Update newsfeed + metadata

src/pages/news/2024-04-15-a-tale-of-two-bugs.md

@@ -1,17 +1,26 @@
 ---
 template: news-item
-title: A tale of two bugs
-description: The FTX exploit attempted redemption of tBTC revealed two bugs.
+title: "A Tale of Two Bugs: Uncovering Vulnerabilities in tBTC Amid the FTX Exploit"
+description: Explore how the FTX exploit uncovered two critical bugs in tBTC, including a denial-of-service vector and a redemption mechanism design flaw, and the steps taken to address them.
 canonicalUrl: https://blog.threshold.network/a-tale-of-two-bugs/
 date: 2024-04-15T12:17:09.130Z
+tags:
+  - featured
+  - tBTC
+  - FTX exploit
+  - Bitcoin bridge
+  - DeFi security
 ---
+## Examining the Impact of Two Bugs Exposed by the FTX Exploit
+
+
 As has been reported this week, an address associated with the FTX exploit has been moving funds through a number of cross-chain projects.
 
 While most of the funds have [gone through Thorchain](https://www.theblock.co/post/255108/thorswap-dex-enters-maintenance-mode-amid-illicit-activity?ref=blog.threshold.network), some of them have been routed through tBTC. In the process, two bugs have been exposed.
 
 Neither bug puts user funds at risk. The first was patched and released yesterday, while the second requires community discussion and consensus.
 
-## The first bug — a denial-of-service vector
+### The First Bug: A Denial-of-Service Vector
 
 On Saturday, September 30th, an FTX-associated address [requested a redemption](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0b3796cf79fe87d15dfe9bd038941adc9ccb693694c28bbacba12989d48f0c78?ref=blog.threshold.network) of 76.81431578 BTC.
 
@@ -23,7 +32,7 @@ After some time, this redemption request was approved by the redemptions maintai
 
 Shortly after, **something incredible happened**.
 
-An unknown third party [sent BTC transactions](https://mempool.space/tx/afbd1e38fd6cf282b1d42973d7c0b52705b9b311c08ea49e50ba9a6d4faff582?ref=blog.threshold.network)to two of the wallets behind tBTC.
+An unknown third party [sent BTC transactions](https://mempool.space/tx/afbd1e38fd6cf282b1d42973d7c0b52705b9b311c08ea49e50ba9a6d4faff582?ref=blog.threshold.network) to two of the wallets behind tBTC.
 
 Now, this happens all the time — tBTC is minted by depositing BTC, after all. But instead of a normal deposit transaction, these transactions were crafted manually in such a way that the tBTC signing clients thought the wallets were "busy" moving funds, and unable to service redemption requests. The approval maintainer waited for the wallets to no longer be "busy" — which never happened.
 
@@ -37,15 +46,15 @@ At this point, alerting and monitoring systems used by contributors across the D
 
 By then, we'd also come to understand that one of the blocked redemptions was associated with FTX.
 
-## The second bug — redemption mechanism design flaw
+### The Second Bug: A Redemption Mechanism Design Flaw
 
 The second bug became apparent as we prepared the first patch.
 
-The Threshold DAO can delegate to multiple approver addresses in the`WalletCoordinator`contract.
+The Threshold DAO can delegate to multiple approver addresses in the `WalletCoordinator` contract.
 
 Unfortunately, as of today, there has only been one delegation to a single maintainer address — a single point of failure. Today, that address is controlled by a US-owned company, disallowed from approving the FTX-associated redemption.
 
-### Fixing the mechanism design
+#### Fixing the Redemption Mechanism
 
 Only having a single delegated approver with $25M in TVL was an oversight. Still, the bigger issue is the mechanism design itself.
 
@@ -68,10 +77,10 @@ Finally, if and when the community judges the system secure without a redemption
 
 However this mechanism design flaw is resolved, we've learned a ton from this experience ­— and I'm glad we learned it this week rather than 10x from here.
 
