In the past few months, cross-chain technology has grown tremendously and users can now trade assets across a multitude of networks. There is $7.6 billion in total value locked across eight bridges today.
Cross-Chain Bridges
There’s a decent quantity of cross-chain blockchain bridges these days and it has allowed users to do a variety of different decentralized finance (defi) techniques. Interestingly, a great deal of bridges connect to the Ethereum (ETH) network, as they have Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility.
Since these connections were made, a lot of value has been flowing among a multitude of chains and to the Ethereum blockchain. Below are a few bridges that cryptocurrency participants can use for cross-chain swaps.
Tezos Wrap protocol Bridge
The Tezos ) Blockchain is a proof of stake (PoS), blockchain network that uses validating nodes, often called bakers. XTZ users have the ability to bridge with the Ethereum blockchain as a team called Bender Labs developed a bridge called the Wrap Protocol.
Essentially, the Wrap Protocol developed by Bender provides people with the ability to wrap ERC20 and ERC721 tokens in order to leverage them with different defi applications.
Binance Smart Chain Bridge
The Binance Smart Chain (BSC) is another blockchain that is compatible with Ethereum. BSC has the same capacity for smart contracts, but the fees are significantly lower. Binance Chain (BNB) users can switch from the BNB chain to BSC via the BEP20 standard and a cross-chain bridge.
The Binance wallet is an extension wallet that can perform cross-chain swaps from BNB to BSC. Alongside this, users can leverage the Binance Bridge to handle cross-chain transactions as well. To access Binance Bridge, U.S. users may need to use a VPN.
Solana’s Wormhole Bridge
Solana (SOL) has a bridge as well and the launch of the Wormhole Network’s ethereum – solana bridge was revealed on September 17. The Wormhole Token bridge connects Ethereum to Solana, allowing users to exchange assets across both blockchains.
“The portal is open,” the website wormholenetwork.com details. “Wormhole delivers new communication channels between previously siloed blockchains.” Current Wormhole statistics from Dune Analytics indicate the Solana Wormhole has $382,471,804 total-value locked.
Avalanche Bridge
Another chain that is compatible with Ethereum is Avalanche (AVAX), a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. AVAX participants can bridge AVAX assets to Ethereum by leveraging the cross-chain capabilities offered by the Avalanche wallet.
Users of this wallet can exchange their AVAX back and forth for a small fee between the Avalanche network and the Ethereum network. Participants can exchange their AVAX for a small fee between the Avalanche network and the Ethereum network once a cross-chain swap has been settled onto the Ethereum blockchain.
Bitcoin Cash Smartbch Bridge
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is another chain that is now compatible with Ethereum via the Smartbch network. This means bitcoin cash (BCH) can be wrapped and used for decentralized finance purposes. Currently, there is only one Smartbch bridge powered by the crypto-asset exchange Coinflex.
Users can access Coinflex via Metamask instead of registering with an email and users can swap their BCH for Smartbch almost instantly, after confirmation times. Essentially a user simply deposits BCH and sends out Smartbch by leveraging the SEP20 token protocol standard at withdrawal. After a Metamask wallet has been connected to the Smartbch network and configured, Metamask users will be able to leverage wrapped bitcoin cash.
Research Guides on How to Use Bridges Before Crossing Them
The list above just scratches the surface when it comes to cross-chain swaps as there are bridges stemming from blockchains like Cosmos, Fantom, Polygon, Terra, Harmony, Near, Optimism, and Harmony.
Cosmos users can connect with a Keplr wallet and connect to Ethereum via Emeris. Near participants can collaborate with Ethereum via the NEAR Rainbow Bridge. Fantom users can swap with spookyswap or multichain.xyz and Polygon network participants are able to cross-chain swap via the Polygon Bridge. Terra assets can be swapped back and forth between Ethereum and Terra through bridge.terra.money.
However, cross-chain bridges require patience and knowledge. These articles provide step-by-step instructions on how to leverage blockchain bridges. If mistakes are made, funds can be lost. Users should do their research before accessing cross-chain bridges and decentralized finance (defi), applications.
What do you think about the five cross-chain bridges mentioned in this article? 804 Binance Smart Chain Bridge,
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Avalanche, Avalanche Bridge, AVAX, Bear, binance chain, Binance Smart Chain, Binance Smart Chain Bridge, Blender, bnb, Bridges, BSC, Cosmos, Cross-chain, cross-chain bridge, Dune Analytics, NEAR, Polygon, Smartbch, SOL, Terra, Tezos, total value locked, TVL, Wormhole, Wrapped BCH, Wrapped Tezos, xtz
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