Research summary
Our research supports rejecting tBTC for the current advisor scope. It is one of the better disclosed decentralized Bitcoin bridges, with rotating threshold wallets, governance delays, audits, a redemption watchtower, and a coverage pool. It replaces native Bitcoin with an upgradeable Ethereum claim secured by an honest-majority operator assumption and bridge-governance parameters. The product is useful infrastructure, but no approved client use now requires those risks instead of holding native BTC.
Observable review triggers
- A separately approved client position requires tBTC and no native-Bitcoin implementation satisfies the same purpose
- Independent operator concentration and wallet-member selection remain within a documented honest-majority stress limit
- A proposed-size native redemption completes within the stated service level and the coverage pool can absorb the modeled wallet loss
- Any bridge, wallet-registry, DKG, watchtower, or governance exploit opens an immediate review
Facts on file
- Verdict
- Rejected
- Type
- Other
- Chains examined
- Bitcoin, Ethereum
- Reviewed
- Last confirmed