-## What next?
+### Next Steps for the Threshold DAO and Community
 
 The DAO and community have decisions to make.
 
 Whether the community decides to add another approver address, upgrade the contracts to an "optimistic redemption"-style mechanism, or research and consider other options, as a dev team, we're here to advise, and help build a more robust, secure, and neutral future of finance, together.
 
-*This blog was originally posted under the [Threshold Network website](https://blog.threshold.network/a-tale-of-two-bugs/).*
+*This blog was originally posted under the [Threshold Network website](https://blog.threshold.network/a-tale-of-two-bugs/).*

src/pages/news/2024-04-15-tbtc-is-for-l2s.md

@@ -1,16 +1,21 @@
 ---
 template: news-item
-title: tBTC is for L2s
+title: "tBTC is for L2s: The Trust-Minimized Bitcoin Bridge for Layer 2 Scaling"
 description: >-
-  Today’s tBTC is a robust, semi-permissioned Bitcoin bridge, iterating toward
-  full trust-minimization. tBTC has been in production for nearly 3.5 years
-  without major incident with over [2,500 BTC bridged at its
-  peak](https://dune.com/threshold/tbtc?ref=blog.threshold.network), serving
-  users on Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Ethereum—making it one of
-  the most trustworthy bridges in the space.
+  tBTC is a semi-permissioned Bitcoin bridge that has been in production for nearly four years, and continues to evolve towards full trust-minimization for users on Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Ethereum.
 canonicalUrl: https://blog.threshold.network/tbtc-is-for-l2s/
 date: 2024-04-15T12:35:21.390Z
+tags:
+  - featured
+  - tBTC
+  - Bitcoin L2
+  - decentralized finance
+  - Ethereum
+  - trust-minimized bridge 
 ---
+
+## tBTC: The Trust-Minimized Bridge for Bitcoin L2s
+
 Bitcoin is having a moment.
 
 No, it’s not *just* [the ETF](https://thesis.co/blog/the-bitcoin-etf-is-here/?ref=blog.threshold.network). It’s not *just* [Ordinals](https://nftnow.com/news/research-and-mining-report-highlights-bitcoins-enduring-impact/?ref=blog.threshold.network). It’s not *just* [the Halving](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/bitcoin-halving/?ref=blog.threshold.network), it’s not [*just* BitVM](https://bitvm.org/bitvm.pdf?ref=blog.threshold.network), and it’s not *just* [Stacks](https://unchainedcrypto.com/stacks-a-bitcoin-layer-2-protocol-sees-all-time-high-in-total-value-locked/?ref=blog.threshold.network).
@@ -21,16 +26,14 @@ Alongside the surge of interest in Bitcoin, decentralized finance (DeFi) markets
 
 So, how can BTC take its rightful place in the L2 DeFi ecosystem, and how did we arrive to this new paradigm of ‘Building on Bitcoin’?
 
-## A quick history
+### A Quick History of Bitcoin L2s
 
 For years, the Lightning network—a channel-based payment network that later inspired Plasma and optimistic roll-ups—was called “the only Bitcoin L2”.
 
 The reason for that was simple. Bitcoin is an incredibly stable development platform—at the expense of new feature development. Why? Bitcoin is one of the most robust peer-to-peer networks in existence, supporting a trillion dollar economy. When someone wants to make a change to Bitcoin, they must convince node operators to accept that change. It’s rare that a change adds enough value, and represents a small enough risk, to convince node operators to upgrade without veering into deadlock. So, development on Lightning was popular, as it represented the only *technically aligned* Bitcoin Layer 2 with any semblance of user demand.
 
 Bitcoin is also a notoriously difficult platform. As the first production blockchain, developer experience wasn’t a priority. The scripting language is obtuse, and the programming model isn’t very expressive. This has served its primary use as money just fine. But over the years, many application developers have given up on Bitcoin development, leaving for easier, more expressive platforms.
 
