Ushering in XRP’s DeFi era: Introducing decentralised XRP cross-chain bridges

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Wanchain

5 min readApr 12, 2021

XRP Ledger — Ethereum and XRP Ledger — Wanchain bridges are live and operational!

Since 2017, Wanchain has been on a mission to drive blockchain adoption through interoperability by building fully decentralised bridges connecting the world’s many siloed blockchain networks. After building an industry-leading decentralised blockchain interoperability framework — connecting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Wanchain, EOSIO and Binance Smart Chain — the Wanchain team continues to make strides.

Already, in the first few months of 2021, the Wanchain team successfully launched the world’s first truly decentralised Bitcoin — Ethereum direct bridge and released a decentralised direct bridge connecting the Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum. Now, the Wanchain team is pleased to announce that cross-chain bridges connecting XRP Ledger, Wanchain and Ethereum are live and operational on each network’s mainnet!

XRP’s DeFi era

DeFi is one of the most important growth drivers in the blockchain industry. However, due to Ethereum’s dominance and the nature of siloed blockchains, most tokens and their holders are unable to take advantage of the innovations of DeFi. Thanks to Wanchain’s new XRP Ledger — Ethereum and XRP Ledger — Wanchain bridges, XRP holders need no longer count themselves among the siloed majority.

Effective immediately, XRP token holders can put their XRP to work and engage with the world’s many DeFi applications such as WanSwap, an innovative cross-chain DEX. In other words, XRP holders can now securely use their XRP to farm, mine and provide liquidity rather than simply leaving their tokens, inactive, in wallets and exchanges. XRP tokens can now, finally, engage with DeFi applications and reach their full potential.

Under the hood: XRP integration

Note: Cross-chain-enabled XRP tokens are collectively referred to as wanXRP. As required, XRP tokens on Ethereum are referred to as wanXRP@Ethereum and XRP tokens on Wanchain are referred to as wanXRP@Wanchain.

Cross-chain-enabled XRP tokens are made possible by Wanchain’s Universal Multichain Bridges. Fundamental to this cross-chain mechanism is Wanchain’s Storeman Group, consisting of 25 truly decentralized Storeman Nodes.

When a user initiates a transaction to move their XRP tokens to a DeFi-friendly, smart contract-compatible blockchain, Wanchain’s Storeman Group transfers the relevant XRP tokens to a locked account on the XRP Ledger. The Storeman Group then mints the corresponding tokens on either Ethereum (as wanXRP@Ethereum) or Wanchain (as wanXRP@Wanchain).

Swapping wanXRP between Ethereum and Wanchain is a simple affair, built on existing ERC20/WRC20 bridges. When such a transaction is required, the same Storeman Group both burns the wanXRP on the origin chain and mints new wanXRP on the destination chain.

The following cross-chain bridges now are now available for XRP holders:

XRP Ledger — Wanchain bridge: XRP@XRP Ledger ←→ wanXRP@Wanchain
XRP Ledger — Ethereum bridge: XRP@XRP Ledger ←→ wanXRP@Ethereum
Wanchain — Ethereum bridge: wanXRP@Wanchain ←→ wanXRP@Ethereum

At the wheel: XRP cross-chain transactions

There are two primary ways for XRP holders to initiate cross-chain transactions:

Using the Wanchain desktop wallet
Using WanBridge Web

1) Using the Wanchain desktop wallet

Select “Cross Chain” in the sidebar then click “More Tokens”

Add your preferred bridge by clicking the star. Once starred, the bridge will be accessible directly under “Cross Chain” in the sidebar. XRPL <-> Ethereum is used in this example

Select the bridge under “Cross Chain” in the sidebar

Click “Convert” on your origin chain

Select the destination account, enter the “Amount” to transfer, then click “Next”. Congratulations, you have completed a XRP cross-chain transaction!

2) Using WanBridge Web

Select “XRP” from the dropdown menu

Click “Convert” on the cross-chain bridge of your choice. This example selected XRP Ledger <-> Ethereum

Select the destination account, enter the “Amount” to transfer, then click “Confirm”

Confirm the details and click “Start”

Scan the QR code with your XRP Ledger wallet (or manually send your XRP to the listed address/Tag Id). Then, click “Confirm”. Congratulations, you have completed a XRP cross-chain transaction!

Welcome to the DeFi era. Set your $XRP free.

About Wanchain

True DeFi is interoperable — Wanchain, the Wide Area Network chain, is the world’s premier decentralised blockchain interoperability solution. Our mission is to drive blockchain adoption through interoperability by building fully decentralised bridges that connect the world’s many siloed blockchain networks. This crosschain infrastructure empowers developers to build truly decentralised crosschain applications to power the future of DeFi.