Protocols today use intents in ways that are a significant advancement from the HTLCs and Atomic Swaps we discussed in our previous article. This installment of our “History of Intents” series dives into how modern intent systems influence interactions across various blockchains, showcasing technological advancements and the challenges they seek to address.

TL;DR:

• By early 2021, interoperability between programmable blockchains began to gain momentum, with the rapid growth of BSC and Polygon as fast, cheap, scalability solutions for Ethereum Mainnet.
• Around this time, Connext redirected its focus from scalability improvements to Ethereum using state channels to developing an intent-based cross-chain protocol, which functioned almost identically to most of the intent systems we see today.
• The current bridging landscape is dominated by two technologies: M-of-N Bridges, which rely on multisigs or PoS systems to verify transactions between chains, and Intent Bridges, which utilize a series of solvers to quickly execute and settle transactions on the destination chain while waiting for reconciliation/settlement to occur using either an M-of-N bridge or an optimistic bridge.
• Beyond simple asset transfers, intent-based systems now support complex transactions like cross-chain swaps with conditional settlements, showcasing the potential for more intricate blockchain operations.
• Addressing solver liquidity issues and the complexities of rebalancing across chains, newer systems like Connext V2 have introduced mechanisms that abstract these challenges, aiming to enhance solver efficiency and decentralize operations.

In Q1 of 2021, the interoperability of programmable blockchains took off with the rise of Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Polygon as affordable and fast scalability solutions compared to the increasingly costly Ethereum Mainnet (L1). Users would access BSC via Binance and then try to use bridges to get to Polygon, xDAI, Avalanche, and other chains directly, bypassing L1.

Given this landscape, by Q2 of 2021, Connext redirected its focus from building scalability mechanisms using state channels to creating its first intent-based system, aligning with the broader trend towards more sophisticated blockchain interactions.

Connext’s Evolution to Intent-Based Systems

Connext initially implemented state channels to batch multiple one-to-one user interactions off-chain, with final updates being posted on-chain. This setup served as an early model for the more comprehensive intent-based systems that would follow. By 2021, it became evident that cross-chain transfers dominated Connext’s transaction volume, prompting a strategic refocus towards these systems with the introduction of NXTP (Connext V1). This version adapted Connext’s framework to better support the prevalent user behavior of transferring assets like stablecoins and ETH across chains, primarily for farming yields.

This shift paved the way for Connext V2 (Amarok), which represents the current iteration of the protocol. Amarok has built upon the foundational work of its predecessors to enhance the decentralization and efficiency of managing cross-chain transactions.

Bridging Models and Technologies

The maturation of the blockchain space has seen the rise of two leading bridging technologies: M-of-N bridges and Intent bridges. M-of-N bridges, utilized by protocols like Multichain, Stargate, Axelar, Wormhole, and others, operate based on a multi-signature or Proof of Stake set to verify transactions between chains. Conversely, intent bridges, such as those implemented by Connext, Hop, Across, DLN, Squid, and others, rely on solvers to execute transactions on the target chain, often with reconciliation/settlement occurring optimistically or supported by an underlying M-of-N bridge.

The development of these models indicates a diversification within the blockchain space. They cater to varied user needs and enhance the functionality of cross-chain transactions.

Solver Selection and Intent Pools

As Connext evolved from its initial versions to more advanced intent-based systems, a significant area of development was solver selection — how transactions are matched with solvers and who can fulfill them on the target chain. This process has seen various approaches from different protocols, each with distinct advantages and trade-offs.

A Deeper Exploration into Approaches to Solver Selection

No Selection/Mempool: In the simplest form, transactions are made on-chain in the chain’s mempool, where solvers compete to fill them first.

• Benefits: This model offers high guarantees on latency as solvers vie to submit transactions quickly.
• Drawbacks: This model exposes transactions to potential issues like Miner Extractable Value (MEV) and can lead to wasted resources if solvers do not win the race to fill the transaction.

Request for Quote (RFQ): In this approach, users express their intent off-chain through a user interface (UI), and solvers respond directly with their quotes. Users then select a solver’s quote and proceed with the transaction.

• Benefits: This decentralized model is efficient for pricing, minimizing latency akin to estimating gas costs.
• Drawbacks: RFQ systems rely heavily on the stability of browser environments, which can be unreliable due to browsers lacking robust support for P2P messages. This may lead to users losing connection or failing to receive quotes from solvers. This approach also requires increased 1:1 interactivity between users and solvers, creating a liveness dependency. Similar to atomic swaps, if solvers go offline (or run out of funds/gas) after providing the quote but before completing the transaction, the user becomes stuck until a timeout occurs. Ideally, this process should involve multiple solvers (1:n) where any solver can complete the transaction.

Private Intentpools: This model involves intents being broadcast to a private mempool where an operator runs an auction to select a solver.

• Benefits: This approach decouples the user-solver direct interaction into a user-network and network-solver relationship, enhancing reliability.
• Drawbacks: This method introduces a central operator that could exert undue influence or experience downtime.

Public Intentpools: A more decentralized alternative, public intent pools operate similarly to private ones but with the added benefit of public verifiability.

• Benefits: This model uses a shared mempool that acts as a global auction or ordering mechanism for solvers, improving transparency and trust in the process.
• Drawbacks: This model makes it difficult for competing intent protocols to give up their order flow to a public ecosystem.

Each method reflects different priorities in system design — such as speed, decentralization, and reliability — and showcases the diverse strategies employed by different protocols to optimize the intent fulfillment process in modern blockchain networks.

Generalized Intents

The majority of conversation today centers around using intents for trading, even for cross-domain intents. This makes sense, as trading is currently the largest addressable market in the space. However, intent-based bridging does not need to be limited to transfers of fungible assets.

Expanding the Scope of Intents

In 2021, Connext realized that solvers could provide calldata as part of filling an intent, and their settlement could be conditional upon that calldata being correct. This is just another condition upon which solver settlement is predicated. This approach allows for actions like bridging and depositing from one chain to another in a single transaction.

We found it interesting that adding arbitrary conditionality to solver settlement can lead to more intriguing behavior from solvers. For instance, UniswapX enables users to set a minimum amount to receive on the target chain for cross-chain swaps. In this model, solvers can determine the routing of the swap as long as they meet the minimum-amount-received requirement.

Adopting UniswapX’s strategy makes it feasible to expand intents further by allowing settlement conditions to be programmable. Yet, historically, this proved challenging for cross-domain intents because each chain required independent implementation of settlement conditions, posing a high risk of fund loss if not executed correctly.

Settlement & Rebalancing

Challenges in Solver Liquidity and Rebalancing

One key challenge unique to cross-domain intents is optimizing settlements to provide the best solver experience. Most intent systems (like Connext v0 and v1) typically settle funds back to solvers on the source chain.

