Router Chain Mainnet is Now Live!

8 min readJul 30, 2024

Build & Experience Truly Chain Abstracted Experiences

The wait is finally over!

After years of BUIDL model we have achieved a major milestone today — the launch of the Router Chain mainnet. The journey to decentralize chain abstraction took longer than we thought, was tougher than we initially comprehended, but it was — in retrospect — worth it.

Router Chain is a PoS L1 that allows stateful bridging–enabling truly omnichain dapps that can abstract chains from the users and aggregate liquidity across multiple chains.

Key Features of Router Chain

Maintain states and implement custom business logic directly on the bridging layer
Provides developers with the utmost flexibility over their bridging model (stateless or stateful), security model, and smart contract platform (EVM or CosmWasm)
Contracts on the Router chain can serve as data aggregation modules for various cross-chain and multi-chain applications
Enable gasless cross-chain transactions by delegating the execution of a request to a third-party service.
Ensures rapid and reliable cross-chain message transfers with minimal latency, making transactions faster and more predictable.
Offers a layered security approach, including PoS validation and ASM for high-value transactions, which can be customized with additional security modules like zk-proofs or multisig

Router Chain is already connected to over 30 ecosystems and boasts an average block time of 3 seconds. It has processed more than a million transactions and handled transactions almost worth a billion dollars in its beta-mainnet through its asset bridge — Nitro.

Stats from Nitro Explorer

Discover more about the chain in our whitepaper and documentation!

The Journey to Router Chain

If you know blockchains, you also know they’re metaphors for isolated islands or vice-versa and this is no joke. These islands are separated by liquidity, users, applications, and nearly everything that web3 was never meant to be — a complex world of isolated islands!

We at Router Protocol one of the early pioneers of asset-bridging in 2021 as a response to the growing need of building liquidity layers, to create a solution that would enable communication across various networks. The V1 was launched in January 2022, a Proof-of-Authority bridge that enabled bi-directional asset movement between L1s and allowed contract-level data flow across them.

However, it became clear that the limitations of a stateless validation mechanism and high operational costs required a better solution. This realization set us on a path to today! One key difference between v1 and v2 is that in V1 — the network is authority-based selected — hence it was more centralized and second it had on-chain consensus for bridging transactions — the costs were definitely on the higher side while it also had upgradeable smart contracts that made costing even higher.

Our primary motivation was to get rid of all the limitations of the v1 solution hence we started brainstorming on how we could decentralize the network completely, do the consensus externally instead of the destination chain, and architect the system in a way to the transactions can be processed quickly in a safe way.

We started designing a chain primarily focused on enabling state transitions across chains and that will sit as a hub between various EVM and non-EVM ecosystems. A chain that will change the definition of Web3 from a fragmented collection to a cohesive ecosystem.

Moreover, Router Chain has successfully completed comprehensive security audits conducted by leading firms Informal Systems, Oak Security, and 0xCommit. These audits meticulously reviewed our codebase, focusing on the entire lifecycle of cross-chain requests, including orchestrator attestations, cross-chain transfers, fees, and Oracle price feeds. The audits identified and resolved a few issues, enhancing our system’s security and efficiency. Access the full audit reports here.

The Power of Chain Abstraction

Chain abstraction addresses the current pain points of our industry, making dApps more accessible and practical for widespread adoption. It simplifies user experience, enhances developer efficiency, and optimizes cost and speed.

And this is exactly what Router Chain solves! It abstracts away the complexities of cross-chain interactions, making it easier for developers to innovate. This abstraction layer serves as a critical infrastructure component, much like how cloud services revolutionized web development by handling server management.

Router chain has two primitives built on it, CCIF and Router Nitro. These primitives can be further utilized to create more sophisticated platforms and applications -

Router’s Cross-chain Intent Framework

The Cross-chain Intent Framework built on Router Chain allows users to access dApps from any blockchain, eliminating the need for users to be on the same chain as the dApp or worry about the complexities of different blockchains. The framework abstracts the complexity of accessing dapps on other chains:

Abstracts away the bridging logic
Completes the required actions on the user’s behalf on the chain the dApp exists in a completely decentralized way

In the last few months, this framework has helped various platforms like StakeEase, StakeStone, Lido, Benqi, etc., to onboard users in a single step on a single interface. StakeStone for example, onboarded almost 20,000+ new users and processed more than $10 million worth of transactions in less than a month. Know more.

Now, let’s delve into Nitro, the second key primitive of the Router Chain following the Cross-chain Intent Framework (CCIF).

Router Nitro: Advanced Cross-Chain Bridging

Router Nitro is a permissionless cross-chain asset-swapping engine built using the application-specific bridging construct enabled by the Router chain. Router Nitro’s pathfinder algorithm forms the basis of path discovery algorithm for Dapps built on top of Router Nitro.

