A blockchain bridge is a connection that allows you to transfer tokens, but also information and digital assets from one blockchain to another. This is because each blockchain, as you know, has its own protocols, rules and governance models, so if we want to move our assets from one blockchain network to another, we will need to do it through a bridge, or a “bridge” as the word itself indicates.
Bridges can be used for multiple purposes. Not only are they capable of allowing you to use a token from the Ethereum network (ERC-20) on the Binance Smart Chain network (BEP-20), but they are capable of much more. They can move from one network to another:
- Tokens and digital assets.
- Information, including smart contract data.
- Off-chain information (from oracles).
- Decentralised identifiers
Maintaining decentralisation
Let’s not forget the essence of blockchain or one of the main reasons why users choose this technology: decentralisation.
As we move towards decentralisation, so do the number of networks that appear, with a high risk of polarisation. That is, communities on each network live in a high degree of isolation from the rest of the world.
As blockchain technology matures, several projects are addressing this problem by building “bridges” between networks.
Types of brigde
Like the types of exchanges, there are centralised and decentralised bridges.
In centralised bridges there is a “mediator” role in transactions, in decentralised bridges users do not have to place their trust in a single entity or authority. Trust is placed in the mathematics behind a code.
In a decentralised system, consensus is achieved through the cooperation of a number of nodes that cooperate on the basis of a system of incentivised participation.
Bridge operation
Blockchain bridges exchange information from one network to another, i.e. they serve as a connection between information in their respective networks or local domains.
- When a user wants to pass a token from chain A to chain B, what the Bridge does is to block the token on chain A and mint a new token on chain B.
- While the token is on chain B, the equivalent token on chain A is locked.
- When the user wants to get the token back on the A chain, he goes to the Bridge where the token on the B chain is burned and the token on the A chain is unlocked.
Through this process, the amount of tokens in the market remains the same, the only difference is that instead of operating on the A network, it operates on the B network.
As mentioned above, bridges communicate with blockchains in many different ways. Trust-based (centralised) bridges typically have a federation of nodes that communicate, bringing information and tokens from one chain to another.
On the other hand, in an untrusted or decentralised system, users and developers need to rely on a federation or centralised entity to move data and tokens from one chain to the next.
At InnovaMinex we are working to offer the greatest advantages for the entire MINX community, it is important that you have configured your wallet in Metamask to perform future operations on the bridge.