-## Taproot: A slow revolution
-
 So, what exactly has changed to cause this renewed interest? Has Bitcoin gotten an upgrade?
 
 Sort of! A soft-fork in 2021 [introduced Taproot](https://cointelegraph.com/news/breaking-the-bitcoin-network-welcomes-taproot-soft-fork-upgrade?ref=blog.threshold.network), allowing larger programs on the Bitcoin network.
@@ -39,7 +42,7 @@ That upgrade, nearly 3 years ago, seemed innocuous to many outside a small group
 
 Ordinals, the controversial satoshi-hunting NFT meta-protocol on Bitcoin, and BitVM, a new way to run publicly verifiable programs on Bitcoin, are both built on Taproot—and have both spurred new developer interest across the network. With this renewed developer interest and improved programmability on Bitcoin, small communities began to wonder: can we improve the current landscape of Bitcoin L2s?
 
-## So, what makes a Bitcoin L2?
+### What Defines a Bitcoin L2?
 
 Even as they continue cropping up, the use of the term “L2” at all is controversial . On other networks like Ethereum, the definition of an L2 has been debated for years.
 
@@ -57,15 +60,15 @@ Alexei at [BOB](https://twitter.com/build_on_bob) puts it quite well:
 
 To call a network a Bitcoin L2, it needs to somehow share the security of the Bitcoin network, and it needs to use BTC as an asset.
 
-## tBTC is primed for Bitcoin Renaissance
+### tBTC: Primed for the Bitcoin Renaissance
 
 Whether you’re hacking on Lightning, DLCs, BRC-20s, or a new Bitcoin-based network, it’s clear that we’re in a Bitcoin Renaissance—a term coined by Elizabeth Stark at Lightning Labs, and now being spun into a [full-blown conference](https://bitcoin-renaissance.com/) later this month.
 
 Of course, my favorite indicator is the number of teams who have reached out about building their L2s on tBTC. tBTC is attractive for L2s because it stands out as a trust-minimized approach to bridging bitcoin across networks, addressing collateral related limitations and simultaneously living up to the ethos of the network.
 
 Rather than backing bitcoin against a 1:1 reserve of an additional collateral token, tBTC directly taps into the power of BTC to bridge it to other networks via smart contracts and a randomly selected group of signers. [Those who stake T](https://docs.threshold.network/staking-and-running-a-node/tbtc-beta-stakers-program?ref=blog.threshold.network), the native Threshold token, act as signers in the network.
 
-## Ready for L2s
+### The Evolution of tBTC: From Semi-Permissioned to Fully Trust-Minimized
 
 Today’s tBTC is a robust, semi-permissioned Bitcoin bridge, iterating toward full trust-minimization. tBTC has been in production for nearly 3.5 years without major incident with over [2,500 BTC bridged at its peak](https://dune.com/threshold/tbtc?ref=blog.threshold.network), serving users on Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Ethereum—making it one of the most trustworthy bridges in the space.
 
@@ -75,7 +78,7 @@ While L2 proponents will debate over different models and definitions, one thing
 
 To avoid reinventing the wheel, new L2 founders can opt to use tBTC as their Bitcoin bridge. tBTC can seriously speed up development for new Bitcoin L2s by solving one of their two major issues—**a secure, production-ready, and well-audited Bitcoin bridge**.
 
-## Our principles
+### Our Principles: Security, Neutrality, and Economic Alignment
 
 For the Threshold DAO and tBTC developers, this influx of L2 interest has been a welcome challenge. How might we best support these teams? How should we treat developers outside the Threshold ecosystem?
 
@@ -87,15 +90,15 @@ I’d like to propose a few principles that we follow as a community.
 
 **Economic alignment—**Today, the Threshold DAO subsidizes the security monitoring and staking rewards powering the tBTC bridge. We are an established project, but we don’t have unlimited resources. If we’re made to pick between helping different projects build on tBTC, we should prefer those with economic models that make the tBTC bridge stronger and more sustainable.
 
