Chain-Key Bitcoin (ckBTC) Integration

What This Is

ckBTC is a 1:1 BTC-backed token native to the Internet Computer. No bridges, no wrapping, no third-party custodians. The ckBTC minter canister holds real BTC and mints/burns ckBTC tokens. Transfers settle in 1-2 seconds with a 10 satoshi fee (versus minutes and thousands of satoshis on Bitcoin L1).

Prerequisites

• For Motoko: mops package manager, core = "2.0.0" in mops.toml
• For Rust: ic-cdk, icrc-ledger-types, candid, serde

Canister IDs

Bitcoin Mainnet

Canister	ID
ckBTC Ledger	mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai
ckBTC Minter	mqygn-kiaaa-aaaar-qaadq-cai
ckBTC Index	n5wcd-faaaa-aaaar-qaaea-cai
ckBTC Checker	oltsj-fqaaa-aaaar-qal5q-cai

Bitcoin Testnet4

Canister	ID
ckBTC Ledger	mc6ru-gyaaa-aaaar-qaaaq-cai
ckBTC Minter	ml52i-qqaaa-aaaar-qaaba-cai
ckBTC Index	mm444-5iaaa-aaaar-qaabq-cai

How It Works

Deposit Flow (BTC -> ckBTC)

1. Call get_btc_address on the minter with the user's principal + subaccount. This returns a unique Bitcoin address controlled by the minter.
2. User sends BTC to that address using any Bitcoin wallet.
3. Wait for Bitcoin confirmations (the minter requires confirmations before minting).
4. Call update_balance on the minter with the same principal + subaccount. The minter checks for new UTXOs and mints equivalent ckBTC to the user's ICRC-1 account.

Transfer Flow (ckBTC -> ckBTC)

Call icrc1_transfer on the ckBTC ledger. Fee is 10 satoshis. Settles in 1-2 seconds.

Withdrawal Flow (ckBTC -> BTC)

1. Call icrc2_approve on the ckBTC ledger to grant the minter canister an allowance to spend from your account.
2. Call retrieve_btc_with_approval on the minter with { address, amount, from_subaccount: null }.
3. The minter uses the approval to burn the ckBTC and submits a Bitcoin transaction.
4. The BTC arrives at the destination address after Bitcoin confirmations.

Subaccount Generation

Each user gets a unique deposit address derived from their principal + an optional 32-byte subaccount. To give each user a distinct deposit address within your canister, derive subaccounts from a user-specific identifier (their principal or a sequential ID).

Mistakes That Break Your Build

1. Using the wrong minter canister ID. The minter ID is mqygn-kiaaa-aaaar-qaadq-cai. Do not confuse it with the ledger (mxzaz-...) or index (n5wcd-...).

2. Forgetting the 10 satoshi transfer fee. Every icrc1_transfer deducts 10 satoshis beyond the amount. If the user has exactly 1000 satoshis and you transfer 1000, it fails with InsufficientFunds. Transfer balance - 10 instead.

3. Not calling update_balance after a BTC deposit. Sending BTC to the deposit address does nothing until you call update_balance. The minter does not auto-detect deposits. Your app must call this.

4. Using Account Identifier instead of ICRC-1 Account. ckBTC uses the ICRC-1 standard: { owner: Principal, subaccount: ?Blob }. Do NOT use the legacy AccountIdentifier (hex string) from the ICP ledger.

5. Subaccount must be exactly 32 bytes or null. Passing a subaccount shorter or longer than 32 bytes causes a trap. Pad with leading zeros if deriving from a shorter value.

6. Calling retrieve_btc with amount below the minimum. The minter has a minimum withdrawal amount (currently 50,000 satoshis / 0.0005 BTC). Below this, you get AmountTooLow.

7. Not checking the retrieve_btc response for errors. The response is a variant: Ok contains { block_index }, Err contains specific errors like MalformedAddress, InsufficientFunds, TemporarilyUnavailable. Always match both arms.

8. Forgetting owner in get_btc_address args. If you omit owner, Candid sub-typing assigns null, and the minter returns the deposit address of the caller (the canister) instead of the user.

