The cross-chain bridge, which allows users to shift tokens from one blockchain to another, is the backbone of multi-chain crypto, and another project is forming to see if it can improve the experience of crossing the chasm.
Swim Protocol, a Solana-based protocol aiming to establish the future cross-chain bridge, raised $4 million in a seed round headed by Pantera Capital on Wednesday. Swim proposes a simplified mechanism for moving stablecoins across chains, leveraging liquidity pools and automated market makers (AMMs) to enable cross-chain swaps faster and more convenient for end-users. It was founded by alums of Sam Bankman-Alameda Fried’s Research.
Swim’s technology is based on Wormhole, the $320 million bridge that was hacked in early February. Swim’s key benefit to the everyday user experience will be the ability to perform native swaps, in addition to reducing the number of steps required to transmit assets through Wormhole.
Swim CEO Troy Tsui said he got the idea for the company while working as a quantitative trader. Security is a top priority for the swim team. Wormhole was hacked in February, and while Jump Crypto (who has also invested in Swim Protocol) eventually refunded the cash, the incident underlined the necessity for trustworthy cross-chain infrastructure and the issues that come with establishing bridging solutions.
Swim Protocol will go live on Solana, BNB Chain, and Ethereum on Wednesday, with support for stablecoin bridging. The team hopes to expand to other Wormhole-supported chains in the future, starting with Avalanche, Polygon, Terra, and Fantom.
That’s all good happening with Swim Protocol for now.
