We have partnered with Celer and will be using their cBridge. Following the recent announcement about the Wirex whitepaper, repositioning WXT within the Wirex ecosystem, the launch of our non-custodial wallet, and our investment in the new DeFi protocol, Nereus, the benefits of this bridge will be vital for all WXT holders.
Who are Celer Network?
Celer Network are thought to be one of the best inter-blockchain and cross-layer communication platforms around. They are a layer-2 platform that offers fast, secure and low-cost solutions across a range of blockchains, including Ethereum, Polkadot, and Avalanche, to name a few. They continue to roll out new industry-leading applications promoting interoperability, which have not only positioned them at the forefront of the DeFi industry, but enabled them to help bring the benefits of digital finance to a mainstream audience.
What is the cBridge?
One particular Celer Network application is their cBridge, which enables users to easily transfer tokens across multiple blockchains. They’ve created a seamless user experience by allowing transfer without the need for intermediary steps, as well as a 1:1 mint and swap process offering lower fees and faster finality.
How does this benefit Wirex users?
The cBridge will allow WXT to easily be transferred between the Ethereum, Avalanche and Polygon networks, offering a huge number of benefits for WXT holders across the Wirex ecosystem. Wirex are one of the first to have adopted their Open Canonical Token Standard for the bridging, which offers a huge number of benefits and avoids Wirex binding themselves to a single bridging solution.
The standard Canonical System involves the token being tied to a single bridge using a mint-and-burn process, which poses many security and ecosystem risks. Each bridge creates its own unique canonical mapping tokens that are not compatible with any other bridge, which causes vendor lock-in. This means that protocols and organisations such as Wirex are locked to and dependent solely on this bridge, and unable to freely move to use other bridges again.
Despite the fact that bridges intend to improve interoperability between chains, the canonical tokens themselves are not interoperable between different bridges.
An Open Canonical Token Standard will help improve interoperability for everyone in the future by allowing Wirex to use multiple bridges at the same time. This enables us to benefit from the advantages of different networks, as well as manage cross-chain WXT transfer quotas depending on their performance and security levels, by setting caps on factors such as fees and finality speed. This enables Wirex to use third-party bridges that work for the interests of our project and not the other way around.
Why did we choose to partner with them?
We chose to partner with Celer because Wirex’s core mission has been to enable everyone to have easy access to the benefits of crypto and DeFi, and a multi-chain strategy combating vendor lock-in will enable users to use their tokens outside of that particular blockchain network.
Having recently launched our non-custodial wallet and announced an investment in the Nereus DeFi protocol, this will be particularly important for those users. By offering interoperability, users have the flexibility to benefit from the advantages of different networks, and move them seamlessly between the Wirex app where they can benefit from a host of products such as X-tras, X-Accounts and Cryptoback™, to the Nereus protocol where they can easily be rewarded for lending, borrowing, staking and locking.
We have big plans to collaborate further with Celer to improve DeFi interoperability, with even more networks planned for access via the cBridge, and we foresee this as playing a big part in enabling Wirex to be a genuine cross-chain protocol.
How can you transfer WXT between Ethereum, Avalanche and Polygon?
1. Visit https://cbridge.celer.network/ and connect your wallet
2. Choose your source and destination networks and click “Transfer”. (Note that your wallet must support both networks)
3. If it’s your first cBridge transaction, you need to approve WXT for cross-chain transfer, click “Approve” and confirm the operation in your wallet
4. Confirm the transfer. Bridging WXT takes 5-20 mins for smaller amounts (less than 20m WXT) and up to 40 mins for larger amounts (more than 20m WXT).
5. Once the transaction is complete, WXT will be deposited in the same wallet/address. (Note that you might need to switch network to see the bridged WXT). Use “History” at the top bar to check the status of your transaction
What is the cBridge fee?
You should note that there will be a difference between the amount you send and the amount you receive, which is determined by the Bridge Rate and fees. For the exact definition of each item in the transaction, check the tooltips next to each of the terms. The fee is used to cover the gas cost for sending your transfer on the destination chain; cBridge doesn’t charge any additional commission.
Click the “Info” icon to see fee breakdown.