Implementation

Motoko

mops.toml

[package]
name = "ckbtc-app"
version = "0.1.0"

[dependencies]
core = "2.0.0"
icrc2-types = "1.1.0"

icp.yaml

Your backend canister calls the ckBTC ledger and minter by principal directly — no local ckBTC canister deployment needed.

canisters:
  - name: backend
    recipe:
      type: "@dfinity/motoko@v4.1.0"
      configuration:
        main: src/backend/main.mo

src/backend/main.mo

import Principal "mo:core/Principal";
import Blob "mo:core/Blob";
import Nat "mo:core/Nat";
import Nat8 "mo:core/Nat8";
import Nat64 "mo:core/Nat64";
import Array "mo:core/Array";
import Result "mo:core/Result";
import Error "mo:core/Error";
import Runtime "mo:core/Runtime";

persistent actor Self {

  // -- Types --

  type Account = {
    owner : Principal;
    subaccount : ?Blob;
  };

  type TransferArgs = {
    from_subaccount : ?Blob;
    to : Account;
    amount : Nat;
    fee : ?Nat;
    memo : ?Blob;
    created_at_time : ?Nat64;
  };

  type TransferResult = {
    #Ok : Nat; // block index
    #Err : TransferError;
  };

  type TransferError = {
    #BadFee : { expected_fee : Nat };
    #BadBurn : { min_burn_amount : Nat };
    #InsufficientFunds : { balance : Nat };
    #TooOld;
    #CreatedInFuture : { ledger_time : Nat64 };
    #Duplicate : { duplicate_of : Nat };
    #TemporarilyUnavailable;
    #GenericError : { error_code : Nat; message : Text };
  };

  type UpdateBalanceResult = {
    #Ok : [UtxoStatus];
    #Err : UpdateBalanceError;
  };

  type UtxoStatus = {
    #ValueTooSmall : Utxo;
    #Tainted : Utxo;
    #Checked : Utxo;
    #Minted : { block_index : Nat64; minted_amount : Nat64; utxo : Utxo };
  };

  type Utxo = {
    outpoint : { txid : Blob; vout : Nat32 };
    value : Nat64;
    height : Nat32;
  };

  type UpdateBalanceError = {
    #NoNewUtxos : {
      required_confirmations : Nat32;
      pending_utxos : ?[PendingUtxo];
      current_confirmations : ?Nat32;
    };
    #AlreadyProcessing;
    #TemporarilyUnavailable : Text;
    #GenericError : { error_code : Nat64; error_message : Text };
  };

  type PendingUtxo = {
    outpoint : { txid : Blob; vout : Nat32 };
    value : Nat64;
    confirmations : Nat32;
  };

  type ApproveArgs = {
    from_subaccount : ?Blob;
    spender : Account;
    amount : Nat;
    expected_allowance : ?Nat;
    expires_at : ?Nat64;
    fee : ?Nat;
    memo : ?Blob;
    created_at_time : ?Nat64;
  };

  type ApproveError = {
    #BadFee : { expected_fee : Nat };
    #InsufficientFunds : { balance : Nat };
    #AllowanceChanged : { current_allowance : Nat };
    #Expired : { ledger_time : Nat64 };
    #TooOld;
    #CreatedInFuture : { ledger_time : Nat64 };
    #Duplicate : { duplicate_of : Nat };
    #TemporarilyUnavailable;
    #GenericError : { error_code : Nat; message : Text };
  };

  type RetrieveBtcWithApprovalArgs = {
    address : Text;
    amount : Nat64;
    from_subaccount : ?Blob;
  };

  type RetrieveBtcResult = {
    #Ok : { block_index : Nat64 };
    #Err : RetrieveBtcError;
  };

  type RetrieveBtcError = {
    #MalformedAddress : Text;
    #AlreadyProcessing;
    #AmountTooLow : Nat64;
    #InsufficientFunds : { balance : Nat64 };
    #InsufficientAllowance : { allowance : Nat64 };
    #TemporarilyUnavailable : Text;
    #GenericError : { error_code : Nat64; error_message : Text };
  };

