Threshold Network today announced the launch of Verifiable Bitcoin Accounts (VBA), a new framework designed to enable institutional Bitcoin deployment across onchain lending and yield markets while preserving segregated custody and verifiable settlement paths. The framework is built on the same signer infrastructure that has operated with Bitcoin for six years, processed over $5 billion in cumulative volume, and sustained zero losses.
Verifiable Bitcoin Accounts are a Bitcoin Script and PSBT-based account framework that defines preauthorized spending paths, signer combinations, timelocks, and recovery routes at account setup. This allows institutional allocators to use Bitcoin-backed onchain strategies while maintaining their existing custody arrangements with Qualified Custodians such as Anchorage and Fireblocks Trust, MPC-based custody networks, or self-custody setups. Capital remains in a segregated account, is identifiable at all times, and does not involve title transfer outside of the holder's existing custody.
The launch comes as institutional Bitcoin lending is projected to reach $90 billion by the end of 2026, driven by stablecoin growth that reached $308 billion in early 2026 and is on track to exceed $1 trillion. Verifiable Bitcoin Accounts turn any existing custody into institutional-grade lending infrastructure, addressing the need for collateral that resolves reliably across liquidation, maturity, and redemption.
Key features of VBA include consensus-enforced spending via Bitcoin Script, multi-party controls that prevent unilateral authority, predefined recovery allowing depositors to recover BTC after a defined timelock without counterparty cooperation, and whitelisted deployment into risk-assessed onchain lending markets such as Aave, Morpho, Curve, and Yield Basis.
MacLane Wilkison, Co-Founder of Threshold Network, stated: "Institutions don't need additional layers of trust; they need systems where outcomes are defined, enforceable, and verifiable from the outset. By removing reliance on counterparties, we align Bitcoin onchain with the standards institutional capital actually requires."
Threshold Network is the protocol behind tBTC, a trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge with over $5 billion in cumulative volume across six years of mainnet operation with zero losses. Verifiable Bitcoin Accounts extend this infrastructure into institutional Bitcoin deployment, combining segregated custody, Bitcoin-enforced spending controls, and access to onchain lending markets. VBA is currently available to qualified institutional participants.
