TIP-109: Reintroduce a tBTC Mint Fee

Vote type: Token holder DAO on-chain 7-day vote period

DAO-elected Sponsors: Threshold Committee

tl;dr

This proposal reintroduces a 20 basis point (0.20%) mint fee for tBTC. The redemption fee will remain unchanged, as defined under TIP-075.

The proposal restores a sustainable fee structure now that the mint fee holiday has served its purpose, while maintaining clarity and predictability for users and integrators.

Background Threshold DAO has adjusted tBTC bridge fees through multiple governance decisions in response to the protocol’s stage of development:

• tBTC v2 initially launched with a 20 bps mint fee and a 20 bps redemption fee.
• TIP-054 reduced mint fee to 10 bps; redemption fee remained unchanged.
• TIP-065 reduced both the mint and redemption fees to 0% with the explicit goal of accelerating adoption, increasing total value locked, and supporting integration across DeFi ecosystems.
• TIP-075 partially concluded the fee holiday by reintroducing the 20 bps redemption fee while maintaining a 0% mint fee.
• TIP-093 rejected proposed fee increases and introduced a mandatory 30-day delay on future tBTC fee changes.

Overall the fee holiday has achieved its intended objectives, contributing to increased tBTC usage, broader integrations and improved liquidity conditions. Importantly, the introduction of fee waivers for fee stakers has strengthened the tBTC price peg and eliminated the relatively persistent price discount attributable to the 20bps redemption fee. Since fee waivers for stakers also applies to mint fees, there is now minimal concern that reintroducing a 20bps mint fee will negatively impact the price peg. As the protocol continues to mature, it is appropriate to transition away from a zero-fee minting environment toward a sustainable and governance-aligned fee structure.

Proposal Details This proposal recommends the reintroduction of the tBTC bridge mint fee:

The tBTC mint fee will be updated to 20 bps (0.20%) upon Snapshot approval.

The redemption fee will remain unchanged, consistent with TIP-075.

Threshold Committee has discretion to lower the mint fee; increases still go through standard governance.

Reintroducing the fee in a single step provides clarity to market participants and aligns the mint fee with historical parameters previously approved by governance.

This proposal additionally revokes the mandatory 30-day delay on tBTC fee changes introduced under TIP-093. tBTC fee updates will now follow the standard Threshold governance process, including forum discussion, Snapshot voting, on-chain execution, and existing timelock delays, without any additional policy-layer waiting period. The DAO has since gained meaningful operational experience with tBTC fee management and the combination of public discussion, voting periods and on-chain timelocks provides sufficient notice and protection for market participants without requiring an extra, non-enforced delay. This change removes a governance-layer constraint rather than introducing a custom exception, restoring consistency with standard, on-chain enforced governance processes.

Giving Threshold Committee discretion to lower the mint fee (while any fee increase must still go through standard governance process) will allow us to quickly course correct in the event a 20bps mint fee has unintended consequences or overly impacts bridge volume.

Rationale The tBTC fee holiday, enacted through TIP-065 and extended in part by TIP-075, served as an effective growth mechanism during a critical phase of the protocol’s expansion. Reinstating the mint fee now will support long-term protocol sustainability by contributing directly to operational expenses, maintenance and future development. A one-off adjustment avoids prolonged uncertainty and provides integrators and liquidity providers with a stable and predictable fee environment.

Reintroducing the mint fee also reinforces the incentive structure of the Threshold Network. With staking-based rebate mechanisms now live, TIP-106 , participants who make long-term commitments to the network can meaningfully reduce or offset the effective cost of minting. Additionally, fee waivers for stakers avoids potential degradation of the price peg attributable to bridge fees as evidenced since the introduction of T staking at the beginning of 2026.

Execution / timing Upon approval, the mint fee will be updated following standard governance execution procedures and delays, applied as per Bridge governance policy (48-hour delay enforced onchain) PLUS AN ADDITIONAL WEEK. The Threshold Committee will monitor post-change minting activity and protocol usage and may surface observations or recommendations to governance if material changes are observed.

Voting Options

For: Approve the reintroduction of a 20 bps tBTC mint fee and revoke any additional layer delay, to ease operations.

Against: Maintain the current 0% tBTC mint fee.