# Reserves ## Bitcoin Gold has long been valued as reliable money due to its lasting value and scarcity. However, Bitcoin was specifically engineered to serve as money, making it even better than gold in key ways: it is more durable, more scarce, more divisible, more portable, and more fungible. Additionally, Bitcoin is counterfeit-proof, censorship-resistant, and resistant to manipulation. These qualities make Bitcoin the ideal form of sound money that ShiftCTRL uses as its reserve. ## Wrapped/Bridged Bitcoin Since the ShiftCTRL protocol operates on the Base network, it uses wrapped or bridged ERC-20 versions of Bitcoin (BTC) as reserves. Initially, [cbBTC](https://www.coinbase.com/en-gb/cbbtc) (Coinbase Wrapped BTC) will be used. The community can vote on which versions of wrapped or bridged BTC to accept or remove from the protocol. While cbBTC is widely trusted and used, its centralized nature, where custodians manage its integrity, has some drawbacks. ShiftCTRL plans to address this by supporting native BTC reserves directly on the Bitcoin network in the second phase of its development. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.shiftctrl.money/how-it-works/reserves.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.