The Ultimate Thread on the Bridging Ecosystem

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The ultimate thread on the bridging ecosystem, covering many of the major projects. There is no shortage of options, however every bridge brings something different to the table. Let's dive in!

Before we jump in, if you want to learn about how bridges work in a more general sense and some of the issues involved with them, be sure to check out my previous thread! twitter.com/OvrCldJonny/status/1622928228586524674?t=NBzn72T25v488WrhR6Dl_g&s=19

Bridges have been dominating crypto news lately with the announcement of several projects using bridges to expand their presence in different chains. This opens up a plethora of opportunities, as projects are no longer bound to the chain that they initially launched on.

Launching a project on several different chains in parallel can create a silo effect. In DeFi for example, when an exchange launches on multiple different chains, its liquidity is restricted to each chain and the protocol is unable to take advantage of its network effect.

We started to see bridging make a splash in the NFT space as well! A few weeks ago, @pudgypenguins partnered up with @LayerZero_Labs to bring Lil Pudgys to different chains! twitter.com/pudgypenguins/status/1618288231552004100

This widens the exposure of the project to other chains. Different chains have distinct communities, and having your NFT project exposed to them all just widens your scope.

Furthermore, the project will be able to take advantage of the advantages that different ecosystems bring. For example, by bridging Lil Pudgys to Arbitrum, the project will be able to take advantage of the growing gaming landscape of Ethereum's most popular rollup!

Another example of bridged NFT projects is @rekt_gang who partnered with @axelarcore. They've taken things a step further and broke out of the EVM ecosystem and being present on Cosmos as well. twitter.com/rekt_gang/status/1621541786224152576

What's exciting is as bridging adoption grows, so does the innovation. Standards are starting to be formed which will allow multiple bridging projects to compound their effects rather than compete by issuing different versions of the same assets on destination chains.

The byproduct of competing bridged-wrapped assets lead to nasty outcomes as seen below: twitter.com/OvrCldJonny/status/1622928320085254144?t=b7xI1o2CnSk_ubHn1RsmCw&s=19

An example of such bridging standards is @circle's recently announced CCTP (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol). This will allow for canonical $USDC on multiple chains without having to create bridge-wrapped variants that fragment liquidity and are at risk of bridge hacks. twitter.com/circle/status/1617995721415983105

Circle partnered up with Axelar and other bridges to make this happen! Multiple bridges will be able to mint $USDC with this new standard and mint/burn the same asset rather than fragment the liquidity. More on that here: theblock.co/post/179072/circle-partners-with-axelar-on-cross-chain-initiative-for-usdc

Now that we've covered, let's explore some of the major bridging projects out in the ecosystem in more detail. 🕵️

Starting with @axelarcore. Axelar provides a bridging service between the Cosmos ecosystem and Ethereum (and other EVM chains) through their Satellite bridge. satellite.money/

Axelar acts as the canonical bridge for bridged assets from Ethereum to numerous Cosmos chains, so it plays a critical role in the @cosmos ecosystem. Axelar enables cross-chain messaging through their own decentralized network secured by the $AXL token.

This allows for more complex functions than just bridging, like cross-chain swaps explained here: axelar.network/blog/what-is-a-cross-chain-swap

As explained on their website: "Axelar goes far beyond sending wrapped assets with General Message Passing, which carries any payload securely cross-chain. Applications can call any function on any connected chain [...]"

If you want to learn more about Axelar, this thread provides more technical details on the project. (s/o @bmv_explorer) twitter.com/bmv_explorer/status/1542447552867737600

Next up is @LayerZero_Labs. Layer Zero also provides more than just bridging assets cross-chain, however they do provide that service as well with their Stargate bridge. (Lots of space themes, I know...) stargate.finance/

The Stargate bridge supports popular EVM chains (but nothing in the Cosmos ecosystem). The Stargate bridge has its own token $STG that it pays out to those who provide liquidity to the bridge. The token acts as a governance token with its own vesting veSTG tokenomics.

As mentioned, Layer Zero provides more than just asset bridging, but also cross-chain messaging. User applications (UA) can send messages between chain A and B through oracles and relayers and submits a transaction proof once the message has been delivered.

