So if i place my bitcoin one of these platforms why do they ask me to convert it to wrapped btc to earn interest or whatever token they offer?
My main question probably is why do i have to convert my bitcoin to something else if i just want to earn on my original bitcoin? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of earning on bitcoin?
Because you can't have sort of "real" bitcoin(BTC) on "DeFi" platforms on other separate blockchains. It needs to be tokenized.
How will i earn on bitcoin if it goes up and its converted to wrapped bitcoin?
WBTC tracks the price of BTC, with the risk of you trusting them to honor the peg.
I want to keep my bitcoin bitcoin. i am confused by how this works.
Then you either use a centralized company(e.g. Coinbase, etc, which I personally don't recommend for obvious reasons), or you simply hold your bitcoin and wait for it to appreciate.