Feedback from solvers indicates that this model is suboptimal for several reasons:

• Solver liquidity moves away from the chains with high utilization and towards chains where it is least useful. Solvers need to rebalance their liquidity to continue earning on it.
• Rebalancing is expensive. Solvers must bridge or transfer funds from less liquid chains, influencing their pricing quotes.
• Rebalancing is complex. Rebalancing requires solvers to engage with bridges, centralized exchanges (CEXs), OTC desks, and more, effectively building an in-house aggregator.
• Solvers can offset costs by netting A→B flows against B→A. However, they need large amounts of capital on each chain to do this effectively, giving market makers an outsized advantage in solving.

Connext v2, Across, and Hop have all introduced mechanisms to abstract rebalancing from solvers. While this in-protocol settlement/rebalancing improves solver decentralization and pricing, the question remains: is it enough?

Conclusion

The present state of intents in blockchain technology is a dynamic and evolving field. Intent systems today are far more sophisticated than their predecessors, capable of supporting complex, multi-chain operations and catering to the needs of an increasingly diverse set of applications. As these systems continue to develop, they promise to abstract the complexities of blockchain interactions further, making them more accessible and efficient for users across the globe.

As we continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with blockchain technology, the role of intents is likely to grow even more prominent. The next installment of our series will explore the future of intents, delving into emerging trends, anticipated technological advancements, and their potential impacts on various industries. Stay tuned to explore how the future of blockchain may unfold, driven by the innovative use of intents.

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its kind that does so cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers looking to build bridges and other natively crosschain applications.

Website / X / Discord / Blog / YouTube / Documentation / Github / Audit

History of Intents: The Present was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the evolving landscape of blockchain technology, the concept of ‘intents’ is becoming increasingly central, especially as we push toward seamless interoperability between different blockchain networks. Understanding this concept begins with a look into its technological predecessors, which created the foundational principles for today’s sophisticated systems.

This article, the first in a three-part series, delves into the early technologies like Hashed Timelock Contracts (HTLCs), Atomic Swaps, and the Interledger Protocol (ILP), tracing their evolution and their pivotal roles in pioneering the path towards sophisticated intent-based systems we see today.

TL;DR:

• HTLCs (Hashed Timelock Contracts) introduced secure, conditional blockchain transactions requiring cryptographic proofs and timed executions.
• Building on HTLC technology, Atomic Swaps enhanced cross-domain cryptocurrency exchanges without intermediaries but faced challenges like coordination dependency and security risks.
• As a response to the limitations of Atomic Swaps, the Interledger Protocol (ILP) proposed packetized payments for safer and continuous trading. However, despite its innovative approach to interoperability, ILP struggled with adoption.
• From HTLCs to ILP, these early technologies laid the groundwork for today’s sophisticated, intent-based systems, paving the way for automated cross-domain transactions.

Hashed Timelock Contracts (HTLCs)

Concept and Mechanism

In short, a Hashed Timelock Contract (HTLC) is a type of smart contract that allows funds to be removed from the contract using a preimage of a hash after the Timelock reaches zero. HTLCs are primarily used to execute secure and trustless transactions between two parties.

The essence of an HTLC lies in its two main components: the hashlock and the timelock. The hashlock secures the transaction with a cryptographic hash that requires a specific preimage (original data used to create the hash) to be revealed for the transaction to proceed. The timelock ensures that if this condition isn’t met within a set timeframe, the funds revert to the sender, providing a safety mechanism against deadlock or abandonment.

Advantages and Limitations

Originally devised for Bitcoin, HTLCs were instrumental in many early blockchain applications. The primary advantage of using HTLCs was their ability to enable trustless transactions. Participants did not need to trust each other or a third party; instead, they relied on the immutable conditions of the contract. This not only enhanced security but also broadened the scope for automated, decentralized exchanges.

However, HTLCs were not without limitations. The requirement to reveal a cryptographic hash led to security concerns if the hash was prematurely exposed.

Atomic Swaps

In 2013, Tier Nolan devised the atomic swap, building directly on the principles of HTLCs. Atomic Swaps were designed to allow the exchange of one cryptocurrency for another across different blockchains without relying on centralized exchanges. These swaps used HTLCs to link transactions across different blockchains, ensuring that either both transactions succeeded or neither did, hence the term “atomic.”

The evolution of Atomic Swaps from a novel concept to a functional tool has significantly influenced the development of decentralized trading. Initially conceptualized for simple one-to-one exchanges, the technology grew to support more complex, automated swap processes between a wider range of cryptocurrencies and tokens.

Technical Deep Dive

An Atomic Swap consists of two HTLC contracts on different chains with the same hash and staggered expiry.

Let’s consider a scenario in which Alice and Bob decide to swap cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Litecoin, across different blockchains.

Here’s how the Atomic Swap transaction would unfold:

Step 1: Submitting Collateral

Once the two parties agree on the terms of the swap (i.e., how much of Token A will be exchanged for Token B), they can begin setting up the Atomic Swap.

• First, Alice will deposit BTC onto an HTLC on the Bitcoin Blockchain.
• In turn, Bob will then deposit LTC into an HTLC on Litecoin.

Step 2: Swapping Funds

Once both parties are sufficiently confident that the collateral has been submitted (i.e., after enough blocks have elapsed on each chain), they can begin the process of swapping.

• Alice unlocks Bob’s LTC using the preimage of the hash used to construct the HLTC.
• Doing this on-chain reveals the preimage to Bob, who can then use it to unlock Alice’s BTC on Bitcoin.

If Alice fails to reveal the preimage before the HTLC expires, the transaction simply expires and Alice/Bob can reclaim their funds from the HTLC.

The above process mirrors intent systems today. By creating and depositing into the HTLC on Bitcoin, Alice expresses her intent to swap BTC. However, in this system, Alice must find and coordinate with a counterparty upfront prior to depositing funds into the HTLC.

Limitations

Based on the example above, the subtle difference in needing upfront coordination to set up an atomic swap means that atomic swaps suffer from a 1:1 relationship dependency between counterparties. This presents a couple of significant challenges for Atomic Swap systems:

Liveness: If Bob goes offline after Alice deposits funds into her HTLC, Alice could be left stranded until her HTLC expires (which typically takes up to a week in the case of Bitcoin).

Free Option: Bob can opt out of the deal at no cost, giving him a Free Option to decide whether to go through with the swap with Alice. For instance, if the price of BTC moves unfavorably for Bob during the transaction, he can simply disappear, leaving Alice to waste time/gas. The Free Option issue is particularly crucial when swapping different assets asynchronously.

These challenges are explored in Dan Robinson’s paper: HTLCs Considered Harmful.

Interledger Protocol (ILP)

Conceptualization

Interledger Protocol (ILP) proposed packetized payments as an alternative model to address the Free Option concerns associated with Atomic Swap protocols. Instead of conducting a single swap between chains, ILP suggested dividing swaps into time-based streams of payments.

How ILP Worked

ILP operated using a simple yet powerful principle: connectors route packets of money across independent payment networks much like routers forward packets of data across the Internet.

In this scenario, Alice and Bob engage in continuous trading of BTC and LTC against each other over time at a specified rate (e.g., $100 per second). The rate determines the overall risk both parties undertake in the swap and can be adjusted according to time preference. If one party ceases swapping midway through the process (e.g., due to unfavorable price movement), only a portion of the swap is completed, allowing both parties to exit the arrangement.

