficient reasons, wBTC users have a legitimate right to use the Aave protocol. ACI will not support this proposal."

According to the website of the law firm Kneupper & Covey, the proposal initiated by BA Labs in the Sky community lacks legitimate and objective grounds, even claiming that there was no need for due diligence, yet insisting on "delisting" the existing collateral wBTC that users borrowed. This proposal has raised serious concerns in the market, including users questioning its true motives and the potential profits from liquidation for Sky, while the forced liquidation harms the interests of users who oppose it.

Kneupper & Covey specifically pointed out that considering the highly internationalized nature of the wBTC ecosystem, Sky's unilateral plan to strip WBTC collateral in a very short time could force uninformed users to face significant liquidations.

It is reported that on the 20th, Sky officially passed a proposal to strip $200 million in wBTC collateral exposure, with about 12% of voters casting abstentions.

wBTC is an ERC-20 compatible cryptocurrency pegged to Bitcoin, aimed at enhancing Bitcoin's liquidity and providing more application scenarios for the DeFi ecosystem. wBTC is managed by the decentralized organization WBTC DAO. The idea of launching this token was proposed by BitGo, Kyber Network, and Ren in 2019. The key advantage of WBTC is that it integrates Bitcoin with Ethereum-compatible wallets, dApps, and smart contracts. Currently, there are over 150,000 wBTC, valued at over $9 billion, making it the largest wrapped BTC token.

The news of Sky stripping wBTC has attracted attention from the cryptocurrency industry, including users and wBTC competitors. On the proposal page initiated in the Sky forum, several similar projects are seeking attention and collaboration.

During this event, MakerDAO was renamed to Sky and issued the stablecoin USDs. Sky co-founder and former Maker founder Rune Christensen pointed out the possibility of "designing a more decentralized freezing function than centralized stablecoins." However, USDs and Sky have also been criticized for moving further down the path of centralization, failing to reflect the values of a decentralized organization (DAO).

On September 12, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase officially entered the wrapped BTC space, launching Coinbase Wrapped BTC (cbBTC). However, the lack of centralization and transparency in reserves has become the focal point of controversy and skepticism surrounding cbBTC, even earning the controversial label of "central bank Bitcoin."