Threshold Network has launched tBTC on Starknet, enabling Bitcoin holders to trade, borrow, and execute complex DeFi strategies for a mere $0.01 per transaction. This trust-minimized protocol converts native Bitcoin into functional DeFi capital, while ensuring users retain full custody.
Unlike the Bitcoin mainnet—where average transaction fees hover around $1.49—Starknet’s ultra-low costs empower users to mint tBTC directly via the Threshold UI, eliminating custodians and intermediaries. This advancement allows Bitcoin to be actively deployed across DeFi with minimal friction and cost.
MacLane Wilkison, Co-Founder of Threshold Labs, emphasizes, “BTC on Bitcoin Mainnet is like gold bars in a vault: valuable but unusable. At just $0.01 per transaction on Starknet, Bitcoin transcends its role as a store of value to become dynamic capital—usable for high-frequency trades, lending, and borrowing.”
Bitcoin DeFi’s Challenge and Starknet’s Solution
Bitcoin mainnet fees average $1.49, soaring to $91.89 during congestion, with transaction times between 10 and 60 minutes.
Such costs render complex DeFi operations economically unviable, where a $100 trade may incur 1.5% fees.
Starknet offers instant confirmations at a fraction of the cost ($0.01 per transaction) and throughput of 857 transactions per second (TPS) in testing, turning Bitcoin into scalable working capital.
Current and Upcoming Applications
Live: DEX trading on Ekubo, Starknet’s native DEX, enables efficient tBTC swaps with low slippage and supports high-frequency strategies.
Coming Soon: Lending on Vesu, where users can borrow against tBTC without losing custody, mirroring the success of tBTC on Ethereum protocols like Aave.
Additional use cases include streaming payments, automated DeFi strategies, and Bitcoin-powered microtransactions ideal for gaming.
Future Developments
Threshold Network plans to integrate perpetuals, collateralized debt positions (CDPs), yield vaults, oracles, and liquidity infrastructure to further extend Bitcoin’s DeFi capabilities.
Damian Chen, Head of Growth at Starknet Foundation, states, “This fundamentally changes Bitcoin’s role in DeFi. High fees no longer stifle innovation—Bitcoin at scale is finally here on Starknet.”
Security and Accessibility
tBTC uses threshold cryptography with multiple independent nodes securing Bitcoin deposits, avoiding centralized custody and preserving user sovereignty. Starknet’s zero-knowledge proofs compress thousands of transactions into single proofs, maintaining Ethereum-grade security while delivering scalability.
How to Access tBTC on Starknet
Directly mint tBTC from native Bitcoin via Threshold’s dashboard.
Bridge existing tBTC from Ethereum Layer 1 to Starknet through the official StarkGate bridge.
With over $547 million in TVL, 193 active protocols, and 11,000 daily users, Starknet is rapidly becoming a premier hub for scalable, composable DeFi.
About Threshold Network
Threshold Network powers tBTC, a leading decentralized, Bitcoin-backed DeFi asset secured by a 51-of-100 threshold signer model. Supporting multiple chains like Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum, Threshold has facilitated $3.6 billion in bridge volume since 2020 and maintains over $450 million in TVL.
About Starknet
Starknet is a decentralized, permissionless zero-knowledge rollup developed by StarkWare, offering high throughput, low fees, and fast finality, designed to scale Ethereum-compatible applications securely and efficiently.
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