Bluzelle Releases Inter-Chain Bridge to Connect Ethereum and Cosmos

Bluzelle has released its eponymous bridge, enabling the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems to connect. As the first automated ETH to Cosmos relayer in production, Bluzelle Bridge has significant ramifications for interoperability – even if it’s being used solely to convert ERC20 BLZ to its Cosmos counterpart and vice-versa. Compatible with the latest version of Tendermint and Cosmos, Bluzelle Bridge allows ERC20 tokens to be converted to native BLZ tokens on Cosmos quickly, non-custodially, and fully automated.

The Case for Bridging Ethereum

Ethereum’s network effects are the envy of blockchain projects everywhere, but its network fees aren’t. Crippling costs of deploying low-value transactions on ETH, which can be dwarfed by gas fees, have made the case for transacting on other chains. But how? Of the various solutions that have been proffered (atomic swaps, time-locked contracts, sidechains, layer twos), a bridge is one of the more elegant approaches. It provides full oversight into the status of tokens locked on each network and enables them to be interchanged without reliance on a central custodian.

Bluzelle Chain is based on Cosmos, and its native token is issued as a BNT token, but BLZ  also exists as an ERC20. The solution has been to create a mechanism for swapping between the two networks, automatically exchanging one token type for another. Bluzelle Bridge is a relayer that locks the ERC20 BLZ into a smart contract and then transmits the data to Bluzelle Chain, where a request is sent to the Bluzelle House Wallet to issue a corresponding amount of tokens. When BNT tokens need to be converted to their ERC20 version, the process is simply reversed.

Interoperability Arrives

Bluzelle Bridge launches at a time when an array of Ethereum interoperability solutions are debuting. Syscoin has developed its own non-custodial bridge that enables ERC20 assets to be represented on the Syscoin network. Other approaches to Ethereum’s scaling problem are being tried by projects like Matic, whose Plasma-based framework has found support from blockchain games and dApps that demand low-cost transactions.

Meanwhile, Polkadot’s vision of a heterogenous blockchain ecosystem is morphing into a tangible reality, further bridging the gap between Ethereum and the smart contract networks that have followed in its wake. RioDeFi is among the Polkadot family of blockchains that’s making strides in connecting chains; MANDRA DAO is using its Substrate-based blockchain to create a staking platform with support for a range of assets, including ETH.

Decentralized data network Bluzelle is doing its bit to advance the gospel of defi by making it easier for dApp developers to provision data that is tamper-proof and censorship-resistant. On September 9, Crypto.com Exchange listed the BLZ token, which joins the 70-odd crypto assets and stablecoins already available for trading on the platform. With Bluzelle having launched its “soft” mainnet, as a precursor to a full network launch, the utility and liquidity of the BLZ token is set to grow. Bluzelle has stated that it intends to open source Bluzelle Bridge and encourage the Cosmos community to utilize it to create new cross-chain swapping services.