Threshold Network Upgrades tBTC Bridge to Link Institutional Bitcoin with DeFi

Why It Matters

By allowing regulated institutions to deploy Bitcoin in DeFi without compromising custody, the upgrade could unlock a sizable portion of the $400 billion institutional BTC pool, driving deeper liquidity and yield opportunities across multiple chains.

Summary

Threshold Network has upgraded its tBTC bridge to let institutions mint and redeem tokenized Bitcoin in a single transaction without moving the underlying asset out of regulated custodial storage. The new architecture links directly to custodians and supports multiple blockchains—including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, Sui, Starknet, BOB and Optimism—enabling ETFs, hedge funds and other large holders of the roughly $400 billion institutional BTC pool to access DeFi yield and liquidity. The upgrade eliminates gas fees for minting and provides instant redemption, expanding the bridge’s total value locked to $640 million and making it the third‑largest Bitcoin DeFi project. Bitcoin’s overall DeFi TVL now stands at $7.7 billion, about 6.7% of the market.