Latest news with #Starknet
Int'l Business Times
11-06-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
tBTC launches on Starknet: Expanding Bitcoin's Role in Multi-Chain DeFi
Texas, United States, June 11th, 2025, Chainwire Bitcoin holders can now trade, borrow, and execute complex DeFi strategies for just $0.01 per transaction, following Threshold Network's launch of tBTC on Starknet. This trust-minimized protocol transforms Bitcoin into functional DeFi capital while preserving full user custody. tBTC is now available for direct minting on Starknet via the Threshold UI, allowing users to seamlessly bring native BTC onchain without custodians or intermediaries. With Bitcoin's average transaction fee at $1.49 (7-day moving average, June 2025), it's no match for Starknet's ultra-low costs, where the same Bitcoin, via tBTC, can be traded, lent, or deployed in complex DeFi strategies for just $0.01 per transaction. "BTC on Bitcoin Mainnet is like gold bars in a vault: valuable but unusable," said MacLane Wilkison, Co-Founder of Threshold Labs. "At just $0.01 per transaction on Starknet, Bitcoin becomes more than a store of value — it can now be used for small to large-scale trades, executed hundreds of times a day, and as a source of capital to lend or even borrow against. This is Bitcoin as it was meant to be used." The Numbers: Why Bitcoin DeFi Struggles Current Bitcoin mainnet reality (June 2025 data): Average transaction fee: $1.49 (7-day moving average) Recent peak during congestion: $91.89 (April 2024) Confirmation time: 10-60 minutes Result: Complex DeFi operations become uneconomical: even at $1.49, a $100 trade costs 1.5% in fees. tBTC on Starknet changes the economics: Transaction fees: $0.01 Confirmation: Instant Throughput: 857 TPS (achieved in testing) Result: Bitcoin becomes a working capital, operating at minimal cost. What's Coming Next for tBTC x Starknet With the launch of tBTC on Starknet, Threshold Network is building the foundation for a Bitcoin-Ethereum economy within a scalable, zero-knowledge environment. tBTC is integrating with Starknet's most prominent protocols to bring trust-minimized Bitcoin liquidity to trading, borrowing, and beyond. Live on Launch: DEX Trading on Ekubo - Native Starknet DEXs enable deep, efficient trading of tBTC against select pairs. Users can deploy capital with minimal slippage and explore high-frequency strategies at a much lower cost. Native Starknet DEXs enable deep, efficient trading of tBTC against select pairs. Users can deploy capital with minimal slippage and explore high-frequency strategies at a much lower cost. Coming Soon: tBTC Lending on Vesu - Soon, users can borrow against their tBTC positions without relinquishing custody, via Vesu. This integration mirrors the success of tBTC on Ethereum, where over 25% of the supply is locked in Aave. What Can Users Do with tBTC on Starknet Execute on Select Trading and Borrowing Strategies Provide liquidity at minimal rebalancing costs Use Bitcoin as collateral without selling Manage positions freely on DEXs Trade tBTC or explore staking pairs Enabling New Application Use Cases: Streaming Payments: Enables Bitcoin-backed payments to be sent on a per-second basis. Enables Bitcoin-backed payments to be sent on a per-second basis. Automated Strategies: Allows BTC to function within smart contract systems while minimizing gas overheads that could reduce returns. Allows BTC to function within smart contract systems while minimizing gas overheads that could reduce returns. Bitcoin-Powered Gaming: Facilitates microtransactions through low-cost, instant Bitcoin-backed transfers, making them viable in gaming environments. What's Coming Next Perpetuals & CDPs: Upcoming integrations with perp DEXs and collateralized debt protocols will expand risk-managed leverage options and allow BTC to power more complex DeFi tools. Yield Vaults: Future integrations with automated vaults will simplify liquidity management for users and unlock more opportunities with BTC on DeFi. Oracles & Liquidity Infrastructure: Collaborations with major liquidity providers and oracle networks will ensure accurate price feeds and optimal capital deployment. "This fundamentally changes Bitcoin's role in DeFi," said Damian Chen, Head of Growth at the Starknet Foundation. "We're seeing developers revisit ideas killed by high fees. Bitcoin at scale is finally possible on Starknet." Security Without Compromise Unlike other wrapped Bitcoins that require corporate custody, tBTC uses threshold cryptography. Multiple independent nodes secure Bitcoin deposits, ensuring that no single entity controls funds. No KYC is required, and users maintain Bitcoin sovereignty while accessing DeFi. Starknet's zero-knowledge proofs provide the scaling. STARK cryptography compresses thousands of transactions into one proof, achieving 857 TPS in testing while maintaining Ethereum's