In addition to its capabilities as an asset-transfer bridge, Router Nitro also allows for arbitrary instruction transfers along with funds, thereby extending the composability of DeFi across various blockchains.

Key Features and Achievements:

Transaction Volume: Over 937.52 million in cross-chain transactions.
User Base: More than 380,424 users have utilized Router Nitro.
Efficiency and Speed: On average, 75% of the transactions get completed in 26s.

Addressing Layer 2 Challenges and Beyond

Router Chain doesn’t just stop at bridging various blockchains; it also tackles the specific challenges associated with Layer 2 solutions, cost efficiency, scalability, and economic sustainability.

Fast Finality for Layer 2 Solutions:

One of the major challenges in bridging Layer 2 solutions is the rollback time. Router is collaborating with leading protocols to provide fast finality for messages originating from Layer 2 solutions.
This modular approach to L2 finality will offer developers the flexibility to find the right balance between security and speed for each of their cross-chain transactions, addressing the specific needs and requirements of their applications.

Cost Efficiency and Scalability:

The design, including Optimistic Reverse Verification and middleware interceptors, makes it a cost-efficient solution that is 22% cheaper than existing alternatives.
Its modular architecture allows for easy integration with new blockchains, ensuring scalability and broad adoption.

Economic Sustainability:

Router team is actively exploring ways to minimize inflation required in PoS systems with some novel innovations. Our goal is to maximize security and stability while reducing the costs associated with the network.

What Does the Mainnet Launch Mean for ROUTE Token Holders, Validators, and Developers?

For ROUTE Holders

The ROUTE token is the backbone of the Router Chain ecosystem, used to pay for transaction fees and secure the network through staking. With the mainnet launch, ROUTE token holders can now participate in securing the network and earning rewards.

Key Highlights for Token Holders:

Staking: Stake ROUTE tokens to support the network and earn staking rewards.
Migration: Ensure you’ve migrated to the new ROUTE token. Users with old ROUTE tokens need to migrate and will then can stake their new ROUTE tokens. Check out the guide here.
StakeDrop: It is a rewarding campaign where you stake ROUTE and earn DROPS. It is divided into two seasons and you can participate here. The participants of StakeDrop will also be eligible for ecosystem rewards.
Governance: $ROUTE holders will be able to participate in all key decisions of the network and will be able to vote for what they believe in.

For Validators

Validators play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of the Router Chain network. By participating in the consensus process, validators help ensure that cross-chain transactions are processed securely and efficiently, supporting the overall vision of a chain-abstracted ecosystem.

Key Highlights for Validators:

Decentralized Network: Participate in a robust PoS consensus mechanism. We have over 30+ validators and you can check the list here.
Economic Incentives: Earn rewards for validating transactions and securing the network. Our validators also have to connect to various different blockchains we integrate with to offer seamless chain abstraction. Want to join our team of validators? Schedule a call with us here.

For Developers

Developers aiming to build omnichain dApps can leverage Router Chain to create applications that interact seamlessly with multiple blockchains.

Key Highlights for Developers:

Interoperability: Build omnichain dApps that operate across various blockchains, abstracting the complexity of cross-chain transactions for a smoother user experience.
Stateful Bridging: Aggregate liquidity and facilitate seamless interactions across multiple chains, ensuring a seamless user experience.
Cross-Chain Intent Framework (CCIF): Simplify cross-chain interactions with Router’s CCIF, allowing users to access your dApps from any blockchain without the need for manual bridging.
Leverage Router Nitro: Nitro offers ultra-low latency, and cost-effective cross-chain asset swaps while ensuring trustless security. Utilize reverse verification flow for fast and secure asset transfers or burn and mint flow for efficient token management across chains.
Build & extend your tokens: Router Chain facilitates the seamless creation and management of omnichain tokens across multiple blockchains. It improves capital efficiency, broadens user reach, and simplifies asset transfers.
Additional Security Module (ASM): Enhance security by aggregating data verification from multiple bridges and sources before executing cross-chain transactions, providing modular and robust security for each message transferred.

We’re all set to answer the industry’s toughest questions: Can we simplify user experience without sacrificing security? Can we make cross-chain transactions as natural as sending an email? Can we, finally, make web3 as interconnected as the web itself?

With the launch of the Router Chain mainnet, we envision a reality where the boundaries of blockchain are no longer limits but starting points. So, wherever you are and whoever you are, come join us — let’s make our world more accessible, efficient, and powerful than ever before.

LET’S BUILD AND EXPERIENCE CHAIN-ABSTRACTED INTERACTIONS!

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