-## tBTC SDK
+### tBTC SDK: Enabling Seamless Bitcoin Integration for L2s
 
 With developers in mind, we launched the [tBTC SDK](https://docs.threshold.network/app-development/tbtc-v2/tbtc-sdk/?ref=blog.threshold.network). The SDK can be used to enable seamless Bitcoin L1 deposits across dApps, wallets, and new L2s.
 
 A live, running example of this at play is present in our [Threshold Dashboard](https://dashboard.threshold.network/overview/networkhttps://dashboard.threshold.network/overview/network?ref=blog.threshold.network). L2 builders can find [further examples](https://github.com/keep-network/tbtc-v2/pull/776?ref=blog.threshold.network) on [GitHub](https://github.com/keep-network/tbtc-v2/pull/778?ref=blog.threshold.network).
 
 As we publish more docs and example code, and more projects build on the SDK, documentation and cross-chain liquidity will continue to grow.
 
-## Let’s bring Bitcoin to the masses
+### Join the Bitcoin Renaissance with tBTC
 
 If you’re working on a Bitcoin L2 and looking for a robust bridge that’s stood the test of time, we’d love to help!
 

src/pages/news/2024-04-17-the-evolution-of-tbtc-and-the-end-of-over-collateralization.md

@@ -1,28 +1,36 @@
 ---
 template: news-item
-title: The evolution of tBTC and the end of over-collateralization
+title: "The Evolution of tBTC: Scalable Bitcoin Bridging and the End of Over-Collateralization"
 description: >-
-  What we have today in tBTC is a proven model, and as Bitcoin L2s heat up, tBTC
-  is positioned to be one of the most significant contributors to continuing the
-  growth of this sector thanks to L2s using tBTC as their foundation.
+  Discover how tBTC has transformed over the years into a scalable, trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge, poised to fuel the growth of Bitcoin Layer 2 networks by eliminating the need for over-collateralization.
+
 date: 2024-04-17T11:09:46.661Z
+tags:
+  - featured
+  - tBTC
+  - Bitcoin
+  - Ethereum
+  - DeFi
+  - Layer 2
 ---
-## The history of tBTC
+## The Evolution of tBTC: A Decentralized Bitcoin Bridge
 
-[Billions of dollars](https://defillama.com/protocol/merlins-seal) in BTC is currently being activated thanks to Bitcoin L2s. The Bitcoin scaling narrative is only going to grow from here as funding continues to pour in, the L2s announce their official launches, and industry OGs continue to [validate the narrative](https://twitter.com/anuragarjun/status/1772721722745299352).
+[Billions of dollars](https://defillama.com/protocol/merlins-seal) in BTC are currently being activated thanks to Bitcoin L2s. The Bitcoin scaling narrative is only going to grow from here as funding continues to pour in, the L2s announce their official launches, and industry OGs continue to [validate the narrative](https://twitter.com/anuragarjun/status/1772721722745299352).
 
 Attempting to capture a share of this rapidly growing L2 market, various BTC bridge models are popping up. Yet, these protocols show that they are not forward-looking, using outdated overcollateralized models or making unrealistic claims of achieving trustlessness.
 
 On the contrary, the tBTC Bitcoin bridge has been in operation for nearly 4 years. And over those years, it has undergone stress tests and important changes that set it apart from the rest of the tokenized BTC market. Built by a team at [Thesis](https://thesis.co/) and powered by the [Threshold Network](https://threshold.network/), tBTC is the only long-term scalable and decentralized Bitcoin bridge in production. [](https://thesis.co/)
 
+### The History of tBTC: A Trust-Minimized Bitcoin Bridge
+
 Since its inception, tBTC has:
 
 * Safely bridged over [8k BTC](https://tbtcscan.com/) ($560M+ today)
 * Been open-source from day one
 
 Where tBTC truly stands out is its robust history, evolving from a simple overcollateralized bridge model into a trust-minimized solution with a distributed set of network signers. As Bitcoin L2 networks create a path for the world’s hardest currency to take a larger place in global commerce, tBTC plays a crucial step in activating idle BTC.
 