security guarantees. How to Access tBTC on Starknet Access tBTC on Starknet via 2 ways: With $547 million in TVL, 193 active protocols, and over 11,000 daily users, Starknet has rapidly emerged as a hub for scalable, composable DeFi. Starknet users can now directly mint tBTC — a fully backed, 1:1 representation of native Bitcoin — through the Threshold UI, providing them with seamless access to Bitcoin's value without intermediaries and with full self-custody. Additionally, users can bridge existing tBTC from Ethereum L1 to Starknet via the official StarkGate bridge, offering even more flexibility for Bitcoin holders to participate in Starknet DeFi. Market Context Despite a $2.1 trillion market cap, Bitcoin's presence in DeFi remains minimal, with just $6.3 billion (under 0.3%) locked in decentralized protocols, according to DefiLlama data from June 2025. As transaction costs decline and access barriers are removed, the Bitcoin DeFi market has the potential to grow 10–15x, unlocking new utility beyond passive holding and into active, composable participation across DeFi. tBTC has operated since 2020 as the leading trust-minimized Bitcoin protocol. Combined with Starknet's proven 857 TPS capacity, Bitcoin DeFi can finally scale. About Threshold Network Threshold Network powers tBTC, the leading decentralized, 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset for DeFi. Secured by a 51-of-100 threshold signer model, tBTC enables BTC to move across multiple chains—including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, and BOB—without requiring custodians or compromising security. With $450M+ in TVL and $3.6B in bridge volume since 2020, Threshold delivers the most robust trust-minimized Bitcoin infrastructure in DeFi. About Starknet Starknet is a permissionless, decentralized zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup that offers high scalability, low fees, and fast finality. Powered by STARK proofs and developed by StarkWare, Starknet is designed for long-term composability, security, and developer flexibility. Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed. Nothing in this press release should be considered investment advice. Contact Marketing RC Threshold Threshold Labs marketing@
Business Insider
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
tBTC launches on Starknet: Expanding Bitcoin's Role in Multi-Chain DeFi
Texas, United States, June 11th, 2025, Chainwire Bitcoin holders can now trade, borrow, and execute complex DeFi strategies for just $0.01 per transaction, following Threshold Network's launch of tBTC on Starknet. This trust-minimized protocol transforms Bitcoin into functional DeFi capital while preserving full user custody. tBTC is now available for direct minting on Starknet via the Threshold UI, allowing users to seamlessly bring native BTC onchain without custodians or intermediaries. With Bitcoin's average transaction fee at $1.49 (7-day moving average, June 2025), it's no match for Starknet's ultra-low costs, where the same Bitcoin, via tBTC, can be traded, lent, or deployed in complex DeFi strategies for just $0.01 per transaction. "BTC on Bitcoin Mainnet is like gold bars in a vault: valuable but unusable," said MacLane Wilkison, Co-Founder of Threshold Labs."At just $0.01 per transaction on Starknet, Bitcoin becomes more than a store of value — it can now be used for small to large-scale trades, executed hundreds of times a day, and as a source of capital to lend or even borrow against. This is Bitcoin as it was meant to be used." The Numbers: Why Bitcoin DeFi Struggles Current Bitcoin mainnet reality (June 2025 data): Average transaction fee: $1.49 (7-day moving average) Recent peak during congestion: $91.89 (April 2024) Confirmation time: 10-60 minutes Result: Complex DeFi operations become uneconomical: even at $1.49, a $100 trade costs 1.5% in fees. tBTC on Starknet changes the economics: Transaction fees: $0.01 Confirmation: Instant Throughput: 857 TPS (achieved in testing) Result: Bitcoin becomes a working capital, operating at minimal cost. What's Coming Next for tBTC x Starknet With the launch of tBTC on Starknet, Threshold Network is building the foundation for a Bitcoin-Ethereum economy within a scalable, zero-knowledge environment. tBTC is integrating with Starknet's most prominent protocols to bring trust-minimized Bitcoin liquidity to trading, borrowing, and beyond. Live on Launch: DEX Trading on Ekubo - Native Starknet DEXs enable deep, efficient trading of tBTC against select pairs. Users can deploy capital with minimal slippage and explore high-frequency strategies at a much lower cost. Coming Soon: tBTC Lending on Vesu - Soon, users can borrow against their tBTC positions without relinquishing custody, via Vesu. This integration mirrors the success of tBTC on Ethereum, where over 25% of the supply is locked in Aave. What Can Users Do with tBTC