Interledger solved the Free Option problem for Atomic Swap, but liveness requirements were increased as both parties needed to stay online while the swap took place.

Interledger Protocol Today

Unfortunately, ILP never received the adoption it deserved. This was partly because it relied on a complex HTLC construction to manage streaming payments.

While ILP may not be directly relevant for modern interoperability (as sending individual transactions like the example above incurs high overhead), this approach offers valuable insights. One significant lesson is that breaking down large cross-domain transactions into time-based flows could facilitate more efficient load balancing and offsetting of global funds movement across chains.

Conclusion

The journey from HTLCs to Atomic Swaps and the Interledger Protocol illustrates the trajectory of ever-increasing sophistication and utility in blockchain technologies. Each step in this evolution has brought us closer to a seamless and decentralized system of financial transactions across various blockchains and other financial systems. These technologies have laid the groundwork for the next generation of blockchain functionality, where intents — detailed, pre-defined conditions for transactions — are managed across multiple domains, paving the way for even more integrated and automated systems.

As we look forward to the developments in blockchain interoperability, it’s clear that the foundational work done by these early technologies will continue to influence future innovations. Stay tuned for the next article in our series, where we will explore the present state of intents and how they are being used today to create a more connected and efficient blockchain ecosystem.

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its kind that does so cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers looking to build bridges and other natively crosschain applications.

Website / X / Discord / Blog / YouTube / Documentation / Github / Audit

History of Intents: The Past was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Connext has had an exciting quarter, highlighted by tremendous growth, new partnerships and use cases, exciting events, and more. This period not only reinforced the company’s foundational mission but also introduced cutting-edge features that bring us closer to a more interconnected Web3 ecosystem.

Here’s an overview of the key highlights covered in this comprehensive recap:

• Connext is the leading protocol for chain abstraction.
• We have expanded our support to include Metis, Mode, and Base, bringing the total number of supported chains to 10.
• The volume in the Connext network grew by over 50x, surpassing $1 billion in monthly bridge volume, with a 99.4% network uptime and high rates of fast transfer completion.
• Connext introduced its Restake From Anywhere module, a powerful industry-first use case, enabling ETH native restaking on L2s in partnership with Renzo Protocol. In the two months since launch, Connext has enabled over $320M in ETH to be restaked on L2s.
• We’re excited to see further industry adoption of the xERC20 token standard, an open crosschain standard built by and for the Ethereum community that is neither owned nor controlled by a specific protocol.
• The Connext DAO has shown strong governance and community engagement with active contributions.
• At ETHDenver, Connext showcased its various use cases through workshops and keynote presentations, and we’re gearing up for many more events globally throughout Q2.

Vision and Mission Recap

In Q1 2024, Connext reinforced its mission to serve as the go-to protocol for Chain Abstraction, allowing users to interact with any dApp, on any chain, using any asset. The launch of the Restake From Anywhere module exemplifies the power of the protocol, bringing to market an entirely new use case that has created immense value and has set off a new trend of L2 restaking with providers throughout the space.

From launching the Restake From Anywhere module to expanding network capabilities, these feats reinforce Connext’s commitment to its goal of creating a seamless user experience where users do not need to worry about the chain they are using. Let’s explore the strides made in Q1 that are bringing this vision closer to reality.

Protocol Performance and Milestones

Network Expansion

Connext expanded its support to include new chains like Metis, Mode, and Base, with many more to come. This increased the total number of supported chains to 10, with upcoming chain expansion plans aimed at delivering Connext’s best-in-class intent-based bridging, Chain Abstraction, and a variety of other use cases to an even broader user base.

Other chains like X Layer, Scroll, zkSync, Polygon zkEVM, Avalanche, and Mantle are on our launch roadmap, and more chains will be unveiled soon!

Bridge Volumes

This quarter's notable development was the increase in bridge volumes by orders of magnitude. As of March 31, 2024, here are our 30-day metrics:

• Number of Transactions: Over 108K transactions
• Volume: Bridge volume skyrocketed in Q1, exceeding $1B monthly throughout the network. We’re happy to report that this number appears to only be growing, making Connext one of the largest bridges by volume today.

Technical Milestones

We’re happy to see the resilience of the Connext network in action. While Connext saw in excess of a 50x increase in volume, the network remained stable and reliable. Here are some network highlights:

• 99.4% network uptime across all core services (sequencer, routers, messaging, and UI).
• Close to 90% of transfers completed in under 3 minutes through our intent-based architecture.
• 95% of transfers were completed in our “Fast Path” thanks to our network of solvers.

Restake From Anywhere Use Case

The introduction of Connext’s Restake From Anywhere module, a first in the industry, has significantly impacted the restaking ecosystem in the two months since its launch.

In partnership with restaking giant Renzo Protocol, Connext has facilitated the restaking of over $320M in ETH directly from L2s such as Arbitrum, Mode, Linea, Base, and BNB Chain. With this module integrated into Renzo, users are able to:

• Restake ETH from their chain of choice without having to leave these networks.
• Avoid Mainnet gas fees.
• Skip the complexities of bridging, swapping, and paying multiple gas fees. All of this can be done with just one click!

Read our explainer article here for a more in-depth look at Connext’s Restake From Anywhere module, including how it facilitates native L2 restaking and its advantages.

Further Adoption of xERC20

The xERC20 standard, also known as ERC-7281, experienced significant growth in adoption in Q1 of 2024. This open crosschain standard is being increasingly recognized for its utility and has been integrated or deployed by several prominent protocols, including:

• Renzo Protocol with ezETH
• KelpDAO with rsETH
• Bunni with xoLIT
• Router Protocol
• Space Token with xSPACE

Additionally, there are ongoing developments on the testnet.

The xERC20 standard addresses critical issues in other crosschain token standards, which are often proprietary and pose potential risks to the ecosystem. For instance, non-xERC20 tokens can lead to issuers losing control over their token contracts when bridged, with each bridge creating its own version of a token and locking those tokens within its ecosystem. This limits issuer control and exacerbates liquidity fragmentation and user experience issues.

In contrast, xERC20 ensures a single version of the token is minted no matter which bridge is utilized, eliminating liquidity fragmentation and allowing token issuers to maintain complete control over their contracts. This includes the ability to whitelist bridges and set minting limits, significantly minimizing risks during potential bridge exploits, an important feature that other proprietary standards do not offer.

