BTC and frBTC

The two balances in your Alkanex wallet, why wrapping exists, and how the bot moves between them for you.

Your Alkanex wallet holds two kinds of Bitcoin. BTC on-chain, and frBTC, the wrapped form that Alkanes pools trade in. You rarely have to think about the difference, because the bot moves between them for you. This page explains what each one is for, so the balances on your portfolio card make sense.

The two balances

Open Portfolio and you see both, under a header that reads "On-chain BTC plus frBTC ready to trade."

Balance	What it is	What it does
BTC on-chain	Plain Bitcoin in your wallet.	Pays Bitcoin network fees and funds your buys.
frBTC (tradeable)	The wrapped, pool-native form of BTC.	The currency Alkanes AMM pools actually swap in. Spent directly when you buy.

The Portfolio balance card showing the "BTC on-chain" line and the "frBTC (tradeable)" line, with a total above and the holdings list below.

You do not choose between them at buy time. When you buy a token, the bot spends the frBTC you already hold, and if you do not hold enough, it wraps exactly what the trade needs from your BTC on demand (see below). Your deposit stays as BTC until then. No BTC-versus-frBTC decision to make.

Why wrapping exists

Alkanes pools cannot trade raw BTC directly. They trade frBTC, a token on Bitcoin L1 that is backed one-to-one by BTC. To get into a pool, your BTC has to be wrapped into frBTC first. To get back out to spendable Bitcoin, frBTC is unwrapped back into BTC.

This is why a fresh wallet funded with BTC needs a wrapping step before it can trade, and why selling can hand you back native BTC.

The bot takes no spread on the wrap. The bot does not take a cut when it wraps your BTC into frBTC. The amount that arrives as frBTC is your BTC minus the Bitcoin network fee and a small protocol wrap premium (about 0.1%), not a spread the bot pockets.

frBTC custody

frBTC is not held by the Alkanex bot. It is held by the subfrost FROST federation, the protocol that issues frBTC. In the bot's own words on the deposit screen:

Wrapped BTC (frBTC) is held by the subfrost FROST federation, not by this bot. Pinned signer verified on every wrap.

The bot verifies the federation's signer on every single wrap, so your BTC is only ever wrapped to the correct, expected destination.

How the bot moves between them

You have two ways to cross between BTC and frBTC, and the bot handles both for you.

Wrap on demand at buy time

Your deposit stays as BTC in your wallet. There is no auto-convert and no split on deposit. When you buy, the bot wraps exactly what the trade needs from your BTC, so you arrive ready without wrapping by hand:

Send BTC to this address. It is credited to your wallet and used directly when you buy. No bridging step.

If you already hold enough frBTC (for example from an earlier sell), a buy spends that frBTC directly and skips the wrap entirely, with no wrap premium on that leg.

Wrapping on a buy is not instant. When a buy needs to wrap BTC, it rides as a 2-transaction package (a wrap transaction, then the swap that confirms on top). It settles on Bitcoin, so realistic timing is minutes, gated on Bitcoin block times. See the Deposits page and the Buying page for the full step-by-step.

Convert on demand

To go the other way, turn frBTC back into native BTC in your own wallet, use frBTC -> BTC on the wallet card. This is the unwrap. Pick 25%, 50%, 100%, or a custom amount, and the Subfrost federation releases native BTC to your wallet, usually 30 to 60 minutes later, for a small fee. The bot describes it plainly:

Turn it into native Bitcoin in your wallet. The BTC release is handled by the Subfrost federation, not by Alkanex, and usually takes 30-60 minutes (sometimes longer). A small network fee applies.

The conversion runs as a live checklist - queued, building, signing, broadcasting, confirming, releasing, done - and the closing line tells you the Subfrost federation is releasing your BTC, which usually takes 30-60 minutes, sometimes longer.

Your frBTC is not burned until the conversion confirms. If something goes wrong, "Conversion did not go through. Your frBTC is safe in your wallet."

The bot does not take a spread on the unwrap either. Unwrap releases your BTC via the network, gated on Bitcoin block times, for the network fee.

When you choose, when you do not

Most of the time the split is invisible. There is one place it surfaces: how a sell pays out.

Sell payout	Speed	When
Native BTC (default)	Usually 30 to 60 minutes, small network fee	The default. The bot unwraps your proceeds for you.
frBTC	Ready to trade again right away, no extra unwrap fee	Opt in via Settings. Very small sells stay as frBTC.

The bot's setting copy: "BTC lands in your wallet once the Subfrost federation releases it, usually 30-60 minutes after the sale, sometimes longer, for a small fee (usually a few hundred sats). frBTC is instant and ready to trade again, with no extra fee. Very small sells stay as frBTC. Default is BTC."

Auto-convert on sell The path that auto-unwraps your sell proceeds to native BTC is the default and is validated on mainnet. Selling to frBTC is the always-safe instant option if you want to trade again right away.

Quick recap

BTC pays fees and funds buys. frBTC is what pools trade in.
The bot takes no spread on wrapping or unwrapping. On a wrap you pay the Bitcoin network fee plus a small protocol wrap premium (about 0.1%); the unwrap has no premium.
Wrapping and unwrapping both settle on-chain, so they take minutes, gated on Bitcoin block times, not seconds.
Your deposit stays as BTC. The bot wraps only what a trade needs, at buy time, and unwraps on demand (To BTC) and on sell, so you almost never wrap or unwrap by hand.
frBTC is custodied by the subfrost FROST federation, with the signer verified on every wrap.

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