Blockchain Group Develops Avalanche to Ethereum Bridge for Swift DeFi Transfers

Simpler Asset Transfers to Avalanche

Yesterday, ChainSafe, a blockchain development group, completed a bridge linking the Ethereum and Avalanche blockchains. Per a tweet from the Avalanche blockchain developers, the company embarked on the project with several partners, including fellow blockchain developer Protofire and infrastructure service provider Hashquark.

The bridge will allow DeFi users to transfer assets between the two ecosystems, while also letting Ethereum-based protocol developers offer their users an alternative to transact.

Emin Gün Sirer, chief executive and co-founder of Ava Labs (Avalanche’s developers), sees bridges as a necessity required for the growth of the ecosystem. The rollout of the bridge means several Ethereum-based assets and protocols can now move into Avalanche.

To use the bridge, DeFi protocol users will need to lock either an ERC-20 token, an ERC-71 token, or Wrapped ETH in a ChainBridge contract on the Ethereum blockchain. The process will cause an equivalent token to be minted and deposited to the desired address on Avalanche. From there, the token can be used in applications on Avalanche.

Nervos Links Ethereum

The new bridge marks what appears to be a growing industry trend, supposed Ethereum alternatives looking for a way to bridge the leading blockchain and move Ether to faster ecosystems.

Over the past few weeks, several blockchains have developed tools to link themselves with Ethereum, providing DeFi users with an easy way of migrating to their ecosystems.

Last December, Chinese public blockchain project Nervos launched a cross-chain bridge with Ethereum, providing support for ERC-20 tokens and allowing frictionless transfers between the Ethereum blockchain and Nervos’ CKB chain.

As the Chinese company explained, the cross-chain tool, dubbed “Force Bridge,” was inspired by the “Force Staff” tool from the famous game Dota 2, which allows users to force object movements across its virtual universe. Thanks to the blockchain’s trustless architecture, developers and users will be able to easily make cross-chain transfers, register their addresses on Ethereum, and achieve true inter-chain functionality.

With Force Bridge, developers won't require any integration. They merely need to deploy their ERC-20 tokens to initiate asset transfers, CKB’s support for ERC-20 smart contracts means they won’t need to take additional steps to execute contracts.