tBTC connects Bitcoin and Ethereum bridge: Sui collaboration unlocks over $500 million in liquidity?

Bitcoin (BTC), as the leader of crypto assets, has a massive market capitalization and liquidity that the decentralized finance (DeFi) space has long sought to incorporate. However, due to the design characteristics of the Bitcoin blockchain, seamlessly integrating it into smart contract platforms like Ethereum (ETH) has always been a significant challenge. Traditional solutions often rely on centralized entities, which is contrary to the core spirit of Bitcoin's decentralization. Against this backdrop, the tBTC bridge launched by Threshold Network, with its unique trust-minimized design, has become a key connection between Bitcoin and the DeFi world. Recently, tBTC also announced a major partnership with the high-performance blockchain Sui, which is expected to unlock over $500 million in Bitcoin liquidity for the Sui ecosystem. How will this change the landscape of DeFi?

1. tBTC: A decentralized, permissionless Bitcoin DeFi bridge

Threshold Network supports tBTC, the Bitcoin standard for DeFi, which is a trust-minimized way to bring BTC liquidity into the crypto ecosystem while always maintaining a direct settlement path back to native Bitcoin. Unlike other BTC derivatives or wrapped tokens, tBTC is designed to be as close to Bitcoin as possible while supporting seamless participation in DeFi. It has no complex staking mechanisms and does not rely on any single entity—just pure BTC liquidity that ultimately returns to Bitcoin.

Existing solutions that connect Bitcoin and Ethereum typically require users to send Bitcoin to an intermediary to receive ERC-20 tokens that represent the original asset. This centralized model necessitates user trust in a third party and is susceptible to censorship, which threatens the nature of Bitcoin as a sovereign, secure, permissionless digital asset.

tBTC v2 is a truly decentralized (and scalable) bridge between Bitcoin and Ethereum. It provides Bitcoin holders with a secure and open way to access a broader DeFi ecosystem. tBTC v2 allows you to unlock the value of Bitcoin for lending, minting stablecoins, providing liquidity, and more.

2. Trust in mathematics rather than people: the honest majority assumption of tBTC

(Source: Threshold Network)

tBTC does not use centralized intermediaries but instead employs a randomly selected group of operators running nodes on the Threshold Network (, utilizing threshold encryption technology to secure the Bitcoin that has been deposited. This means that tBTC requires operators to obtain threshold majority consent before executing any actions on your Bitcoin. By rotating operators weekly, tBTC can prevent any individual or group of operators from colluding to fraudulently steal the underlying deposits. Based on the honest majority assumption, tBTC users trust mathematics rather than hardware or people.

Threshold Network is a decentralized infrastructure protocol that provides privacy and access control services on public blockchains using threshold encryption technology. It is formed by the merger of two projects, Keep and NuCypher, aiming to achieve secure, decentralized custody and data privacy. One of its core products is tBTC, which is a decentralized bridge that allows users to bring their Bitcoin in the form of ERC-20 tokens to Ethereum and other EVM-compatible networks, and this token is fully backed by BTC at a 1:1 ratio.

tBTC aims to address the limitations of custodial Bitcoin products (such as WBTC) that rely on centralized entities to hold users' BTC. tBTC utilizes a randomly selected network of node operators to collectively manage custody through a threshold signature scheme. This structure ensures that no party can access or move the underlying BTC, thereby enhancing security and decentralization. The latest version, tBTC v2, introduces a scalable and permissionless model that gradually transfers control from manual intermediaries to protocol-based guarantees.

3. The Potential of BTCFi: Unlocking Bitcoin's Liquidity in Decentralized Finance

Bitcoin DeFi (abbreviated as BTCFi) is an emerging field of Decentralized Finance, aimed at bringing the liquidity of Bitcoin into the smart contract ecosystem. Historically, due to the limited scripting capabilities of Bitcoin and its incompatibility with platforms like Ethereum, its application in the DeFi space has been lacking. Bridges like tBTC are key to unlocking Bitcoin's potential in the DeFi sector, allowing BTC holders to participate in lending, yield farming, liquidity provision, and collateralized lending while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin. By providing a decentralized, trust-minimized bridge, Threshold Network positions itself as a foundational layer of this evolving ecosystem.

4. tBTC Integration with Sui: Unlocking Over $500 Million in Liquidity?

Recently, Threshold and Sui announced a significant partnership to bring the leading decentralized Bitcoin asset tBTC to the Sui blockchain, which is designed for mass adoption. This collaboration will unlock over $500 million in Bitcoin liquidity for Sui's high-performance DeFi ecosystem, which is known for its near-zero fees, sub-second finality, and exceptional capital efficiency.

Threshold Network's tBTC is a decentralized, trust-minimized on-chain version of Bitcoin that preserves the core principles of Bitcoin while providing liquidity for the entire Decentralized Finance ecosystem. tBTC is now live on Sui, enabling users to trade, lend, and participate in advanced DeFi strategies in a secure and scalable environment, with the fastest transaction finality speed reaching up to 400 milliseconds.

Sui will become the first non-EVM blockchain to support direct minting on the Threshold application, which will expand its accessibility and solidify its position as the preferred liquidity platform for Bitcoin. On Sui, tBTC can participate in DeFi strategies in a high-speed, scalable environment—from trading and lending to more specialized use cases, such as being used as collateral on protocols like Bucket, while retaining its core properties.

Callan Sarre, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Threshold Labs, stated: "The original intention behind the design of Bitcoin was for it to be used, not locked away. With tBTC on Sui, we combine the security of threshold encryption with a high-throughput network to create a new standard for the usability of Bitcoin."

Conclusion:

The emergence of tBTC bridge has opened a new door for the application of Bitcoin in the DeFi world. It addresses the long-standing issue of Bitcoin liquidity being difficult to enter the smart contract ecosystem in a decentralized and trust-minimized manner. Furthermore, the collaboration with Sui Blockchain has elevated the application scenarios of tBTC to new heights. Sui's high performance and low-cost characteristics will provide tBTC with a broader application space and are expected to truly unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin liquidity, injecting new vitality into the entire DeFi ecosystem. This not only greatly affirms the potential of BTCFi, but also indicates that the future cryptocurrency market will see more innovative applications of cross-chain interoperability.