-## What sets tBTC apart?
+### What Sets tBTC Apart from Other Bitcoin Bridges?
 
 tBTC is open-source and has been [since day one](https://tbtc.network/news/2020-03-25-tbtc-is-now-fully-open-sourced/). This commitment to code transparency remains the best standard for building secure decentralized infrastructures.
 
@@ -32,7 +40,7 @@ tBTC v2 can sidestep the requirement of the economic guarantees via over-collate
 
 While every other wrapped BTC solution is a centralized or hybrid alternative, tBTC stands out as a trust-minimized bridge aligned with Bitcoin’s tenets of accessibility, security, and transparency.
 
-## Evolution from v1 to v2
+### The Evolution from tBTC v1 to tBTC v2
 
 Today, tBTC is a trust-minimized bitcoin bridge, but getting there was meticulous and well-considered. Bitcoin bridge models can either use a trusted middleman, like Bitgo with wBTC, to create a 1:1 ERC-20 representation of BTC, or they can overcollateralize to provide an “economic guarantee” of security.
 
@@ -46,7 +54,7 @@ Although technically an effective means of bridging BTC, tBTC v1 couldn't due to
 
 Many Bitcoin bridging models proposed in the last 6 months are designed this way, but having walked this path, tBTC has moved on to a more efficient alternative.
 
-## tBTC v2 and the end of over-collateralization
+### tBTC v2: Ending Over-Collateralization for Scalable Bitcoin Bridging
 
 Shortly after Keep Network and NuCypher [merged to create](https://www.coinbase.com/en-es/cloud/discover/protocol-guides/guide-to-threshold#:~:text=As%20a%20milestone%20in%20crypto,tools%20and%20distributed%20node%20network.) the Threshold Network, tBTC v2 debuted a more capital-efficient model: rather than over-collateralization, security is provided by the probabilistic and statistical guarantees of a distributed and random signer selection process. Through this method, tBTC reserves remain fully backed by BTC across Threshold’s decentralized custody network. The key components of v2:
 
@@ -56,10 +64,12 @@ tBTC v2 went live in January 2023, allowing [deposits only](https://blog.thre
 
 With the historic learnings from tBTC v1 and the current progress of v2, Threshold is primed to continue it’s success as the most [Lindy](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect#:~:text=The%20Lindy%20effect%20(also%20known,proportional%20to%20their%20current%20age.>) decentralized bitcoin bridge.[](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect#:~:text=The%20Lindy%20effect%20(also%20known,proportional%20to%20their%20current%20age.>)
 
-## This is your friendly reminder
+### The Future of Bitcoin L2 Scaling and tBTC
 
 The evolution of Bitcoin’s L2 scaling will not be risk-free. Protocols that rely on rushed and under-engineered bridging models will not be able to compete with those that are time-tested and designed for long-term scaling. Whether by way of single-entity custody risk or capital restrictions that prevent scaling, other bridges show areas of weakness for the Bitcoin L2 season that everyone is looking forward to.
 
 At the foundation of the Bitcoin L2 sector is tokenized bitcoin, where tBTC is positioned to be a significant contributor. As more networks look for ways to activate BTC capital in their ecosystem, tBTC will be an increasingly attractive option for its robust history and functionality.
 
+### Conclusion: tBTC as a Proven Model for Decentralized Bitcoin Bridging
+
 Bitcoin bridging innovation is not an easy problem to solve. Even breakthrough applications like BitVM are [showing flaws](https://medium.com/@twhittle/bitvm-bridges-considered-unsafe-9e1ce75c8176), seeming to be years away from finding a safe and secure bridging application. What we have today in tBTC is a proven model, and as Bitcoin L2s heat up, tBTC is positioned to be one of the most significant contributors to continuing the growth of this sector thanks to L2s using tBTC as their foundation.