How DAPP Network Can Elevate Polkadot To Another Dimension
TL;DR
- DAPP Network’s blockchain-agnostic bridging framework arriving on the scene manifests Polkadot’s vision of seamless interoperability not only within the DOT ecosystem but also with blockchains at large.
- Bancor’s cross-chain bridge to Polkadot plans to bring BNT to EVM compatible parachains, making Polkadot a destination for scalable multi-chain decentralized applications with access to Bancor’s deep liquidity network on Ethereum.
- Cross-chain smart contract execution using DAPP Network bridging technology can unlock the potential of next-gen DeFi with composability across multiple blockchains.
- Rather than being limited to bi-directional connections between two chains, DAPP Network’s blockchain-agnostic nature of EdgeDSPs can potentially make many-to-many connections possible to create a mesh network of bridges.
It’s Polkadot’s time to shine. With so many talented teams working collaboratively on Polkadot and Substrate-based parachains, many of which are EMV-compatible, the ecosystem has already started to emerge in a big way in 2021.
As a blockchain-agnostic bridging framework that connects and scales multiple chains, DAPP Network’s arrival on the scene manifests Polkadot’s vision of seamless interoperability not only within the DOT ecosystem but also with blockchains at large. Following Bancor’s announcement, the first deployment of DAPP Network’s cross-chain capabilities on Polkadot is expected to be the Bancor bridge to Polkadot parachains that are compatible with EVM. This could be a major step forward in the evolution of Polkadot towards becoming a home for scalable multi-chain decentralized applications.
But that’s not all. DAPP Network’s battle-tested bridges could serve as the foundation for a number of next-generation applications on Polkadot.
Let’s take a look at a few exciting possibilities unlocked by the power of cross-chain.
Next-Gen Multi-Chain DeFi Applications
Swapping tokens across different blockchains is only the first step. The expansion of DEXs has fueled the rise of a host of applications for saving, lending, derivatives, and insurance, all of which operate without centralized control.
One of the primary qualities of decentralized finance (DeFi) is the way in which the various application interfaces neatly fit with one another with full composability. On a technical level, the ability for one DeFi application to call a contract belonging to a different application is the magic ingredient that makes such a tightly integrated ecosystem even possible. DAPP Network bridges allow for not only cross-chain token and data transfers, but cross-chain smart contract execution as well. By using a DAPP Network bridge, for example, a dApp on Ethereum could call a contract function on Polkadot thus preserving the composability that makes DeFi so special.
#DAPPNetwork bridges can enable parachains to connect to one another directly and can also potentially act as ‘bridge chains’ for chains outside of the $DOT ecosystem to connect them to the relay chain and enjoy the benefits of @Polkadot interoperability. (Click To Tweet)
Decentralized Exchanges Across Multiple Chains
If you predicted that decentralized exchanges (DEXs) would have a massive year in 2020, congratulations on being very right. Boosted by the popularity of automated market makers (AMMs) and community-provided liquidity, DEXs have exploded from a mere experiment into a multi-billion dollar class of applications.
Behind the mesmerizing success of DeFi lies a glaring limitation — DEXs are limited to tokens on a single chain. The leading DEXs are usually for ERC-20 trading only and don’t allow you to exchange tokens across different chains such as Polkadot and Binance Smart Chain. Even as Polkadot-based teams race to unleash DEXs in their ecosystems, without cross-chain bridging the entire scope of liquidity on Ethereum and other chains remains siloed and off-limits.
By closing the gap between Polkadot and the blockchains that lie beyond, such as Ethereum, DAPP Network’s cross-chain technology opens the door for the natural evolution of decentralized exchanges. Next-generation DEXs and pioneering AMMs can now emerge and support trading and liquidity pools involving tokens from Ethereum, Polkadot, and other chains.
Many-to-Many Bridging
While many cross-chain technologies focus on bi-directional connections between two chains, DAPP Network’s blockchain-agnostic nature of EdgeDSPs can potentially make many-to-many connections possible, something that was previously unthinkable. Not only can bridges be deployed to connect Polkadot and Ethereum, but they can also potentially be connected to any EOSIO or EVM compatible blockchain in multi-way bridges. With the many-to-many functionality, for example, a contract on Ethereum could potentially be called to send tokens from a Binance Smart Chain account to a specific parachain on Polkadot.
Point-to-Point Parachain Connections & Bridge Chains
A big part of Polkadot’s scaling potential lies in its unique ‘hub architecture’, which consists of the main ‘relay chain’ surrounded by a network of ‘parachains.’ Unlike first-generation blockchains, which tend to do all the heavy lifting themselves and often get congested, the Polkadot relay chain serves as a lightweight public ledger and a ‘hub’ through which tokens can flow in between parachains. Through XCMP, all parachains connected to the Polkadot or Kusama relay chains can communicate with each other by sending messages through the relay chain. However, the number of parachain slots is limited.
- What about parachains that don’t have a parachain slot auction lease but still wish to unlock the advantages of cross-chain?
- Or perhaps two closely-tied parachains want to enable a point-to-point connection between them for quicker communication than through the relay chain itself?
- How about if parachains on Polkadot need to perform cross-chain smart contract execution on a Kusama parachain?
- What if a Layer-2 from another blockchain needs to communicate with a parachain?
By activating DAPP Network bridges, not only can EVM compatible parachains connect to one another directly, but they can potentially act as ‘bridge chains’ for blockchains outside of the Polkadot ecosystem that wish to connect to the relay chain and enjoy the benefits of Polkadot interoperability.
The multi-chain era is kicking into overdrive. Powered by DAPP Network cross-chain bridges, Polkadot and its parachains can now emerge into primetime and realize the vision of interoperability today. We believe that 2021 will emerge as the year of interoperability with both DAPP Network and Polkadot playing key roles in bringing it to fruition!
