Router Nitro: 2024 Year in Review

4 min readJan 22, 2025

2024 marked a transformative year with the launch of Router Nitro, establishing itself as a game-changing bridge by delivering ultra-low latency asset transfers and swaps at a fraction of the cost of existing bridges. This was made possible by our shift from the old PoA framework to the new trustless architecture.

Technical Transformation: The Path to Trustless Architecture

To set the stage for a trustless bridge, and achieve the level of efficiency that we did, we had to make significant architectural changes and optimizations over its predecessor, Voyager.

Shift to a Trustless Model

In 2024, we transitioned from a lock/unlock mechanism to a forwarder-based architecture (aka the reverse-verification mechanism). Within this model, cross-chain transfers/swaps for the users are settled by forwarders on the destination chain, following which the forwarders can provide the proof of “forwarding” on the Router chain. Once the proof is verified on the Nitro middleware contract, the forwarders can claim the funds deposited by the user. For the end-user, this model enables sub-minute transactions while ensuring the security of their funds.

Gas Optimizations

We implemented several enhancements in our codebase that brought down the gas costs by close to 60%, making transactions significantly more economical for users.

Simplified Liquidity Management

Unlike the lock/unlock mechanism, where we, as a bridge, had to maintain all of the liquidity, the forwarder model allows for a more scalable approach to liquidity management. Within the new Nitro, anyone can run a “forwarder” service for Router by simply setting their preferred routes (source/destination chains) and fee for those routes. This allowed Nitro to scale its liquidity without having to run incessant liquidity mining campaigns

Nitro in Numbers

Router Nitro’s 2024 metrics paint a compelling picture of its presence in the interoperability space. The performance data across EVM, ZK, and non-EVM ecosystems serves as a testament to Nitro’s adoption and showcases its versatility in handling cross-chain interactions. Here’s a detailed breakdown of Router Nitro’s activity in 2024.

Note: Calculation is done as per the incoming txs and volume to a particular chain/ecosystem

User adoption

In 2024, Nitro attracted over 500k unique users, demonstrating its strong adoption in the cross-chain space. Most activity on the platform involved asset transfers, making up 95% of all transactions, while swaps accounted for the remaining 5%.

Even with an avg. TVL of $1.7M over the year, Nitro’s adoption metrics being what they are, give credence to our hypothesis that bridges don’t require hundreds of millions of dollars in TVL to facilitate efficient bridging for the masses. With an avg. utilization ratio of 2.24 (defined as the daily volume/TVL), Nitro demonstrates that with proper rebalancing strategies in place, high transaction volumes can be achieved even with a lean TVL.

Intent Adapter in Numbers

This year, we designed the Router Cross-chain Intent Framework(CCIF) as a way to simplify cross-chain blockchain interactions for the users by converting user intents into precise, executable workflows.

With over 40 deployed adapters, the framework has evolved considerably this year enabling diverse functionalities such as cross-chain lending, liquid staking, liquidity provisioning, swaps, and more.
Among these, StakeStone, Kim, and Lynex have emerged as key adapters, contributing the most to our metrics.
By leveraging Nitro’s capabilities, these adapters have streamlined the cross-chain UX, saving both time and effort for the users.
To date, CCIF has successfully processed over $30M in transaction volume and amassed over 115.3K transactions.

Looking Forward

While Router Nitro has achieved remarkable milestones in 2024, we remain committed to continuous improvement and innovation. To that end, we’ve actively listened to our community’s feedback, in regards to the improvements that can be made in the UI, features that can be added, optimizations that can be made. Based on the community feedback, we announced the launch of the new Nitro UI. Just as our bridge set the standard for speed and efficiency in cross-chain transactions, the new UI has raised the bar for UI responsiveness.

Stay tuned for more updates as we gear up for the launch for Router Pay.