We encourage all token issuers to adopt xERC20, leveraging its benefits to create a more secure and intuitive crosschain experience for your communities. To learn more about xERC20 tokens, visit xerc20.com

DAO Proposals and Growth

The Connext DAO has been a hive of activity, with several impactful proposals passed:

• Jan 25th — Karma Delegate Dashboard for Connext: The Karma team was awarded tokens from the DAO for their outstanding work on the dashboard created for the DAO.
• Feb 8th — Community Leadership Incentivization: This formed the Community Sub-DAO, which ensures ongoing support functions for the Connext community, maintaining operations and overseeing project and task completion.
• Feb 9th — Extend existing incentives program on Velodrome: This enabled Velodrome to continue its current program.
• Mar 6th — Rollup Ecosystem Education Partnership Proposal: The Rollup now serves as an educational content partner for Connext, enhancing product awareness, increasing engagement, and supporting the product vision.
• Mar 20th — Execution Bond Change: With this proposal passing, the DAO execution bond will be adjusted to 2 WETH. This change streamlines the proposal execution process, making it quicker and easier. Additionally, the oSnap team can now automatically request and execute proposals.
• Mar 21st — Connext Expansion Proposal V2: This allows the Connext Foundation to choose which chains to support without requiring a vote for each chain. The DAO will be informed of all plans on a separate forum thread.
• Mar 24th — Retroactive Funding Proposal for xPollinate Development: This proposal retroactively provides tokens to the 1Hive/Buzz DAO team for their early contributions to create an interface for users to bridge to and from the xDAI (Gnosis) chain.

The active engagement with the Connext demonstrates that the protocol is not only growing in terms of adoption and network activity but also further decentralizing and building a strong, community-driven foundation. To join our DAO, become part of our community, or explore recent RFCs, visit the Connext Forum.

ETH Denver 2024 Highlights

During our time in Denver, our team actively engaged with the community by participating in various side events. We also delivered keynotes on topics such as Chain Abstraction, the xERC20 token standard, and our Restake From Anywhere module.

Check out our post on X for a detailed breakdown of what we presented during each event.

Looking Ahead

Events

Connext will be at various events throughout Q2, including Consensys Austin, dAppcon in Berlin, and events throughout Asia. We are also excited to announce a large activation at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) from July 8–11, 2024.

Vision for the Next Quarter

The journey of Connext in Q1 2024 reaffirms the team’s enthusiasm and dedication to building a unified Web3 space. As we look ahead, this shared vision and commitment will continue to propel Connext forward, breaking new ground in the quest for a world where the interchain is abstracted. This future will allow users to utilize dApps without needing to personally engage with the underlying infrastructure, much like in the experiences we see today in Web2 applications.

Follow Connext on X and join our Discord to stay updated on our journey and future engagements.

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its kind that does so cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers looking to build bridges and other natively crosschain applications.

Website / X / Discord / Blog / YouTube / Documentation / Github / Audit

Q1 Unwrapped: Connext in 2024 was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

TL;DR:

• In February, Connext introduced “Restake From Anywhere,” which enables users to easily restake ETH and LSTs directly from L2/L3 networks without paying Ethereum Mainnet fees.
• Restaking, an EigenLayer innovation, allows users to earn additional rewards through restaking while maintaining liquidity with liquid restaking tokens (LRTs).
• Restaking today only happens on L1s, meaning the TVL is leaking from L2s back to ETH. Additionally, this means that L2 participants have to choose to leave their chain/ecosystem of choice and go to ETH to participate. With Connext, users can restake on their chain of choice.
• Connext’s collaboration with Renzo Protocol exemplifies the practical benefits of restaking, enhancing DeFi opportunities and user experience while aligning with Ethereum’s scalability and decentralization goals.
• Connext is actively expanding the ability to Restake From Anywhere by adding support for additional chains, further enhancing interoperability and user options on EigenLayer.

Introducing Restake From Anywhere

The pursuit of seamless, efficient, and user-friendly solutions in DeFi is an ongoing endeavor. At Connext, we have always prioritized creating intuitive and simple experiences that look and feel like applications on the web.

As part of that mission, we are thrilled to pioneer the ability to Restake From Anywhere. Our first course of action was to partner with the restaking giant Renzo Protocol, which allows its users to:

• Restake their ETH (and LSTs) from their preferred L2/L3 without having to leave these networks.
• Avoid Ethereum Mainnet (L1) gas fees.
• Skip the complexities of bridging, swapping, and paying multiple gas fees. All of this can be done with just one click!

Curious to learn more? Let’s dive into the details.

Restaking — A Product of EigenLayer’s Innovation

Restaking is a revolutionary utility brought to you by EigenLayer. It allows applications to independently leverage Ethereum’s robust Proof-of-Stake (PoS) security mechanism without relying on the Ethereum consensus layer.

By utilizing their existing PoS deposits, both validators and delegators (a.k.a. Ethereum stakers) can validate transactions on Ethereum non-native dApps known as Actively Validates Services (AVSs). This empowers AVSs with greater security while granting restakers additional rewards (from AVSs) alongside their Ethereum block rewards (underlying rewards that come from staking ETH and/or staking LSTs).

Restaking comes in two primary forms:

1. Native ETH restaking
2. LST restaking

While users have the option to directly restake on EigenLayer, this often leads to locked liquidity. To overcome this, restaking protocols have emerged, enabling users to maintain liquidity after restaking through a concept called liquid restaking.

Simply put, liquid restaking mirrors how protocols like Lido, Rocket Pool, Swell, and others have successfully addressed the challenges associated with traditional ETH staking by introducing the concept of liquid staking.

Examples of Liquid Restaking Protocols

Currently, several liquid restaking providers in the market have launched on mainnet. Some prominent names include:

• Renzo Protocol
• Puffer Finance
• KelpDAO
• ether.fi
• Swell Network
• ClayStack

When users restake their assets with these protocols, they not only receive restaking rewards but also obtain a liquid restaking token (LRT) as a receipt token (unique to its respective protocol).

These LRTs can be utilized for various DeFi opportunities, such as creating money legos with lending protocols, CDPs, and more!

Current Problems with Restaking

Under current market conditions, EigenLayer is experiencing a significant influx of restaked ETH. Every time they increase the LST caps, they are immediately filled, demonstrating the high level of interest in restaking.

To provide further context, the liquid restaking ecosystem currently represents a $9.6 billion market share. We believe it has the potential to become one of the most significant narratives in DeFi to date.

However, restaking presents several challenges:

1. Native Restaking on Mainnet is becoming increasingly expensive.

This is primarily due to high gas prices on Ethereum, which averaged 41.38 GWEI from March 7 to April 7 (source: YChart). This level of expense presents a significant barrier to average users interested in participating in restaking activities on Mainnet, underscoring the need for more cost-effective solutions.

2. Users are compelled to stake and/or restake ETH on Ethereum mainnet, even as economic activity flourishes on L2/L3s where costs are lower and new incentives emerge.

This can be:

• Inconvenient for users who already have funds on L2/L3 networks.
• Disadvantageous for L2/L3 ecosystems, as TVL seeps out when users withdraw funds to L1.
• Disadvantageous for restaking protocols that need to attract fragmented capital from L2/L3 networks to L1.
• In contradiction with Ethereum’s ultimate goal of shifting activity to L2s. The push and pull effect of funds moving between L1 and L2 goes against this goal.

The solution? Restake From Anywhere by Connext.

How Does Restake From Anywhere Work?

