The team behind Chinese blockchain Nervos are building a cross-chain bridge to connect with Cardano, which users to use both chains’ native tokens interchangeably.
Why it matters: The bridge could be a major boost for Nervos user numbers. Cardano is the world’s sixth-largest cryptocurrency, with a $55.6 billion market cap, almost 10 times Nervos’s.
- It will also grant Cardano developers access to Nervos development tools, which are oriented towards the growing field of decentralized finance (DeFi).
- This is Cardano’s first cross-chain bridge.
- Blockchain development teams are to form an internet to connect different networks. It’s a race to see which companies will make the best tools to connect blockchains.
Details: The cross-chain asset bridge will allow users to use the two networks’ native tokens interchangeably across the two blockchains, using their existing wallets, Nervos said in a statement sent to TechNode. The bridge will use Nervos’s own cross-chain technology, Force Bridge.
- Users will also be able to move and trade user-defined tokens across the two blockchains. The two public blockchains allow developers to build their own tokens, mainly used for decentralized applications (dapps), using either chain’s software development kits.
- By connecting the two blockchains and enabling transactions between their native tokens, Cardano and CKB, developers will tap into both networks’ user bases. The bridge could make both networks a more appealing ecosystem for developers.
Nervos: Hangzhou-based Nervos is building a fully-fledged public blockchain protocol, including a virtual machine.
- The protocol has attracted investors’ interest because it promises scalability without sacrificing decentralization, which is a good fit for DeFi.
Connect chains: Nervos is also trying to tap into the growing need for interoperability, connecting distributed ledgers to form a blockchain web.
- In addition to Force Bridge, Nervos has built PW Core, a software development kit that allows developers to build dapps that different blockchains can access. It also built Polyjuice, a blockchain layer that lets developers move smart contracts from Ethereum to Nervos.
- Other Chinese blockchain startups like Neo and Conflux are also working on interoperability.