About Threshold (T)

Threshold is a privacy-centric project born of the on-chain merger of two networks/communities, Keep and NuCypher, and their native assets.

Threshold describes itself as being a provider of "threshold cryptography" services, a type of cryptography that has been likened to decentralized nodes in a distributed network. The core mission is to "power user sovereignty on the blockchain," as the project states, harkens to data privacy via a suite of cryptographic components including PRE proxy re-encryption, threshold signatures (TSS) and distributed key generation (DKG).

Threshold's native asset is the T token, an Ethereum-run ERC-20 used for governance and for staking. It was formed by a merger of NU and KEEP. The latter network’s off-chain “storage containers” represent a key structural component while the former’s PRE proxy re-encryption tool is a core component as well.

Still another key aspect of the amalgamated project is a dApp, tBTC, or tokenized Bitcoin, a popular, trusted bridge to Ethereum.

Threshold's T tokens can be used to hold BTCs (by way of tBTC) in permission-less fashion. There reportedly is a coming upgrade that is touted as possibly representing a true breakthrough on the path to creating a true BTC-ETH bridge.

Talk of a "hard merge" between two kindred blockchain projects surfaced in March of 2021, with a vision to bridge private data and public blockchain through threshold cryptography, "thereby extending BTC's properties onto every major network through tBTC v2," Messari explained.

"It will meaningfully make what I think is already a decentralized network already much more decentralized," NuCypher founder MacLane Wilkison told CoinDesk.

The protocols shared goal – providing tools for user privacy on the public blockchain – resulted in technology set that was complementary, said a Threshold community blog posted in December of 2021.

When was T created and how much was it worth?

The merger of the Keep and NuCypher protocols that created the T token took place in January of 2022 with the token’s distribution taking place between January and mid-March. NuCypher traces back to 2015. Keep, founded by Matt Luongo, described as a serial entrepreneur, started up at roughly the same time, as a product of Thesis, a Luongo-run crypto venture firm. NuCypher’s co-founders are MacLane Wilkison, a former Morgan Stanley technology analyst, and Michael Egorov, a former software engineer at LinkedIn and currently CEO of Curve.

When Keep and NuCypher merged projects/communities in early 2022, the newly resulting T coin traded at $0.17 before reaching an all-time high of $0.22 on March 2, 2022. The asset has since fallen to $0.03.

How is the price of T determined?

The initial total supply of the T token was set at 10 billion, of which the bulk (90%) went to holders of NU and KEEP tokens; the rest (10%) went to the treasury. The excitement surrounding the merger could not overcome headwinds from a bear market in crypto at large, a downward slope beginning just after most of the tokens were distributed.

Why does T have value?

The T token can be staked, servicing modules on the network, for rewards that are set by token holders in control of a governing council in charge of overseeing how fees are split up.

Liquidity Pools (LPs) connected with the former Keep Network was set to provide incentives for users to move their rewards-generating liquidity from the KEEP/ETH pool on UniSwap to a T/ETH pool.

The T token’s use in conjunction with tBTC v2 is a value prospect as the creation of wrapped, tokenized, permission-less BTC is said to possibly open the door to putting more BTC to work on Ethereum

Is T secure?

Threshold has published audits prior to the merger. The network puts a premium on decentralization, hallmark of what makes a network secure. Decentralization is abetted by the Threshold DAO. T token holders run the network; there is no centralized authority. High degrees of centralized control are often associated with vulnerabilities.

What are the main benefits of T?

• Threshold provides unique threshold cryptography solutions in a fully decentralized manner to the Web3 community, according to CoinGecko.
• The integration of KEEP and NU into T brought the two top privacy blockchain providers under one tent, in what was the first-ever fusion of two decentralized protocols, underscoring the idea that users of decentralized privacy solutions should be able to integrate smart contracts into them, CoinSwitch said.
• The network is seen as a bridge between private data and the public blockchain. Threshold boasts allowing for users to control access to sensitive data on public networks without exposing the underlying data to any external party. 

What do critics say about T?

It may not have a loyal user base just yet, according to CoinSwitch.

And the much-awaited tBTC v2 is still very early days in terms of development.