“Restake From Anywhere” aims to simplify the complex process of restaking assets across different chains. Currently, users face a complicated and costly process that involves multiple steps and a requirement to restake on Ethereum’s mainnet. If users don’t have funds on Mainnet, they must bridge and swap their assets before being able to restake, requiring multiple transactions across multiple services. All told, the process can be complex, and the gas fees are high for the average user.

Connext’s Restake From Anywhere module streamlines this process into a simple one-click action. It allows users to restake assets directly from any supported L2 network to Ethereum Mainnet or across different L2 networks.

This use case reduces transaction costs drastically and promotes new DeFi activities within the L2 ecosystems that help these ecosystems retain TVL, aligning with Ethereum’s vision for a more scalable and decentralized blockchain future.

Renzo Protocol: A Real-World Application

An excellent demonstration of “Restake From Anywhere” is its seamless integration with Renzo Protocol, a restaking protocol with an impressive TVL of over $2.8 billion. Our recent partnership with Renzo showcases the practical benefits of Connext’s use case, enabling users to effortlessly restake their assets while participating in DeFi opportunities and creating “money legos” with lending protocols, CDPs, and more.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how it works:

1. Users can directly restake their native ETH from their preferred L2 on Renzo Protocol, earning them restaking rewards.
2. Upon restaking, users instantly receive Renzo’s LRT (ezETH), which can be used for various DeFi activities within the L2 ecosystem they restaked from.
3. In the background, the ETH is batched and bridged to the Ethereum mainnet, where it is restaked. The trust-minimized infrastructure provided by Connext ensures that this process can be automated and optimized for cost-efficiency, while maintaining the best possible security, all while minimizing any mainnet fees for the users.
4. In addition to the benefits from steps 1 and 2, restakers on Renzo can also accrue ezPoints and EigenLayer Restaked Points, positioning them for future incentives.

Note: In the near future, not only native ETH but also supported LSTs like stETH and WBETH will be restakable on Renzo Protocol.

Through this partnership, we believe that Connext and Renzo are enhancing the user experience on EigenLayer and paving the way for more dynamic and versatile DeFi applications while simplifying the restaking process for our users.

What Next?

We are thrilled to announce that Renzo Protocol will be the first restaking protocol we work with to introduce the “Restake From Anywhere” module. Currently, users can natively restake ETH from Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Mode, Base, and Linea, and we plan to support more chains soon!

To join us on this exciting journey and stay updated with all the announcements and updates, follow Connext and Renzo Protocol on X and join our Discord if you have any questions.

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its kind that does so cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers looking to build bridges and other natively cross-chain applications.

Website / X / Discord / Blog / YouTube / Documentation / Github / Audit

Restake From Anywhere: Pioneering L2 Restaking with Connext was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

tl;dr

After several months of intense development from core development teams, including Proxima Labs and Wonderland, we’re excited to announce the latest Connext network upgrade, Bacco.

• Bacco upgrades the existing “slow path” of the Connext Network to operate optimistically, reducing the operational costs of supporting new chains by over 90% while maintaining the best possible security.
• Bacco opens the door to rapidly expanding Connext to many new chains & L2s! 🎉
• In line with this, the Connext Foundation has put forward a DAO RFC to approve future protocol support for 20 new chains & L2s.*

The Bacco network upgrade is set to occur on December 14th, pending successful production testnet monitoring.

Why Do We Need Bacco?

Today, Connext’s messaging layer utilizes the underlying “canonical” messaging bridges that connect L2s to Ethereum (e.g., rollup bridges such as the Arbitrum AMB). When a message passes through Connext, roots must travel from the L2 chains we connect (known as spoke domains) back to Ethereum L1 (the hub domain) through the canonical bridges. Once there, roots are aggregated into a single Merkle root that is propagated to each spoke domain. We often refer to this as the “slow path”.

While this construction allows Connext to maintain the best possible security, inheriting it from the chains themselves, it makes adding new spoke domains prohibitively costly (~$30k/mo/chain at a 20 gwei gas price 😱). Rollup/canonical bridges are very expensive at scale.

As ecosystems continue to deploy new chains (Op Superchain, Arbitrum’s Orbit, etc.) and creating rollups becomes easier (Gelato’s RAAS, AltLayer, etc.), builders and users alike will need secure crosschain infrastructure that can expand with them.

An Optimistic Solution

The Bacco network upgrade changes how messages are passed between chains to behave optimistically — messages are transported between chains by the Connext Sequencer (subject to a fault proof window and disputes by Watchers) instead of through the sequencers of other rollups. This results in a massive improvement in operational efficiency, reducing the overhead cost of adding a new chain by over 90% while maintaining the best possible security.

Optimistic Path

Here’s how it works:

1: Aggregating Roots on Ethereum: Periodically, the Connext Sequencer takes a snapshot of all new crosschain transactions from the spoke domains and submits an aggregate root directly to Ethereum.

2: Fraud Detection and Prevention: Once submitted, the system initiates a 30-minute fault detection window, during which the Watchers check to ensure the aggregated root only contains valid transactions from the spoke domains.

• Once the integrity of the aggregated root is verified and the 30-minute window elapses, the Sequencer will submit the same aggregated root to all spoke domains, where the fault detection process is repeated once more before the transaction is executed.

3: Slow Path Fallback: On the off chance the Sequencer submits an aggregate root with a bad transaction, any Watcher can trigger a fault proof. The system then falls back to the original slow mode described above, pushing all data directly through canonical bridges. In the future, the system would also subsequently penalize either the Sequencer for a fault, or the Watcher for an invalid fault proof based on the (ultimately correct) state passed through canonical bridges.

• As an additional guardrail, until staking and slashing are implemented, the system would remain in slow mode after a fault proof until the Connext DAO or Security Council voted to reenable the default optimistic mechanism.

This approach maintains Connext’s commitment to the best possible security while significantly reducing the gas costs on Ethereum of operating the network.

💡 Fun Fact: The above system upgrade quite literally makes Connext an application-specific Optimistic Rollup.

For Optimism and Arbitrum, the rollup is defined by an EVM-compatible state machine that lives in the “dispute path” on Ethereum. For Connext, the rollup is defined by a much simpler state machine: the L1 bridge contracts of other rollups and chains posting to Ethereum.

Intents & Fast Execution

It is important to note that Bacco only changes the way that lower-level settlement occurs within the protocol. Connext’s intent layer, which sits on top of the messaging system described above (and is operated by Connext Routers) works exactly the same way in both cases, allowing users and protocols to quickly transfer tokens between chains near-instantaneously.

When users transfer tokens or call contracts across chains, Routers immediately execute the transaction at the target chain using their own funds. Then, they wait for the messaging layer system to repay them.

Upgrade Details

The Bacco network upgrade will be a rolling upgrade, requiring no action or changes from users, applications, or routers.

• There will be no downtime for fast-path transactions in the network.
• Applications & routers should expect some delays in slow-path transactions while the upgrade is occurring.
• The mainnet upgrade is scheduled for the 14th of December, pending some final testnet monitoring.
• The upgrade was approved by the Connext DAO as part of a formal vote that concluded yesterday, the 6th of December.
• You can read more about the upgrade, its specification, and design rationale in the original DAO RFC post here.

