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Lockers

Lockers are the decentralized custodians of TeleSwap. Because Bitcoin has no smart contracts, someone must hold the BTC that backs TeleBTC and send native BTC back on unwraps — Lockers fill that role, secured by collateral rather than trust.

What a locker does​

  • Wrap — receives the BTC a user sends when bridging to an EVM/TON chain.
  • Unwrap — when assigned a redemption, sends native BTC to the recipient and submits payment proof to the TeleSwap contract (verified by the light-client bridge).

Becoming a locker​

Anyone can become a Locker by registering in the TeleSwap contract and running the locker software. Registration requires locking collateral, which secures the BTC the Locker custodies.

Capacity​

A Locker can only custody as much value as its collateral safely backs:

LockerCapacity = (LockedCollateralValue / CollateralRatio) − BitcoinAssetsValue

The CollateralRatio keeps the collateral worth more than the BTC held, absorbing price swings. Users pick a Locker with enough free capacity for their bridge amount; Lockers add collateral to grow capacity as demand rises.

Fees​

Lockers earn a 0.1% fee on each request they handle, compensating them for the service and for locking collateral. See Fees & Speed.

Staying honest​

Lockers are kept honest economically, not by trust:

  • Slashing — moving BTC without a matching unwrap (theft/hack), or failing to process an unwrap in time, lets anyone slash the Locker's collateral to compensate users.
  • Liquidation — if collateral value drops too close to the BTC held, the position can be liquidated back to a safe ratio.

See Slashing & Liquidation for the mechanics.