Bitcoin and Ethereum are two separate blockchain networks with their own native cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Bitcoin is the first and arguably, most well-known cryptocurrency, but its capabilities are limited. It was designed primarily as a digital form of money and did not have the ability to run smart contracts or decentralized applications (dApps). Ethereum, on the other hand, was created to be a more flexible platform for building dApps, allowing developers to create custom tokens, smart contracts, and decentralized applications.
Bitcoin-to-Ethereum bridges are a relatively new development in the world of cryptocurrencies. These bridges are mechanisms that allow for the transfer of value between the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains. They were invented to address each network's limitations and enable people to take advantage of the unique features of both.
BTC and ETH are not directly compatible with each other. You cannot send BTC directly to an Ethereum address or vice versa. However, with the advent of blockchain bridges, you can now transfer BTC to the Ethereum blockchain and transfer ETH to the Bitcoin blockchain.
There are several ways to bridge Bitcoin to Ethereum. One of the ways is to lock up BTC on the Bitcoin blockchain and mint a corresponding amount of an equivalent asset on the Ethereum blockchain. This amount represents the Bitcoin to be transferred to your Ethereum address.
Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) was the first Bitcoin-to-Ethereum bridge to gain significant traction. wBTC gets used within the Ethereum ecosystem just like any other ERC-20 token. By using wBTC, you can take advantage of the unique features of Ethereum while still holding onto your Bitcoin. Similarly, to transfer ETH to the Bitcoin blockchain, ETH is locked up on the Ethereum blockchain and then minted as a corresponding amount of a Bitcoin-based asset, such as Wrapped Ether (wETH), on the Bitcoin blockchain. When you want to move your wBTC back to Bitcoin, the bridge takes the wBTC from the Ethereum network, burns it (i.e., destroys it), and sends the corresponding amount of Bitcoin to your Bitcoin address.