  // -- Remote canister references (mainnet) --

  transient let ckbtcLedger : actor {
    icrc1_transfer : shared (TransferArgs) -> async TransferResult;
    icrc1_balance_of : shared query (Account) -> async Nat;
    icrc1_fee : shared query () -> async Nat;
    icrc2_approve : shared (ApproveArgs) -> async { #Ok : Nat; #Err : ApproveError };
  } = actor "mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai";

  transient let ckbtcMinter : actor {
    get_btc_address : shared ({
      owner : ?Principal;
      subaccount : ?Blob;
    }) -> async Text;
    update_balance : shared ({
      owner : ?Principal;
      subaccount : ?Blob;
    }) -> async UpdateBalanceResult;
    retrieve_btc_with_approval : shared (RetrieveBtcWithApprovalArgs) -> async RetrieveBtcResult;
  } = actor "mqygn-kiaaa-aaaar-qaadq-cai";

  // -- Subaccount derivation --
  // Derive a 32-byte subaccount from a principal for per-user deposit addresses.

  func principalToSubaccount(p : Principal) : Blob {
    let bytes = Blob.toArray(Principal.toBlob(p));
    let size = bytes.size();
    // First byte is length, remaining padded to 32 bytes
    let sub = Array.tabulate<Nat8>(32, func(i : Nat) : Nat8 {
      if (i == 0) { Nat8.fromNat(size) }
      else if (i <= size) { bytes[i - 1] }
      else { 0 }
    });
    Blob.fromArray(sub)
  };

  // -- Deposit: Get user's BTC deposit address --

  public shared ({ caller }) func getDepositAddress() : async Text {
    if (Principal.isAnonymous(caller)) { Runtime.trap("Authentication required") };
    let subaccount = principalToSubaccount(caller);
    await ckbtcMinter.get_btc_address({
      owner = ?Principal.fromActor(Self);
      subaccount = ?subaccount;
    })
  };

  // -- Deposit: Check for new BTC and mint ckBTC --

  public shared ({ caller }) func updateBalance() : async UpdateBalanceResult {
    if (Principal.isAnonymous(caller)) { Runtime.trap("Authentication required") };
    let subaccount = principalToSubaccount(caller);
    await ckbtcMinter.update_balance({
      owner = ?Principal.fromActor(Self);
      subaccount = ?subaccount;
    })
  };

  // -- Check user's ckBTC balance --

  public shared ({ caller }) func getBalance() : async Nat {
    if (Principal.isAnonymous(caller)) { Runtime.trap("Authentication required") };
    let subaccount = principalToSubaccount(caller);
    await ckbtcLedger.icrc1_balance_of({
      owner = Principal.fromActor(Self);
      subaccount = ?subaccount;
    })
  };

  // -- Transfer ckBTC to another user --

  public shared ({ caller }) func transfer(to : Principal, amount : Nat) : async TransferResult {
    if (Principal.isAnonymous(caller)) { Runtime.trap("Authentication required") };
    let fromSubaccount = principalToSubaccount(caller);
    await ckbtcLedger.icrc1_transfer({
      from_subaccount = ?fromSubaccount;
      to = { owner = to; subaccount = null };
      amount = amount;
      fee = ?10; // 10 satoshis
      memo = null;
      created_at_time = null;
    })
  };

  // -- Withdraw: Convert ckBTC back to BTC --

  public shared ({ caller }) func withdraw(btcAddress : Text, amount : Nat64) : async RetrieveBtcResult {
    if (Principal.isAnonymous(caller)) { Runtime.trap("Authentication required") };

    // Step 1: Approve the minter to spend ckBTC from the user's subaccount
    let fromSubaccount = principalToSubaccount(caller);
    let approveResult = await ckbtcLedger.icrc2_approve({
      from_subaccount = ?fromSubaccount;
      spender = {
        owner = Principal.fromText("mqygn-kiaaa-aaaar-qaadq-cai");
        subaccount = null;
      };
      amount = Nat64.toNat(amount) + 10; // amount + fee for the minter's burn
      expected_allowance = null;
      expires_at = null;
      fee = ?10;
      memo = null;
      created_at_time = null;
    });

    switch (approveResult) {
      case (#Err(e)) { return #Err(#GenericError({ error_code = 0; error_message = "Approve for minter failed" })) };
      case (#Ok(_)) {};
    };

