Threshold's Bitcoin Backed tBTC Debuts on Sui, Unlocking $500M in Liquidity

Threshold Network's tBTC, an ERC-20 token backed 1-to-1 by bitcoin (BTC), debuted on Sui on Monday as Threshold looks to expand BTCFi in the Sui ecosystem.

The collaboration enables users to deposit their BTC on Sui and mint tBTC, potentially adding over $500 million worth of bitcoin liquidity to the Sui network. It means users can deploy their BTC in the Sui-based DeFi to generate additional yield while seamlessly using tBTC across the ecosystem.

"tBTC is expected to bring a massive amount of Bitcoin liquidity to Sui, creating a bridge that truly matters—not just for institutions but for everyday people who love Bitcoin,” Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and chief product officer at Mysten Labs, the original contributors to Sui, said in the announcement shared exclusively with CoinDesk.

“This new integration opens another door to accessible, sovereign BTCfi participation,” Abiodun added.

BTCFi represents a full spectrum of decentralized finance applications built to work with bitcoin, aiming to enhance the cryptocurrency's appeal beyond the store-of-value narrative.

Nearly 600 BTC, worth over $65 million, have been bridged to the Sui ecosystem since February, and BTC-backed assets account for more than 10% of the total value locked (TVL) in the SUI ecosystem. At press time, cryptocurrencies worth $1.83 billion were locked in the Sui-based DeFi, according to data source DeFiLlama.

"Bitcoin was designed to be used, not locked away,” Callan Sarre, co-founder at Threshold Labs, said. “With tBTC coming on Sui, we’re combining the security of threshold cryptography with a high-throughput network to create a new standard for Bitcoin utility.”

Home to tBTC, Threshold Network is a decentralized protocol that combines cryptography and blockchain infrastructure to provide secure and trust-minimized access to bitcoin DeFi. As of writing, tBTC had a market cap of over $570 million, with a circulating supply of 5,265 coins, according to data source Coingecko.