Router Protocol Launches Testnet Mandara for Router Chain Enabling Cross-Chain ‘IDAPPS’

Router Protocol
4 min readMay 30, 2023

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Today, we are announcing the launch of Testnet Mandara, our latest step towards building a future-proof interoperable infrastructure. Testnet Mandara is designed to promote interoperability and cross-chain workflows, enabling users to benefit from the strengths of different blockchains. This platform will serve as a testing ground for developers, innovators, and enthusiasts to explore the potential of decentralized collaboration.

Get started here — https://docs.routerprotocol.com/

The Testnet Mandara

While the Devnet has been available for more than three months now, the Testnet Mandara is currently open to our partners and developers who can actively engage with it. The purpose is to explore the capabilities of the Router Chain and improve the overall performance and stability of the network.

Our testnet launch includes support for five blockchain networks: Ethereum (Goerli), Polygon (Mumbai), Avalanche (Fuji), Base, and BNB Chain. We are also planning to add support for Near in the near future.

One of the significant advancements with Testnet Mandara is the inclusion of external validators. This is an important step towards achieving true decentralization for Router Protocol. We have already started onboarding external validators, and our aim is to have over 30 validators during the testnet phase to ensure the security of our network.

Network Features

Below is a list of key features for the Testnet Mandara:

  • Infra-level Flexibility: With Router, developers are not confined to a single type of bridging infrastructure. Depending on their requirements, they can build cross-chain applications using Router’s stateful infra (OmniChain framework) or stateless infra (CrossTalk framework)
  • Modular Security: For the first time, dApps have access to three layers of security — at the protocol level, bridge level, and application level. Applications can implement their own security measures on top of the baseline security model provided by the Router Chain
  • Cross-chain Meta Transactions: Applications can enable gasless cross-chain transactions for the end users by delegating the execution of a cross-chain request to a third-party service
  • Acknowledgements and Refunds: dApps can now choose the acknowledgement configuration for their applications, allowing them to send extra gas limit as a buffer, with the assurance of automatic refunds for an excess fee, for instance
  • Decentralized Read Calls: An overlooked, albeit important aspect of blockchain interoperability is being able to read the state of contracts present on one chain (say chain A) from a different chain (say chain B). dApps can use this information for things like age restrictions
  • Transaction Batching: Applications can leverage Router to batch multiple transactions in a single cross-chain request, helping applications cut costs for their cross-chain operations
  • Atomicity: Router provides support for atomic batch delivery. For an atomic request, all transactions in a batch are executed via a proxy contract. If any of the transactions fail, the proxy contract will revert, thereby ensuring atomicity
  • Expiry Timestamp: One of the most common problems that users face while performing cross-chain transactions is that whenever a transaction gets stuck, they are not able to cancel it. With Router, users can now cancel a transaction with expiry timestamps
  • MetaMask Compatibility: Unlike most chains built using tendermint, the Router chain will have full-fledged support for MetaMask, one of the most popular crypto wallets

Coming up events for the era of IDApps

While you have started building your first IDApps or Interoperable DApps, here are some events that you can look forward to -

  • Router Chain’s first-ever public cross-chain transaction
  • Launch of our Incentivised and Gamified Testnet Mandara for Devs, Ecosystem Partners, Validators, and Web3 users
  • Deployment of selected Ecosystem Partner’s DApps on Testnet Mandara
  • Commencement of IDAPPathon, an online hackathon tailored for Interoperable dApps. The Registrations are open — https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/router-idaapathon/detail
  • Launch of our in-house IDApps, such as Ping Pong, TExchange, Voyager, and more
  • Launch of our updated roadmap

Conclusion

In conclusion, the launch of Testnet Mandara not only showcases the promised benefits of addressing liquidity fragmentation and scalability but also invites developers to start their IDApp-building journey. The vast range of potential use cases includes cross-chain NFTs, cross-chain marketplaces, cross-chain stablecoins, cross-chain oracles, cross-chain governance, etc.,

With Mandara as a stepping stone, let’s look forward to a more interconnected and efficient blockchain ecosystem where collaboration and interoperability reign supreme. Stay tuned for more updates, and keep us close at hand by following us on your preferred social media platform!

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Router Protocol

Router Protocol is a secure, composable, and modular framework for building interoperable applications. More at https://routerprotocol.com