    // Step 2: Call retrieve_btc_with_approval on the minter
    await ckbtcMinter.retrieve_btc_with_approval({
      address = btcAddress;
      amount = amount;
      from_subaccount = ?fromSubaccount;
    })
  };
};

Rust

Cargo.toml

[package]
name = "ckbtc_backend"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"

[lib]
crate-type = ["cdylib"]

[dependencies]
ic-cdk = "0.19"
ic-cdk-timers = "1.0"
candid = "0.10"
serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
serde_bytes = "0.11"
icrc-ledger-types = "0.1"

src/lib.rs

use candid::{CandidType, Deserialize, Nat, Principal};
use ic_cdk::update;
use ic_cdk::call::Call;
use icrc_ledger_types::icrc1::account::Account;
use icrc_ledger_types::icrc1::transfer::{TransferArg, TransferError};
use icrc_ledger_types::icrc2::approve::{ApproveArgs, ApproveError};

// -- Canister IDs --
const CKBTC_LEDGER: &str = "mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai";
const CKBTC_MINTER: &str = "mqygn-kiaaa-aaaar-qaadq-cai";

// -- Minter types --

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct GetBtcAddressArgs {
    owner: Option<Principal>,
    subaccount: Option<Vec<u8>>,
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct UpdateBalanceArgs {
    owner: Option<Principal>,
    subaccount: Option<Vec<u8>>,
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct RetrieveBtcWithApprovalArgs {
    address: String,
    amount: u64,
    from_subaccount: Option<Vec<u8>>,
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct RetrieveBtcOk {
    block_index: u64,
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
enum RetrieveBtcError {
    MalformedAddress(String),
    AlreadyProcessing,
    AmountTooLow(u64),
    InsufficientFunds { balance: u64 },
    InsufficientAllowance { allowance: u64 },
    TemporarilyUnavailable(String),
    GenericError { error_code: u64, error_message: String },
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct Utxo {
    outpoint: OutPoint,
    value: u64,
    height: u32,
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct OutPoint {
    txid: Vec<u8>,
    vout: u32,
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
struct PendingUtxo {
    outpoint: OutPoint,
    value: u64,
    confirmations: u32,
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
enum UtxoStatus {
    ValueTooSmall(Utxo),
    Tainted(Utxo),
    Checked(Utxo),
    Minted {
        block_index: u64,
        minted_amount: u64,
        utxo: Utxo,
    },
}

#[derive(CandidType, Deserialize, Debug)]
enum UpdateBalanceError {
    NoNewUtxos {
        required_confirmations: u32,
        pending_utxos: Option<Vec<PendingUtxo>>,
        current_confirmations: Option<u32>,
    },
    AlreadyProcessing,
    TemporarilyUnavailable(String),
    GenericError { error_code: u64, error_message: String },
}

type UpdateBalanceResult = Result<Vec<UtxoStatus>, UpdateBalanceError>;
type RetrieveBtcResult = Result<RetrieveBtcOk, RetrieveBtcError>;

// -- Subaccount derivation --
// Derive a 32-byte subaccount from a principal for per-user deposit addresses.

fn principal_to_subaccount(principal: &Principal) -> [u8; 32] {
    let mut subaccount = [0u8; 32];
    let principal_bytes = principal.as_slice();
    subaccount[0] = principal_bytes.len() as u8;
    subaccount[1..1 + principal_bytes.len()].copy_from_slice(principal_bytes);
    subaccount
}

fn ledger_id() -> Principal {
    Principal::from_text(CKBTC_LEDGER).unwrap()
}

fn minter_id() -> Principal {
    Principal::from_text(CKBTC_MINTER).unwrap()
}

// -- Deposit: Get user's BTC deposit address --

#[update]
async fn get_deposit_address() -> String {
    let caller = ic_cdk::api::msg_caller();
    assert_ne!(caller, Principal::anonymous(), "Authentication required");

