Introducing Boost: Squid’s Sub-20 Second Cross-Chain Swaps

High-speed cross-chain swaps are now available at app.squidrouter.com and via Squid’s developer tools

4 min readJul 10, 2023

TL;DR

Boost is the game-changing new mechanism by Axelar and Squid that enables lightning-fast transactions across chains.
Swap time is reduced from up to an hour to less than 20 seconds.
Boost is available for any swap, purchase, or bridge transaction made via Squid on all supported EVM chains. In the near future, support will be added for Cosmos chains.

The experience of moving your assets across chains is notoriously slow. DeFi veterans are all too familiar with the frustrating delays that can often last up to an hour depending on the chain — Where are my tokens? When will they arrive? Are they safe? If we are to rival traditional web apps and win over the masses, speed is essential. That’s why Squid is thrilled to introduce our latest feature: Boost!

Boost has been developed by Axelar and Squid to bring lightning-fast execution to cross-chain transactions, transform user experience and unlock new possibilities. Settlements now take 20 seconds or less, delivering unparalleled interoperability.

Boost has already saved users over a year of swap time! This is a huge accomplishment for Squid and Axelar and we can’t wait to share how we’ve made this possible.

How Does Boost Work?

At its core, Squid harnesses Axelar’s versatile message passing capability, enabling users to initiate cross-chain contract calls with any token, all in a single transaction.

The standard general message passing process faces speed limitations that stem from the time to finality of the underlying blockchains. Boost (otherwise known as Axelar’s GMP Express) can be seen as a speed-enhancing overlay over this protocol.

With Boost, the user submits a transaction on the source chain, and on the backend a relayer service provider immediately fulfils the transaction on Axelar’s behalf by providing bridged tokens from their own inventory. This event is registered on the destination chain, where messages from Axelar can pass through a switch, checking if a user has already received their funds or not. Once the decentralized transaction achieves finality, the service provider is automatically reimbursed.

By combining Squid’s cross-chain implementation and Boost’s optimization, users can enjoy seamless, efficient, and rapid execution of cross-chain transactions with enhanced reliability and convenience.

Security

What’s great about Boost is that it doesn’t sacrifice security for speed. Instead, Boost inherits the security of the core Axelar protocol while offering enhanced transaction speeds for the user.

However, since Boost’s speed relies on the relayer, in the event that a Boost relayer is faulty, disabled, or decides to censor a transaction, the execution process would seamlessly fall back to the core protocol, or standard process.

Transactions would then carry out like a typical general message passing workflow, with speed depending on the finality of the source chain. This fallback mechanism by Squid ensures the security of all cross-chain transactions.

What can I do with Boost?

Users can enjoy all of their cross-chain activities at newfound speeds, and builders can ensure security, scalability, and composability of dApps across chains.

Picture the convenience of staking or minting a digital collectible using any token on any wallet, accomplished in less than 20 seconds with just one click. Imagine the ability to purchase a phygital item seamlessly across chains, akin to the effortlessness of engaging in modern-day online shopping. The possibilities of a high speed interoperable future are endless!

Boost’s rapid speed unlocks a multitude of activities that can greatly benefit from its capabilities for fast cross-chain general message passing. These include:

Token swaps and transfers
Minting or purchasing digital collectibles
Staking and re-staking
Payments to and from any address using any wallet
Cross-chain interoperable dApps
Composable consumer dApps

With Boost, these activities become more streamlined, accessible, and efficient, opening up a world of possibilities for users interacting within an interoperable multichain ecosystem.

Currently there is a variable cost per Boost transaction. This is to pay for execution costs and the risk taken by the service provider for loss of funds.

Get Started With Boost

Boost is currently available on Squid’s 10 supported EVM chains, with the number of supported EVM chains steadily increasing at a rate of 1–2 new chains added each month. Boost for Cosmos is under active development, with exciting progress underway.

Every dApp developed with the Squid SDK, API, or widgets instantly benefits from Boost’s capabilities.

Are you ready to start swapping or building dApps at high speed? Give Squid a try!

About Squid

Squid is a secure cross-chain router on Axelar Network that enables interoperability between blockchains and applications. Squid is easily integrated via their API, SDK, and front-end tools that facilitate fast and reliable single-click transactions and token transfers. Developers can use Squid to onboard users from any ecosystem and create scalable, seamless user experiences for anyone with a crypto wallet.

About Axelar

Axelar delivers secure interchain communication. That means dApp users can interact with any asset, any application, on any chain, with one click. You can think of it as Stripe for Web3. Developers interact with a simple API atop a permissionless network that routes messages and ensures network security via proof-of-stake consensus.