Coinbase L2 on OP Stack | Multichain zkRouter Testnet Soon | MetaMask Bridges on L2s | Router Chain Whitepaper Breakdown & More!

Last Week In The Multi-Chain Ecosystem (20 - 26 Feb '23)

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Feb 27, 2023

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Bridge Updates

1) MetaMask Bridges Now Supports Arbitrum and Optimism 🦊

MetaMask Bridges, a bridge aggregator (powered by LI.FI and Socket) in MetaMask’s Portfolio Dapp, has added support for L2 networks Arbitrum and Optimism. Users can now bridge assets upto $50k across 6 chains on MetaMask Bridges.

2) Multichain zkRouter Testnet 🔜

Multichain teased the upcoming launch of the zkRouter testnet by initiating the first cross-chain transaction (Eth2 to Fantom) using zkRouter. zkRouter is Multichain’s general cross-chain infrastructure based on zero-knowledge proofs with an aim to increase security and decrease gas costs for bridging.

3) Introducing Altitude: A Blue-Chip Asset Bridge 👀

Altitude, a blue-chip asset bridge powered by LayerZero, launched on 8 networks. Altitude aims to become the go-to blue-chip alt coin omnichain bridge for users. Read more.

4) Synapse Launches New Explorer 🧐

Synapse launched Synapse Explorer, a generic event indexer for all Synapse Bridge events. The Explorer offers an overview of key information related to every transaction that passes through the Synapse Bridge, in real time.

5) LayerZero Introduces Testnet Bridge 🤝

LayerZero introduced Testnet Bridge, creating an open market for immediate pricing of ETH/GOERLI-ETH (the original price of Goerli-ETH was set at $0.10 and the pool was seeded with 12.5k Goerli-ETH by the LayerZero team).

While the Testnet Bridge was launched as a public good to enable devs to access Goerli-ETH whenever needed easily, LayerZero has faced backlash from the community for monetizing testnet ETH, which at one point was trading for $0.69.

Multi-Chain Ecosystem Updates

1) Avalanche Introduces HyperSDK 🔺

Avalanche introduces HyperSDK, a framework for building customizable virtual machines. HyperSDK is designed to abstract the runtime complexities of custom VM development, enabling devs to build customized blockchains seamlessly. Read more.

2) Coinbase Introduces Base — L2 Built with OP Stack 🔵_🔴

Coinbase launched Base, an Ethereum L2 built with the OP stack. Base aims to help improve the scalability and usability of crypto to facilitate onboarding the masses on-chain.

As part of the launch, Optimism announced Superchain: a network of chains that share bridging, decentralized governance, upgrades, a communication layer and more—all built on the OP Stack.

3) Uniswap Supports Buying NFTs Using Any ERC-20 🦄

Uniswap now allows users to buy NFTs on the Uniswap marketplace using any ERC-20 token. Read more.

4) Eclipse Announces Polygon SVM 💜

Eclipse, a customizable rollup provider, announced the launch of Polygon SVM (Solana — or Sealevel — Virtual Machine), a Solana-focused scaling solution that allows applications to be compatible with Polygon. The testnet will launch by the end of Q1.

5) Kado Ramp is Live on Optimism 🔥

Kado’s on-ramping services are now live on Optimism. Users from 150+ countries can now instantly buy USDC and ETH directly in their self-custody wallet on Optimism.

This is made possible by Kado’s integration of LI.FI’s bridge aggregation services — users no longer have to think about bridging or swapping assets. They can simply connect their bank account to Kado and purchase the token they need.

What’s Popping?

TL;DR: Breaking Down Router Chain’s Whitepaper & Making the Case for AppChains as Interoperability Hubs

A few days ago, Router Protocol introduced Router Chain and announced the devnet launch of the L1 blockchain. To help everyone understand the vision behind Router Chain, the team published a comprehensive 41-page whitepaper.

