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--- | ||
template: news-item | ||
title: 4 Years of tBTC | ||
description: >- | ||
Today’s tBTC is a robust, semi-permissioned Bitcoin bridge, iterating toward | ||
full trust-minimization. tBTC has been in production for 4 years without | ||
major incident with over [11,000 BTC bridged at its | ||
peak](https://dune.com/threshold/tbtc?ref=blog.threshold.network), serving | ||
users on Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Ethereum—making it one of | ||
the most trustworthy bridges in the space. | ||
date: 2024-08-26T12:35:21.390Z | ||
--- | ||
|
||
4 years since the September 2020 launch of tBTC v1, tBTC continues to be one of | ||
the few bridges that has never suffered a loss of funds. For those 4 years, and | ||
the 2 years of development that preceded them, the teams at | ||
[Thesis](https://thesis.co) and [the Threshold | ||
Network](https://threshold.network) that have worked on the tBTC infrastructure | ||
have been focused on the three principles outlined in [tBTC is for | ||
L2s](/news/2024-04-15-tbtc-is-for-l2s): | ||
|
||
- Security first | ||
- Credible neutrality | ||
- Economic alignment | ||
|
||
## 4 years of learnings | ||
|
||
In the early hours of May 18, 2020, at the height of COVID restrictions and | ||
before front-running white hat hackers were commonplace or [SEAL | ||
911](https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/seal-911-team-white-hat-forms-fight-crypto-hacks-real-time/) | ||
was a twinkle in samczsun's eye, the Keep team [paused the first release of the | ||
tBTC contracts](https://x.com/mhluongo/status/1262261372714455042) in what was | ||
to be one of the rare cases in the crypto space of a team spotting a | ||
critical smart contract bug and avoiding all loss of funds. Following a | ||
[detailed | ||
retro](https://medium.com/keepnetwork/details-of-the-tbtc-deposit-pause-on-may-18-2020-38d7dd555663) | ||
and four months of heavy additional testing, [tBTC went | ||
live](https://tbtc.network/news/2020-09-22-tbtc-is-live/) in its first version. | ||
Though this was the only time that the bridge has risked fund loss, the | ||
learnings from that event have translated into a rigorous, careful development | ||
process that has ensured the security of the bridge for the years that | ||
followed. | ||
|
||
Once tBTC v1 launched, it became clear that one of the key challenges in | ||
scaling a bridge is its capital efficiency: how to balance security of user | ||
funds against the economic guarantees that those funds will remain available. | ||
This observation triggered the development of v2 of the bridge, whose design | ||
carefully balanced these two components to produce a [decentralized Bitcoin | ||
bridge built for | ||
scaling](https://medium.com/keepnetwork/tbtc-v2-a-censorship-resistant-btc-bridge-at-100x-scale-199d3a54ab99). | ||
Launched in January 2023, this updated model has safely bridged over 11,000 BTC | ||
to date. | ||
|
||
tBTC v1 launched with a phased approach, starting with a minting cap of 100 | ||
tBTC that slowly increased to 1000 and then was lifted altogether. When v2 went | ||
live, it was launched with a slower, safer minting process and no redemptions, | ||
and over time launched optimistic minting to make bridging complete in a | ||
handful of hours, followed by full redemptions to bridge back to the Bitcoin | ||
network a few months later. At each step, security was held paramount, with v1 | ||
undergoing 3 audits before launch and v2 doing phased audits as additional | ||
functionality came online. | ||
|
||
## 4 years of changes | ||
|
||
Though the original version of tBTC was built by the Keep Network, 2021 brought | ||
an opportunity for Keep Network and NuCypher, a similar project with a slightly | ||
different product portfolio, to [merge into one joint | ||
DAO](https://blog.threshold.network/decentralized-merger/). In early 2022, the | ||
first decentralized merger was completed to create the Threshold Network, | ||
whose nodes now operate the systems that back tBTC bridging. In the intervening | ||
time, Threshold has become a full-fledged DAO with an associated legal entity, | ||
various guilds responsible for driving its priorities and products forward, bug | ||
bounty programs associated with tBTC and other protocols backed by the network, | ||
and more. | ||
|
||
More recently, Threshold launched [thUSD](https://www.thresholdusd.org/en/), a | ||
stablecoin backed by Bitcoin based on tBTC, which is now being used by the | ||
Threshold DAO to [pay USD | ||
expenses](https://blog.threshold.network/borrowing-against-dao-treasury-assets-for-expenses-thresholds-move-to-thusd/). | ||
L2s from [BOB](https://www.gobob.xyz) to [Mezo](https://mezo.org) have been | ||
relying on tBTC to provide more use cases and possibilities to the world of | ||
Bitcoin. And finally, tBTC is being bridged from Ethereum to landmark chains | ||
like | ||
[Base](https://blog.threshold.network/navigating-the-future-of-defi-tbtc-launches-on-base/) | ||
and | ||
[Polygon](https://blog.threshold.network/unleashing-bitcoin-tbtc-launches-on-polygon-powered-by-wormhole/) | ||
and being minted natively on high-throughput chains like | ||
[Solana](https://blog.threshold.network/tbtc-launches-on-solana/) and, soon, | ||
Arbitrum. | ||
|
||
## 4 years is just the beginning | ||
|
||
tBTC is starting to appear everywhere, but it's also just getting started. Both | ||
as a building block and as an infrastructure tool, tBTC promises to be | ||
instrumental in building out the networks that are adding productive uses to | ||
Bitcoin, including underpinning a new wave of native experiences for | ||
Bitcoin-native users like [transparent access to Bitcoin | ||
wallets](https://info.mezo.org/mezo-portal/btc/btc-deposit-guide) that want to | ||
interact with other chains. It's also the heir apparent as WBTC struggles with | ||
[the usual complications of operating a centralized | ||
bridge](https://x.com/du09btc/status/1823708022595837992?s=46). | ||
|
||
On the backend, the development team has already started building out the use | ||
of [FROST and | ||
ROAST](https://github.com/keep-network/tbtc-v2/blob/main/docs/rfc/rfc-10.adoc) | ||
to move the network from 51-of-100 wallets to 501-of-1000 wallets that provide | ||
full attributability for errors and aborts, allowing tBTC to scale its | ||
network even further. At the same time, the introduction of | ||
[BitVM](https://bitvm.org/) is being closely watched as another potential | ||
ugprade in security model and scale. As the technology matures, using the most | ||
diverse and experienced set of operators and the most trusted decentralized | ||
bridge and token as the premier BitVM implementation will become a natural | ||
choice. | ||
|
||
Between core technology upgrades, L2 adoption, increased availability in blue | ||
chip DeFi protocols like Aave and GMX, new and more seamless integrations | ||
across existing and novel chains, and as-of-yet unexplored protocols built on | ||
top of the straightforward access to decentralized BTC collateral provided by | ||
tBTC, the coming years promise to be the most exciting yet. | ||
|
||
Want to join in the fun? [Start building with tBTC now](/developers). |
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