What Bacco Means for the Connext Ecosystem

The Bacco upgrade marks the start of Connext v2’s rapid expansion to new chains. Connext has begun this process already with:

• The launch of Linea support last week
• Kickoff of voting to add support for Base this week
• Today, an RFC was submitted to the Connext DAO to seek approval to add future protocol support for 20 new chains. This proposal is intended to streamline the process of adding additional chains, allowing Connext to adapt to the growing needs of the ecosystem.

Want to get involved?

We’d love for you to get involved in the Connext DAO and help shape the future of Connext. If you haven’t already, check out forum.connext.network for the latest on the DAO governance, and join the Connext Discord to learn more about integrating Connext.

*This proposal is not an all-encompassing list of chains that Connext may support, nor a commitment to support each of the chains included in the proposal. We anticipate the introduction of similar proposals throughout the year to request approval for additional chains.

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its type that does this cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers who are looking to build bridges and other natively cross-chain applications. To date, over $1.5b in transactions have crossed the network.

Introducing the Bacco Network Upgrade was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today, we are thrilled to announce the airdrop eligibility criteria, timeline, and details of NEXT, the governance and utility token of the Connext network.

In addition to being a huge step forward for the decentralization of the Connext ecosystem, the NEXT distribution will also be a first-of-its-kind crosschain airdrop, which we believe is how all airdrops will be conducted in the interchain future. Users can claim NEXT on the chain of their choice without needing to interact with a bridge or pay unnecessary gas fees.

TL;DR

• Beginning on September 05, 2023 at 13:00 UTC, users can claim NEXT directly to Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, or Gnosis Chain.
• Updated snapshots for the airdrop were taken on August 1st, 2023 at 00:00 UTC. Users can verify their eligibility at airdrop.connext.network.
• As part of our transition into a DAO, we’ve also opened our call for delegates. If you’d like to take a more active role in our community and its governance, apply by September 03, 2023, 00:00 UTC. Users will have the opportunity to select a delegate during the claim process.

Check NEXT addresses on the different chains:

What is NEXT

Please visit our docs if you’d like to learn more about the eligibility criteria, NEXT allocation, Sybil filtering, and other airdrop details.

What is Connext?

Connext is an open protocol that allows developers to build applications that can live on every chain and be used with every token, all at once. Since its creation in 2017, the project’s mission has been to make Web3 accessible to everyday users by abstracting away the complexity of interacting with underlying blockchains.

Today, Connext is an open, thriving ecosystem of builders, researchers, and web3 enthusiasts across a multitude of independent organizations working together to redefine crosschain experiences through public goods and open standards.

Connext is more than a bridge; it is a growing ecosystem of primitives that builders can seamlessly and permissionlessly compose to create groundbreaking apps and experiences.

• xCall: the core crosschain primitive that enables any kind of expressive crosschain interaction, using underlying canonical bridges for security.
• Chain Abstraction Toolkit: allows users to interact with a dApp from any chain, allowing projects to onboard users to and from any ecosystem
• xERC20 and its implementation via Connext: a new open standard that will enable tokens to move across chains with zero slippage while remaining compatible with any other bridge and without taking ownership of the token contract from token issuers.
• xGovernance: a no-code toolkit for crosschain DAOs (coming soon!)

Leading projects such as Metamask, Alchemix, Gelato, Superfluid, Keep3r, Gnosis Zodiac, and many more are integrating Connext to build the next generation of dApps that are usable from any chain with Chain Abstraction, and that support seamless liquidity using xERC20s.

What’s NEXT

NEXT, the Connext network xERC20 (crosschain native) token powers fair utilization and governance within the Connext network. At launch, NEXT is used to govern the Connext DAO, an organization responsible for allocating funding for the ongoing development of the protocol.

True decentralization and permissionless operation of the Connext protocol are achieved by ossifying repeatable governance processes and enshrining them directly into the underlying protocol. This process is called ungovernance.

In the future, NEXT can additionally be used to ungovern the network by making activities such as routing, chain support, and token listing permissionless via NEXT staking, subject to DAO approval.

Tokenomics

The high level allocations of NEXT are as follows:

Supply Schedule

Allocations of NEXT to the following categories of recipients are subject to a lockup period:

• Early Backers
• Ecosystem & Strategic Backers
• Early Team & Advisors
• 50% of tokens allocated to Routers as part of the Airdrop (2% of the total supply)

The lockup period consists of a 1-year lockup followed by a linear release. In other words, 1/13 of the tokens will be released on September 5th, 2024, and remaining tokens will unlock in equal monthly 1/13 allotments until all tokens are fully unlocked (24 months after the NEXT Airdrop).

Community & Governance

Today, Connext also published its DAO Constitution and Call for Delegates. As you check your eligibility, consider applying to be a delegate if you want to take an active role in the Connext community and governance.

Applications will remain open until September 3, 2023 at 00:00 UTC. Users will have the opportunity to select the delegate of their choice during the claiming process.

You can apply to be a delegate at delegate.connext.network

Stay Diligent

While we as a community are incredibly excited about this new phase of a more decentralized Connext, please be vigilant to ensure you’re not falling victim to scams involving false distributions of NEXT. Here are several guidelines to help keep you safe.

• airdrop.connext.network is the only URL where you can check your eligibility and claim NEXT. Always ensure you’re personally typing the URL instead of clicking on links that may be malicious.
• The NEXT token contract on Ethereum is 0xFE67A4450907459c3e1FFf623aA927dD4e28c67a. The token contract address on L2s is 0x58b9cB810A68a7f3e1E4f8Cb45D1B9B3c79705E8. Always be sure to check the contract address against the official documentation before interacting with it.
• Always be sure to check the contract address before interacting with it.
• We will never ask for your private key or seed phrase.
• We will never ask you to send us tokens or funds.
• There will be no surprise giveaways or other distributions of NEXT.
• Team members, admins, and mods will never DM you first.
  Stay vigilant about imposters pretending to be team members or official accounts.
• NEXT tokens are not listed on exchanges and cannot be purchased at this time. Please stay careful about individuals trying to sell tokens to you.
• Please report suspicious activity in the Discord channel #❗-scam-reporting.

Unfortunately, no list of this sort can be completely comprehensive. Always do your due diligence before acting. When in doubt, open a support ticket on our Discord at discord.gg/connext.

Join Us

We’re super excited that you’re a part of our amazing journey. Join us on Discord to get the latest updates and opportunities: discord.gg/connext

Thank you for your continued support and involvement! Together, we’re building the future of decentralized networks. 🌐

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its kind that does so cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers looking to build bridges and other natively cross-chain applications.

Announcing the NEXT Airdrop was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Xocolatl $XOC becomes the latest adopter of the xERC20 token standard following Alchemix.

Connext unveiled the ERC-7281 (aka xERC20) token standard for bridged tokens that puts token issuers in control of their tokens on every domain https://twitter.com/arjunbhuptani/status/1677363289964306432

xERC20 is a mechanism that powers projects to natively bring their token to every supported chain. It eliminates the need for providing huge liquidity to bridges and offers the best available security by being able to use battle-tested canonical bridges in the background. The novel token standard powers crosschain tokens that can be seamlessly transferred across blockchains with no slippage and without making compromises on security.