Router Protocol @routerprotocol

1/ We have developed a Layer-1 blockchain using @cosmos' Tendermint Consensus to solve extant problems in Blockchain Interoperability. The Devnet is now live: devnet-docs.routerprotocol.com/overview

If you’re a cross-chain enjoyoor, your bridging senses must be tingling to read through this whitepaper. But, let’s be honest, whitepapers are incredibly hard to read. However, to gain an edge in the cross-chain ecosystem, the importance of reading whitepapers cannot be understated.

If you’re someone who wishes ChatGPT could help summarize whitepapers, you’re in the right place. This week, we’ll be breaking down Router Chain’s whitepaper and understanding the case for application specification blockchains as hubs for interoperability.

Let’s dive in!

Router Chain – An Overview

Router Chain is a Cosmos-based app-chain that caters to the interoperability needs of the cross-chain ecosystem. To understand what Router Chain offers, we need to look at it from two different perspectives:

Router Chain as an Application Specific Blockchain

Router Chain is a Proof of Stake (PoS) L1 blockchain built using the Cosmos SDK. As a result, it has the following characteristics:

It leverages tendermint’s Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus mechanism – a popular choice for many blockchains as it provides benefits such as security (only transactions deemed valid by more than ⅔ validators are added to the blockchain), speed (txs are validated quickly and block confirmation times are low), and scalability (can handle a high volume of txs).
It leverages the CosmWasm toolkit – this gives developers the flexibility to either a) build new dApps on Router Chain using the toolkit’s robust set of tools and libraries, or b) port their existing dApp to Router Chain with minimal technical overhead.
It is a PoS blockchain – Router Chain distributes the trust in the system across a set of validators with economic incentives and slashing penalties to act honestly.

Router Chain as an Interoperability Protocol

Router Chain caters to one specific function – interoperability. As a result, it has been optimized to offer specialized features to make cross-chain bridging easier for dApps building on it.

Some of the noteworthy features Router Chain’s specialization as an interoperability protocol offers include:

Default connectivity with any chain – dApps deployed on Router Chain will be able to, by default, interact with any chain. As a result, these dApps can benefit from any chain’s ecosystem growth, tapping into their liquidity and users.
For instance, cross-chain dApps these days are largely restricted within zones of sovereignty (like EVM chains, Cosmos chains, etc.) due to the varying consensus mechanisms and languages used by different blockchains. However, given Router Chain is essentially a Hub specialized for cross-chain communication, it enables dApps to connect with EVM and Non-EVM chains like Cosmos (through IBC).
The ability to perform more complex cross-chain functions – Router Chain’s validators can monitor state changes on other chains. This enables complex cross-chain interactions for dApps on Router Chain such as cross-chain governance, staking, etc. Additionally, dApps on Router Chain also have the ability to trigger events on smart contracts on different chains, unlocking the potential to enable even more complex cross-chain flows.
Flexibility due to customizability – Router Chain offers dApps the flexibility to customize important characteristics like security. It allows them to leverage the security offered by Router Chain’s validator network but additionally, enables them to configure their dApp and further include supplementary security modules.

Note: Customizability in terms of dApp specific security is a common offering across different arbitrary messaging bridges (AMBs) but is promoted using different terms like Hyperlane’s sovereign consensus, Axelar’s future-proof interoperability, or LayerZero’s isolated security offering through flexibility to choose/build different Relayer-Oracle combinations.

Closing Thoughts

The features mentioned above can essentially be offered by any application specific blockchain that has been built for serving as a hub for interoperability. Such interoperability hubs have the potential to power the next generation of natively cross-chain dApps. Their ability to act like a Hub Chain and co-ordinate events on other chains unlocks unprecedented functionalities and makes a strong case for dApps that want to be natively cross-chain from Day 1 to deploy on them.

In future, cross-chain dApps deployed on AppChains will be able to offer omnichain experiences that abstract the blockchain layer from the users, i.e., the UX will feel like interacting with a single chain (Hub) while the functionality would enable them to interact with the dApp on different chains.