I haven't found a thread that does a deep-dive in Layer Zero, so I'll link the whitepaper instead. layerzero.network/pdf/LayerZero_Whitepaper_Release.pdf

On to @wormholecrypto! Wormhole's bridge is called Portal. Wormhole services a wide array of ecosystems ranging from EVM chains to @Solana, @Algorand, @NEARProtocol, @Aptos_Network and others. portalbridge.com/

The Portal Bridge also allows for the bridging of NFTs cross-chain as well. It allows you to lock your NFT on the bridge and mint a Wormhole-wrapped version of your NFT to your destination chain. I find that an interesting offering, as you can wrap any NFT you'd like.

Wormhole enables its cross-chain messaging through its network of "Guardian" nodes that verify the message emitted by the origin chain and relays the message to the destination chain. You can find all the technical info you're looking for here: docs.wormhole.com/wormhole/

Next up, @SynapseProtocol. Synapse allows you to bridge AND swap assets between chains. Meaning, you can deposit $ETH on your origin chain and withdraw $USDC on the destination chain with one click. synapseprotocol.com/

One cool feature with Synapse is that if you're bridging an asset that is not used for gas on the destination chain, the bridge will give you a bit of the chain's gas token to make sure you're able to make transactions on the other side!

The Synapse Protocol bridge currently services EVM chains, but their documentation states that it is compatible with non-EVM blockchains as well. The bridge has been popular lately as it was one of the very few bridges servicing $CANTO.

Synapse has its own chain that is an optimistic rollup on Ethereum (inspired by @CeloOrg's Optics protocol). The optimistic rollup secures all cross-chain communications and transactions that go through the bridge. $SYN is the governance token. docs.synapseprotocol.com/protocol/synapse-chain

No bridging thread is complete without the mention of @MultichainOrg. (Formerly known as Anyswap) The 500 pound gorilla in the room. Reigning supreme with the highest TVL for cross-chain bridging (almost $830M), Multichain bridge has been one of the longest standing bridges.

Multichain supports probably the widest amount of chains with a whopping 81 chains serviced! They've also partnered up with over 3283 projects across all those different chains.

Multichain works by using a network of SMPC nodes. These nodes exist outside of any blockchain that the bridge is servicing. The nodes only eve know part of the key that signs transactions that allow the bridge to move funds across chains. docs.multichain.org/getting-started/introduction

$MULTI is used as the governance token that allows holders to participate in voting on the community and ecosystem. Their token also has a vesting veMulti tokenomics.

Lastly, I figured it'd be important that I mention @THORChain. It's very different from the other bridges mentioned above. This decentralized network secured by its native token $RUNE, Thor Chain has been a staple in the bridging scene.

There's a lot to cover with regards to how Thor Chain works as it's pretty complex, so I'll leave it up to @CryptoJohnson_'s thread to do the heavy lifting for me. twitter.com/CryptoJohnson_/status/1554460370735169536

Once you understand how Thor Chain works, here's a thread that from the project that covers their future plans. twitter.com/THORChain/status/1616376332945969152?t=knppwVxrGqmuEufQWkNNtw&s=19

There are way too many bridges to cover in one thread so I did the best that I could to cover the most amount of different types of bridges. I've tagged some other popular bridges below: @HopProtocol @CelerNetwork @nomadxyz_ @ConnextNetwork @BungeeExchange

Here's a list of chain aggregators if you're looking for the best rates when bridging your assets. (Like a @1inch for bridging). Disclaimer: I have never used these before so proceed at your own risk. @ChainspotIO @relay_chain

If you're interested in seeing a list of all the bridges out there and their TVL, @DefiLlama has a list for that (of course). defillama.com/protocols/Bridge

Bridges have also been hogging attention with all the @Uniswap @BNBCHAIN drama. happening lately. If you're curious about the Uniswap #bridgewars, check out this fantastic thread by @abdullahbumar summarizing the situation. twitter.com/abdullahbumar/status/1622278659120762884?t=Jf5e6vRjU_1lgu-w14BsrQ&s=19

There's no denying that bridging will play a greater role in the web3 ecosystem going forward and it's important to know how all the different projects are approaching the opportunity.

This sector of the ecosystem is evolving quickly and I encourage everyone to keep a close eye on what's being built as major opportunities are being generated all the time by these amazing teams.

If there's a specific bridge you'd like me to cover that I haven't addressed in this thread, please mention it in the replies below!

Thank you for making it this far! Tagging CT degens you should follow: @_FabianHD @CryptoDragonite @pt1mfv_ @rektdiomedes @H1veDAO and @jacobrizzuto @cryptoswag123 @Chinchillah_ @arndxt_xo @0xsurferboy @0xShinChannn @llamaintern