This novel approach to making tokens crosschain-ready provides these benefits for token creators:

• Provide users with a slippage-free bridging process across chains.
• Eliminate the need to provide significant liquidity to bridges on supported chains.
• Become independent of bridges and their security model(s)

This novel token standard fixes painful tradeoffs between the security risk of working with only a single bridge partner versus the high liquidity cost of supporting multiple bridges that token issuers today must navigate when bringing their token to multiple chains. xERC20-powered tokens are:

• Transferable across chains with no slippage.
• Deployed and fully controlled by the token issuer.
• Fully secured by Ethereum L1 and the canonical bridges of each chain.
• Fungible against the token representations minted by canonical bridges

What is Xocolatl?

Xocolatl stands as the inaugural decentralized Mexican Peso Stablecoin, overseen by LaDAO and directly issued from our core protocol, Xocolatl.finance. As evident to many Mexicans, the USDMXN has experienced a substantial -18% depreciation in the past year, intensifying the demand for a genuinely decentralized MXN stablecoin.

How does Xocolatl Use xERC20?

$XOC utilizes xERC20 (also known as ERC-7281) to establish itself as the inaugural multichain MXN stablecoin. This innovative approach replaces the reliance on traditional bridges, which typically necessitate liquidity provision on both the sending and receiving chains. Consequently, liquidity isn’t trapped on bridges; it can be actively used across different pairs like BNB/XOC, wETH/XOC, or wxDAI/XOC. This achievement is attributed to Connext’s unique bridging methodology.

Diverging from conventional bridges that demand liquidity on both sender and destination chains, Connext takes a distinct approach. It directly burns $XOC on the sender chain and simultaneously mints $XOC on the destination chain. This strategic move empowers LaDAO to position $XOC as a multichain stablecoin without the need for POL (Protocol Own Liquidity) in bridge mechanisms. This seamless solution using xERC20 optimizes capital efficiency, contributing to the overall robustness of the ecosystem.

From Xocolatl:

As of now, the collaboration between Connext and $XOC is a remarkable milestone that ushers in a new era of possibilities. By utilizing xERC20, we’ve transcended the limitations of conventional bridges and opened up a world of seamless, multichain transactions for the first decentralized Mexican Peso Stablecoin. This breakthrough not only enhances the utility and accessibility of $XOC, but also reinforces our commitment to revolutionizing the financial landscape in Mexico. Looking ahead, our partnership with Connext promises to unlock innovative avenues for the DeFi ecosystem. We envision deeper integration, increased interoperability, and expanded use cases that will empower users to transact and participate in the global economy with unparalleled ease. Together, we are rewriting the narrative of DeFi, championing a future where decentralized solutions like $XOC drive financial inclusivity and prosperity for all.

About Xocolatl

Xocolatl $XOC made its debut in August 2022 at ETHMexico, captivating passionate developers, DeFi enthusiasts, and forward-thinking participants. Over the past year, LaDAO, the issuer of $XOC, has diligently forged and nurtured new relationships in the space, with Connext notably playing a pivotal role in propelling us to this significant milestone.

In tandem with Jarvis Network, the issuer of jMXN, another Mexican Stablecoin, both initiatives have ignited the dawn of a new DeFi era in Mexico, aptly termed MexicanDeFi. This movement aspires to cultivate various DeFi protocols meticulously tailored to the Mexican market.

At the heart of Mexican DeFi lies LaDAO’s Xocolatl.finance, the pinnacle of this movement. Here, cryptonatives can mint and burn new $XOC via a Collateralized Debt Position (CDP), making Xocolatl.finance akin to MakerDAO, albeit distinctly innovative, as it was built from the ground up.

Website | Twitter | Discord

Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its type that does this cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers who are looking to build bridges and other natively cross-chain applications. To date, over $1.5b in transactions have crossed the network.

Website | Bridge | Docs | Twitter | Discord | Ecosystem

Xocolatl adopts xERC20 Standard via Connext was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We are happy to announce that Connext has been integrated into PLEXUS’s cross-chain DEX aggregator. This integration is now live! More details about it below.

What is PLEXUS?

PLEXUS is a cross-chain aggregator that enables users to manage assets issued from various blockchains from one interface. PLEXUS Swaps allow users to move from any token and any chain to any other token and chain combination. Feel free to try Connext as the most secure option through PLEXUS: https://www.plexus.app/swap

Why integrate Connext?

Connext is the fundamental execution layer in the web3 stack. By integrating Connext, PLEXUS gains access to cutting-edge technology for modular interoperability within the stack.

A core component of the Connext cross-chain protocol is to provide security by design.

Connext’s cross-chain protocol prioritizes security and trust-minimization, allowing PLEXUS users to perform secure cross-chain transactions. With Connext’s reliance on canonical bridges, PLEXUS users can significantly reduce the number of trust assumptions while benefiting from fast and cost-efficient transactions across chains.

PLEXUS has successfully integrated the Connext bridge, a pivotal solution for facilitating optimal cross-chain asset exchange. This decision stems from its unparalleled speed and remarkably cost-effective efficiency in specific asset exchange domains, surpassing other cross-chain bridge solutions. Recognizing the paramount importance of achieving the ultimate cross-chain asset exchange, PLEXUS has embraced the Connext bridge as an indispensable component. — PLEXUS team.

Paving the Way for a Multichain Future

As the most scalable, secure, and capital-efficient solution for cross-chain asset and data transfers, the Connext protocol adds secure cross-chain capabilities to PLEXUS’s protocol. Connext’s network continues to grow with more routers and liquidity providers joining, expanding horizontally across different chains, and supporting additional assets. These enhancements further improve the user experience for dApps integrated with Connext, amplifying its impact and potential for a multichain future.

About PLEXUS

PLEXUS is a cross-chain DEX aggregator. It guarantees the fastest, the cheapest and the most secure multi step swaps across all blockchain networks and bridges with a single transaction.

Website | Twitter | Medium

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its type that does this cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers who are looking to build bridges and other natively cross-chain applications. To date, over $1.5b in transactions have crossed the network.

Website | Bridge | Docs | Twitter | Discord | Ecosystem

PLEXUS integrates Connext to enable Trust-minimized Crosschain Transactions was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is the Inverter Protocol?

Inverter Protocol is a versatile infrastructure solution that enables customized smart contract processes to allocate resources based on specific conditions. It forms a foundational part of the broader blockchain ecosystem.

At its core, Inverter facilitates the use of audited contract modules on its orchestrator contract which can be customized to automate workflows. This system allows for the integration of prominent web3 technology into the Inverter Protocol’s Module Library, allowing for endless use-cases.

Organizations and decentralized applications can use Inverter’s module library as a plug-and-play solution to implement smart contract capabilities.

How Can I Use Inverter Protocol?

