Cross Chain Bridging

MELD is a native cross chain ecosystem designs to be technically inclusive not exclusive.

Cross Chain Bridging is the process of moving MELD-native tokens to another compatible blockchain or moving tokens from another chain to the MELD blockchain.

The Akamon bridge allows for tokens to be bridged from their original networks into the MELD network and then back to the original network. The value propositions that will drive the bridge are:

  • Liquidity re-staking

  • Speed

The bridge is limited in scope to act as a 1-1 network bridge, where assets an asset can only be bridged from one specific network.

This means that tokens like USDC will only be able to come from a single network. This is to facilitate liquidity management across networks for the initial versions of the bridge, ensuring that on all bridging back actions, there will always be liquidity on the original network

The architecture of the bridge is the same for all networks. The bridge has an architecture LOCK - MINT, where assets in the original network will be kept under custody of MELD, and re-staked to generate yield. The user will receive a newly minted token when bridging.

The same contract could be used for multiple tokens in the same network, like ETH and USDC on the Ethereum network. In the special case of ETH/wETH, we will automatically adapt the flow behind the scenes so that both work together. On bridging back, only the native coin will be sent to the user (ETH) to ensure that they can pay for fees in the network.

To bridge back, the tokens will be burned, and the original tokens withdrawn from staking and sent to the user.

Yield boost is a novel mechanism to allow for external yield generated from other parts of the MELD protocol/ecosystem to be passed into the users of the lending and borrowing protocol.

Yield boost integration in the protocol has two main areas of development:

  • Bridging

  • Lending and borrowing protocol integration

External Bridges

Typically, the user will send tokens to a smart contract on the native chain where they will either be locked (ie can't be moved again until another smart contract triggers) or burned (ie sent to a wallet with no private key). The Bridge then mints or releases matching tokens natively onto the new chain where the user can use them within dApps etc.

Currently, MELD tokens are compatible with Chainport which can be used independently or integrated into your dApp.

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