    let subaccount = principal_to_subaccount(&caller);
    let args = GetBtcAddressArgs {
        owner: Some(ic_cdk::api::canister_self()),
        subaccount: Some(subaccount.to_vec()),
    };

    let (address,): (String,) = Call::unbounded_wait(minter_id(), "get_btc_address")
        .with_arg(args)
        .await
        .expect("Failed to get BTC address")
        .candid_tuple()
        .expect("Failed to decode response");

    address
}

// -- Deposit: Check for new BTC and mint ckBTC --

#[update]
async fn update_balance() -> UpdateBalanceResult {
    let caller = ic_cdk::api::msg_caller();
    assert_ne!(caller, Principal::anonymous(), "Authentication required");

    let subaccount = principal_to_subaccount(&caller);
    let args = UpdateBalanceArgs {
        owner: Some(ic_cdk::api::canister_self()),
        subaccount: Some(subaccount.to_vec()),
    };

    let (result,): (UpdateBalanceResult,) = Call::unbounded_wait(minter_id(), "update_balance")
        .with_arg(args)
        .await
        .expect("Failed to call update_balance")
        .candid_tuple()
        .expect("Failed to decode response");

    result
}

// -- Check user's ckBTC balance --

#[update]
async fn get_balance() -> Nat {
    let caller = ic_cdk::api::msg_caller();
    assert_ne!(caller, Principal::anonymous(), "Authentication required");

    let subaccount = principal_to_subaccount(&caller);
    let account = Account {
        owner: ic_cdk::api::canister_self(),
        subaccount: Some(subaccount),
    };

    let (balance,): (Nat,) = Call::unbounded_wait(ledger_id(), "icrc1_balance_of")
        .with_arg(account)
        .await
        .expect("Failed to get balance")
        .candid_tuple()
        .expect("Failed to decode response");

    balance
}

// -- Transfer ckBTC to another user --

#[update]
async fn transfer(to: Principal, amount: Nat) -> Result<Nat, TransferError> {
    let caller = ic_cdk::api::msg_caller();
    assert_ne!(caller, Principal::anonymous(), "Authentication required");

    let from_subaccount = principal_to_subaccount(&caller);
    let args = TransferArg {
        from_subaccount: Some(from_subaccount),
        to: Account {
            owner: to,
            subaccount: None,
        },
        amount,
        fee: Some(Nat::from(10u64)), // 10 satoshis
        memo: None,
        created_at_time: None,
    };

    let (result,): (Result<Nat, TransferError>,) = Call::unbounded_wait(ledger_id(), "icrc1_transfer")
            .with_arg(args)
            .await
            .expect("Failed to call icrc1_transfer")
            .candid_tuple()
            .expect("Failed to decode response");

    result
}

// -- Withdraw: Convert ckBTC back to BTC --

#[update]
async fn withdraw(btc_address: String, amount: u64) -> RetrieveBtcResult {
    let caller = ic_cdk::api::msg_caller();
    assert_ne!(caller, Principal::anonymous(), "Authentication required");

    // Step 1: Approve the minter to spend ckBTC from the user's subaccount
    let from_subaccount = principal_to_subaccount(&caller);
    let approve_args = ApproveArgs {
        from_subaccount: Some(from_subaccount),
        spender: Account {
            owner: minter_id(),
            subaccount: None,
        },
        amount: Nat::from(amount) + Nat::from(10u64), // amount + fee for the minter's burn
        expected_allowance: None,
        expires_at: None,
        fee: Some(Nat::from(10u64)),
        memo: None,
        created_at_time: None,
    };

    let (approve_result,): (Result<Nat, ApproveError>,) = Call::unbounded_wait(ledger_id(), "icrc2_approve")
            .with_arg(approve_args)
            .await
            .expect("Failed to call icrc2_approve")
            .candid_tuple()
            .expect("Failed to decode response");

    if let Err(e) = approve_result {
        return Err(RetrieveBtcError::GenericError {
            error_code: 0,
            error_message: format!("Approve for minter failed: {:?}", e),
        });
    }