Like Connext, Inverter provides a ground to build applications that address a heap of use cases. By orchestrating an open library of tested & audited modules, Inverter allows organizations to deploy their business cases into smart contracts easily. This way builders can efficiently manage complex interactions without worrying too much about the complex, tiring, and risky smart contract development processes. By offering a set of tested plug-n-play modules and customizable workflow templates, builders can easily deploy for use cases ranging from subscription-based products to content management systems, from treasury management tools to DeFi protocols.

What does the integration enable?

The integration enables new multichain workflows and expands the modularity of the Inverter Protocol, offering cross-chain capabilities on day one for projects.

The first key features will unlock the flow of funds into two main directions to facilitate the funding of projects and processing payment orders:

1. Inflow — Chain Abstracted Project Funding: using Connext’s Chain Abstraction Toolkit, users will be able to effortlessly fund and invest in projects from any chain, enhancing operational efficiency and expanding the market reach for existing projects.
2. Outflow — ubiquitous payments: with a new cross-chain Payment Processing Module, funds can be sent to any supported chain to satisfy various needs such as:

• employee compensation, allowing users to receive payments on their preferred chain while simplifying accounting from the employer perspective (as all funds would actually be on a single chain);
• DAO cooperation, with DAO-to-DAO payments for organizations that don’t “live” on the same chain

Why Connext?

“Inverter chose Connext as our partner because it aligns perfectly with our mission to empower and simplify blockchain project development”, said Ataberk Casur, Inverter’s co-founder.
“We both strive to abstract the complexities involved in interacting with blockchains, an essential requirement for achieving real-world adoption.

Notably, Connext ensures the highest security standards for crosschain interactions: by integrating Connext’s chain abstraction toolkit and library of modules, Inverter can enable applications to become cross chain on day one.”

WhatsNext

The full roadmap includes a deeper integration into the Inverter architecture:

• Integrating Connext into Inverter’s SDK, enabling cross-chain deposits and workflow deployment for new integrators
• Smart Contract Mixin: embedding Connext’s cross-chain capabilities directly into a module as a smart contract mixin. It will monitor the state of contracts deployed on a chain and carry out logic based on that state, then convey a cross-chain message to a proposal, executing the logic on another chain.
• Integration of Cross-chain Tokens: As the system matures, the implementation of xTokens presents a novel form of value exchange and enormous potential for building more efficient and adaptable decentralized systems.

The integration of Connext with Inverter Protocol promises significant forward momentum for both entities and the broader blockchain ecosystem, and we are excited to see the innovations that lie on the horizon.

Inverter is providing hands-on support to early adopters that are looking to power their projects with extendable smart contract functionalities and integrated cross-chain capabilities.
Working on something? Get in touch with them!

About Inverter

Inverter Protocol is your plug-and-play solution for blockchain project development. With customizable smart contract modules and seamless web3 integration, it simplifies project building and expands your capabilities, making blockchain integration effortless and efficient.

Website | Twitter

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its type that does this cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers who are looking to build bridges and other natively cross-chain applications. To date, over $1.5b in transactions have crossed the network.

Website | Bridge | Docs | Twitter | Discord | Ecosystem

Inverter x Connext: Payment Orders that can Flow Crosschain was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Since our collaboration began in 2021, Bware Labs has played an instrumental role, both in bolstering the ecosystem and providing high-performance infrastructure services and development tools. The reliability and efficiency of their tooling has made Bware Labs an integral component of Connext’s infrastructure, contributing to its ongoing growth and development. We’re excited to share more about our deep partnership and the role they play in the ecosystem.

What Does Bware Labs Do?

Bware simplifies Web3 technology by providing efficient infrastructure services and development tools. They offer a development ecosystem where creators have access to all necessary resources for Web3 development, such as RPC endpoints and programming SDKs, blockchain indexing, and snapshot services.

Blast API, their flagship product, is a blockchain API platform offering easy access to the most relevant networks in the space. Developers can obtain RPC, REST, and WebSocket access to blockchain networks using Blast through a few simple steps.

To ensure the functionality of the Blast platform, Bware introduced an incentive mechanism, which led to the creation of the INFRA token. INFRA is intended to power all the infrastructure behind Blast, motivating providers to offer high-quality services and allowing all Web3 supporters to participate in the Blast protocol through delegations.

Exploring the Partnership

Bware was one of the first router operators to support Connext when it launched in 2021. Since that time, they’ve processed over 46,000 crosschain transactions and have supplied substantial liquidity for users. They have also shown their prowess with custom subgraph deployments that Connext routinely utilizes on every supported chain, including Arbitrum, Polygon, Gnosis, Optimism, and BNB.

After the Amarok protocol upgrade, Bware Labs increased the security and liquidity of the Connext protocol by also acting as Router, securing over $7M dollars of locked value.

Like Bware Labs, Connext believes that decentralized API platforms can reduce the reliance on individual RPC providers, particularly on chains lacking reliable RPC infrastructure, without imposing significant additional configuration burdens. With this goal, Connext supports Bware as they progress towards further decentralization and infrastructure expansion.

A shared vision: security and decentralization

Bware shares our vision for the future of Web3 security and decentralization. Successful decentralizing a protocol requires collaboration and deep partnerships Connext believes that decentralization implies cooperation, which is why partner projects are such a key element of the Connext ecosystem.

Bware Labs was established in response to the market’s heavy reliance on centralized platforms. These platforms are controlled by a limited number of centralized institutions, presenting a single point of failure and posing a threat to user security.

Across the industry, bridge hacks have led to significant losses due to monolithic systems with weak trust models. Conversely, Connext emphasizes security and trust minimization: Connext’s modular architecture, based on proven canonical bridges, reduces the number of trust assumptions the user encounters.

Both Connext Network and Bware Labs aim to provide solutions prioritizing decentralization, security, and accessibility, laying the groundwork for the protocols that will serve the next generation of dApps.

WhatsNext

The Bware Labs team has supported Connext by providing various infrastructure tools and services. In the near future, they plan to contribute to Connext’s protocol security by operating a Connext Watcher.

Security of user funds and data across chains is a priority for Connext, reflected in the network design through the use of Watchers. These off-chain agents continuously monitor the network and act as emergency circuit breakers in case of an issue on Connext or a compromise of the underlying canonical rollup/chain.

Given the fruitful collaboration we had with Bware Labs so far, we’re excited to see the fantastic developments that will come from this ongoing technological partnership!

About Bware Labs

The mission of Bware Labs is to become the ultimate one-stop-shop for the highest-performing infrastructure services and developer tools that will support blockchain builders every step of the way to production and beyond and do its part in boosting the Web3 mass adoption through permissionless, decentralized infrastructure.

Website | Bware Labs Twitter | Blast API Twitter Discord | Blast | Medium

About Connext

Connext is a network for fast, trustless communication between chains and rollups. It is the only interoperability system of its type that does this cheaply and quickly without introducing any new trust assumptions. Connext is aimed at developers looking to build secure bridges and other natively cross-chain applications.

Website | Build xApps | Twitter | Discord | Crosschain Bridge

Ecosystem Deep Dive: Bware Labs was originally published in Connext on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.