tBTC Bridge Partially Reopens After 9 Days; Aave's approximately $120 Million Reserve ...

Threshold Network has partially restored the on-chain functions of its bitcoin bridge tBTC nine days after suspending operations. However, roughly $120 million (~160 billion won) in tBTC reserves deposited with Aave remain frozen, with new deposits and additional borrowing still blocked.

Threshold said on the 8th (local time) that the bridge's underlying network was back up as node operators who had completed security patches reconnected. The bridge relies on independent node operators to jointly approve bitcoin transfers and process deposit and redemption requests. The resumption comes nine days after the service was halted on October 30.

Transaction requests submitted before the shutdown will be processed in the order operators return, but new deposits, tBTC minting and redemptions will not open until a sufficient number of nodes are running normally. Threshold did not disclose when full service will be restored. The shutdown followed the discovery of a critical vulnerability in the Linux kernel that allowed remote code execution. The project said it found no evidence that the flaw was actually exploited against tBTC nodes.

Aave froze its tBTC reserves in the Ethereum Core market on October 31 after redemptions were blocked by the bridge outage. $120 million worth of tBTC is locked in that market, with new deposits and additional borrowing against tBTC restricted. Existing users can still withdraw assets and repay loans.

On-chain data shows 4,320 BTC remaining in the bridge wallet and 4,185 tBTC in circulation. Threshold stressed that no unauthorized bitcoin transfers or abnormal token issuance had been identified. LlamaRisk, Aave's risk management partner, said it will propose lifting the tBTC reserve restrictions once bridge operations fully normalize.

The incident illustrates how operational risks tied to wrapped assets that bring bitcoin onto other blockchains can spill over into the broader DeFi lending market. When a bridge halts, redemptions of collateral assets are blocked, forcing lending platforms to freeze reserves to prevent the spread of bad debt. For tBTC holders, limited collateral usability on Aave is expected to persist for the time being, and the market sees the pace of node returns and the timing of LlamaRisk's proposal to lift restrictions as key variables.