on Starknet Execute on Select Trading and Borrowing Strategies Provide liquidity at minimal rebalancing costs Use Bitcoin as collateral without selling Manage positions freely on DEXs Trade tBTC or explore staking pairs Enabling New Application Use Cases: Streaming Payments: Enables Bitcoin-backed payments to be sent on a per-second basis. Automated Strategies: Allows BTC to function within smart contract systems while minimizing gas overheads that could reduce returns. Bitcoin-Powered Gaming: Facilitates microtransactions through low-cost, instant Bitcoin-backed transfers, making them viable in gaming environments. What's Coming Next Perpetuals & CDPs: Upcoming integrations with perp DEXs and collateralized debt protocols will expand risk-managed leverage options and allow BTC to power more complex DeFi tools. Yield Vaults: Future integrations with automated vaults will simplify liquidity management for users and unlock more opportunities with BTC on DeFi. Oracles & Liquidity Infrastructure: Collaborations with major liquidity providers and oracle networks will ensure accurate price feeds and optimal capital deployment. "This fundamentally changes Bitcoin's role in DeFi," said Damian Chen, Head of Growth at the Starknet Foundation."We're seeing developers revisit ideas killed by high fees. Bitcoin at scale is finally possible on Starknet." Security Without Compromise Unlike other wrapped Bitcoins that require corporate custody, tBTC uses threshold cryptography. Multiple independent nodes secure Bitcoin deposits, ensuring that no single entity controls funds. No KYC is required, and users maintain Bitcoin sovereignty while accessing DeFi. Starknet's zero-knowledge proofs provide the scaling. STARK cryptography compresses thousands of transactions into one proof, achieving 857 TPS in testing while maintaining Ethereum's security guarantees. How to Access tBTC on Starknet Access tBTC on Starknet via 2 ways: Direct Minting from BTC to tBTC (Starknet): Bridge tBTC from Ethereum L1 to Starknet: With $547 million in TVL, 193 active protocols, and over 11,000 daily users, Starknet has rapidly emerged as a hub for scalable, composable DeFi. Starknet users can now directly mint tBTC — a fully backed, 1:1 representation of native Bitcoin — through the Threshold UI, providing them with seamless access to Bitcoin's value without intermediaries and with full self-custody. Additionally, users can bridge existing tBTC from Ethereum L1 to Starknet via the official StarkGate bridge, offering even more flexibility for Bitcoin holders to participate in Starknet DeFi. Market Context Despite a $2.1 trillion market cap, Bitcoin's presence in DeFi remains minimal, with just $6.3 billion (under 0.3%) locked in decentralized protocols, according to DefiLlama data from June 2025. As transaction costs decline and access barriers are removed, the Bitcoin DeFi market has the potential to grow 10–15x, unlocking new utility beyond passive holding and into active, composable participation across DeFi. tBTC has operated since 2020 as the leading trust-minimized Bitcoin protocol. Combined with Starknet's proven 857 TPS capacity, Bitcoin DeFi can finally scale. About Threshold Network Threshold Network powers tBTC, the leading decentralized, 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset for DeFi. Secured by a 51-of-100 threshold signer model, tBTC enables BTC to move across multiple chains—including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, and BOB—without requiring custodians or compromising security. With $450M+ in TVL and $3.6B in bridge volume since 2020, Threshold delivers the most robust trust-minimized Bitcoin infrastructure in DeFi. About Starknet Starknet is a permissionless, decentralized zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup that offers high scalability, low fees, and fast finality. Powered by STARK proofs and developed by StarkWare, Starknet is designed for long-term composability, security, and developer flexibility. Contact Marketing RC Threshold
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Crypto Experts Predict Blockchain Trends Fueled By New U.S. Rules
On April 25, 2025, the Cornell Blockchain Conference at Cornell Tech's Verizon Center in New York City spotlighted a growing convergence between academic rigor, institutional credibility, and a maturing blockchain industry. What emerged was not just a conversation about scaling technology—but about scaling trust, regulation, and the next wave of entrepreneurs. Abhishek Bhattacharya, the President of Blockchain at Cornell Tech, helped coordinate the event on the main stage. John Wu, President of Ava Labs, and a Cornell alum framed Ava's strategy as one bridging traditional finance and decentralized systems. 'We were huge risk-takers in technology, but very conservative when it came to regulation,' Wu said during a fireside chat. 