Indigo Protocol iBTC wallet

What is Indigo Protocol iBTC (IBTC)?

Despite the name, iBTC contains no bitcoin. It is a synthetic asset on Cardano whose price is meant to track BTC, while what actually stands behind it is ADA locked in collateralized debt positions inside Indigo Protocol. You either mint it yourself by depositing ADA above the minimum collateralization ratio and carrying the debt, or you buy it on a Cardano DEX, in which case it arrives as an ordinary Cardano native asset with no obligation attached.

That difference shapes everything about holding it. There is no custodian holding coins on the other side and no redemption window that hands you real bitcoin. The peg rests on overcollateralization and on the Stability Pool, which absorbs positions that fall below the ratio by swapping its own iBTC for the borrower's ADA. So the thing to watch is Cardano-side solvency, not a Bitcoin bridge. And if you minted rather than bought, moving iBTC out of your wallet does not move the CDP: the collateral and the debt stay behind under your address.

On Cardano, native assets are not held in separate token accounts. iBTC travels inside UTxOs together with a small amount of ADA that has to ride along, and transaction fees are paid in ADA as well.

Supported networks in Tangem (1): Cardano. Because the ADA that pays the fee and the ADA that sits in the same UTxO have to be in the wallet anyway, keeping both there and confirming a transfer by holding the card to the phone removes the usual juggling between an asset and the coin that moves it. For a Cardano-native synthetic, that is the arrangement that actually fits.