    // Step 2: Call retrieve_btc_with_approval on the minter
    let args = RetrieveBtcWithApprovalArgs {
        address: btc_address,
        amount,
        from_subaccount: Some(from_subaccount.to_vec()),
    };

    let (result,): (RetrieveBtcResult,) = Call::unbounded_wait(minter_id(), "retrieve_btc_with_approval")
            .with_arg(args)
            .await
            .expect("Failed to call retrieve_btc_with_approval")
            .candid_tuple()
            .expect("Failed to decode response");

    result
}

// -- Export Candid interface --
ic_cdk::export_candid!();

Deploy & Test

Local Development

There is no local ckBTC minter. For local testing, mock the minter interface or test against mainnet/testnet.

Deploy to Mainnet

# Deploy your backend canister
icp deploy backend -e ic

# Your canister calls the mainnet ckBTC canisters directly by principal

Using icp to Interact with ckBTC Directly

# Check ckBTC balance for an account
icp canister call mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai icrc1_balance_of \
  '(record { owner = principal "YOUR-PRINCIPAL"; subaccount = null })' \
  -e ic

# Get deposit address
icp canister call mqygn-kiaaa-aaaar-qaadq-cai get_btc_address \
  '(record { owner = opt principal "YOUR-PRINCIPAL"; subaccount = null })' \
  -e ic

# Check for new deposits and mint ckBTC
icp canister call mqygn-kiaaa-aaaar-qaadq-cai update_balance \
  '(record { owner = opt principal "YOUR-PRINCIPAL"; subaccount = null })' \
  -e ic

# Transfer ckBTC (amount in e8s — 1 ckBTC = 100_000_000)
icp canister call mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai icrc1_transfer \
  '(record {
    to = record { owner = principal "RECIPIENT-PRINCIPAL"; subaccount = null };
    amount = 100_000;
    fee = opt 10;
    memo = null;
    from_subaccount = null;
    created_at_time = null;
  })' -e ic

# Withdraw ckBTC to a BTC address (amount in satoshis, minimum 50_000)
# Note: In production, use icrc2_approve + retrieve_btc_with_approval (see withdraw function above)
icp canister call mqygn-kiaaa-aaaar-qaadq-cai retrieve_btc_with_approval \
  '(record { address = "bc1q...your-btc-address"; amount = 50_000; from_subaccount = null })' \
  -e ic

# Check transfer fee
icp canister call mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai icrc1_fee '()' -e ic

Verify It Works

Check Balance

icp canister call mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai icrc1_balance_of \
  '(record { owner = principal "YOUR-PRINCIPAL"; subaccount = null })' \
  -e ic
# Expected: (AMOUNT : nat) — balance in satoshis (e8s)

Verify Transfer

# Transfer 1000 satoshis
icp canister call mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai icrc1_transfer \
  '(record {
    to = record { owner = principal "RECIPIENT"; subaccount = null };
    amount = 1_000;
    fee = opt 10;
    memo = null;
    from_subaccount = null;
    created_at_time = null;
  })' -e ic
# Expected: (variant { Ok = BLOCK_INDEX : nat })

# Verify recipient received it
icp canister call mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai icrc1_balance_of \
  '(record { owner = principal "RECIPIENT"; subaccount = null })' \
  -e ic
# Expected: balance increased by 1000

Verify Deposit Flow

# 1. Get deposit address
icp canister call YOUR-CANISTER getDepositAddress -e ic
# Expected: "bc1q..." or "3..." — a valid Bitcoin address

# 2. Send BTC to that address (external wallet)

# 3. Check for new deposits
icp canister call YOUR-CANISTER updateBalance -e ic
# Expected: (variant { Ok = vec { variant { Minted = record { ... } } } })

# 4. Check ckBTC balance
icp canister call YOUR-CANISTER getBalance -e ic
# Expected: balance reflects minted ckBTC

Verify Withdrawal

icp canister call YOUR-CANISTER withdraw '("bc1q...destination", 50_000 : nat64)' -e ic
# Expected: (variant { Ok = record { block_index = BLOCK_INDEX : nat64 } })
# The BTC will arrive at the destination address after Bitcoin confirmations