'In a weird way, the coming wave of regulation favors the builders who've already aligned with those standards.' Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at StarkWare, was on a regulatory panel earlier discussing expected changes in regulations at the state level, the importance of a crypto general counsel as strategic business partner given the near-constant material shifts in the regulatory environment, and expecting continued focus on stablecoins, tokenization, and payments. Starknet, a layer two network built by Starkware, has $117.16m in total value locked (TVL) with 3.69 million transactions over the prior week according to Dune. Regarding Wu highlighting a conservative approach to compliance and regulation while being risk-takers with technology, Bos said, 'the best crypto companies know that legal and regulatory strategy is key. In many ways, the industry is under a microscope, and lawyers in crypto add value by working alongside product teams and developing a proactive strategy for compliance and regulation.' According to Wu, who said he just met with over 15 U.S. Senators and Representatives in Washington, he expects significant movement in Washington D.C. on stablecoin and market structure legislation before year's end. Wu predicted by the end of this year there would be a stablecoin and market structure legislation in the U.S., and it couldn't come soon enough. Bos agreed, saying 'crypto has long been seeking reasonable regulation, and the likely passage of a stablecoin bill is a great first step.' Emin Gün Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs, positioned Ava Labs as a company ready to meet global demands from its base in New York City. Sirer was the original founder of the Cornell Blockchain student group at Cornell. Sirer began by tracing the evolution of blockchain from Bitcoin's original design and the need for broader infrastructure. 'We didn't know how to build blockchains that scale,' said Sirer. Sirer then claimed, 'One of the first things we did at our labs was develop the world's fastest consensus protocol—so that a group of nodes operating in unison could act together as fast as possible, at the speed of light.' Finally, Sirer argued every use case needs its own chain. "Some might be able to share infrastructure, but most have unique demands—and for that, they need a chain that operates according to its own rule set, its own technical specifications, and its own roadmap,' said Sirer. The Avalanche blockchain has $1.32 TVL (total value locked) with 2.16 million transactions over the prior week according to Dune. Sirer also highlighted the role of blockchain in gaming and how users may not actually realize the technology that is used in the future. Sirer described the launch of 'Off The Grid', a next-generation battle royale game where players can collect in-game assets—such as the arms and legs of defeated opponents—as NFTs. In Off The Grid, those body parts are actually NFTs minted on the Avalanche blockchain, demonstrating how ownership and gameplay can be merged without disrupting user immersion. Ari Juels, Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs and a professor at Cornell Tech, kicked off a student-led pitch competition at the end of the day capturing the energy and excitement of fresh minds working in the space. The Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3), which Juels is a co-founder of and co-directs, servies as a launchpad for student-led ventures. One of the pitches was called Prinx, a blockchain-based 'Robinhood for IPOs' that democratizes access to late-stage private equity. Co-founders Brendan McShane and Patrick Sullivan presented their tokenized pre-IPO exchange to a professional crowd eager for fresh ideas. McShane said, 'Our mission is to bring late-stage private equity to the masses. Through Ari Juels' class, we were able to bring Prinx to life.' Another innovation idea came from a project dubbed BitGPT. Lia Müller, founding partner of BitGPT, introduced to the crowd a fiat-crypto native payment system using the once-abandoned HTTP 402 gateway—enabling micropayments between machine agents 'This is the next evolution,' Müller said. 'We're moving from human invoices to machine-initiated micropayments, just as we once moved from mail to email. The rails are being laid for what's next.' What distinguished this year's Cornell Blockchain Conference wasn't just the prominence of speakers like Sirer, Wu, Bos, and Juels—but the way their narratives converged. Whether discussing throughput, legal compliance, financial market integration, or student-led experimentation, one theme was constant: The blockchain industry is stepping into maturity. From the halls of Congress to university classrooms, builders are aligning with standards, not avoiding them. And that, more than any hype cycle or price movement, may be the real signal that Web3 is here to stay.
