Overview
Founded on 20th July 2020, Multichain was one of the first projects to build a crosschain protocol that allowed users to move across different blockchains. Initially known as AnySwap, the protocol has since rebranded to Multichain on 16th December 2021 in line with its overall product direction.
The project is being continuously developed to expand its crosschain and interoperability capabilities both for users and for developer integrations.
Fun Fact: AnySwap initially started as a crosschain decentralized exchange (DEX)
How Does It Work?
Multichain relies on whats called multi-party computation or MPC which in simple terms relies on nodes which exists outside the blockchains most of us are familiar with. These MPC’s are important for the Multichain network because they’re utilized to collectively sign transactions and each signing node would only ever know a part of the approval key.
With the nodes being operated by different companies, institutions or individuals, the chances of them cooperating to fraudulently approve transactions is reduced. These measures are collectively named Secure Multi-Party Computation (sMPC) and makes the Multichain network both decentralized and secure.
Multichain Services
- Custodial Token Bridge
Bridging of tokens is the primary use case of MultiChain. With its custodial token bridging model, an asset is locked in a smart contract on the source chain and the wrapped version is minted on the destination chain.
A common example is when sending ETH from Ethereum and receiving WETH on the destination.
URL: https://app.multichain.org/
- Router
The use of MultiChain’s router for the end user would be difficult to distinguish from the custodial token bridge. It’s under the hood where the differences really stand out.
Multichain’s Router allows an asset to be moved between two or more chains through the use of liquidity pools or by interacting with a bridged asset smart contract. But where it truly differentiates from the custodial token bridge model is that assets bridged through the Router are not required to be sent back to its source before being bridged to another blockchain.
The Router function can also support bridging of not just native assets but also assets by other bridges.
URL: https://app.multichain.org/
- anyCall
Provides a function to initiate and receive cross-chain smart contract calls. As a more development skewed service, anyCall allows projects to develop dApps that are able to communicate with each other across the different connected blockchains.
URL: https://docs.multichain.org/developer-guide/anycall-v7
- NFT Bridge and Router
Capable of handling both ERC721 and ERC1155 NFT standards, the NFT bridge and Router work similarly to their token counterparts. The difference here is that the asset bridged is a NFT.
URL: https://app.multichain.org/#/nft
Other Tools
Explorer
URL: https://scan.multichain.org/#/home
Achievements
Multichain has to date processed 4,527,122 transactions amounting to $91.52 billion in total transaction value. That’s an average of about $20,000.00 per transaction.
The bridge currently has 3,220 tokens listed and connects 81 different blockchains. For up-to-date information, please refer to the Multichain website.
Community Participation
As an integral part of democratizing the governance of the MultiChain protocol, veMULTI was introduced. In order to receive veMULTI and participate in governing the future direction of the protocol, users are required to stake their $MULTI tokens. This then enables them to participate in the MultiDAO.
This is only one method of participating in the DAO. Contributors will also have the ability to participate through Multi SBT (Soul Bound Token) which is based on a Proof of Contribution (POC) score. This POC score is determined by the sum of the bounty score for tasks completed for the DAO.
The combination of veMULTI and Multi SBT is an interesting one as it does not limit voting on governance proposals to only those that stake their tokens but active contributors to the DAO are also included. This creates more inclusivity in the overall governance of the MultiChain protocol and its treasury.
Token Information
The $MULTI token is an ERC20 based token with a maximum supply of 100 million with MultiDAO being the largest token holder currently with a holding of 81,360,680 or 81.3607% of total supply.
Contract Address: 0x65Ef703f5594D2573eb71Aaf55BC0CB548492df4
For up-to-date information, please refer to Etherscan.
Token Utility
The $MULTI token can be utilized for staking. For staking their tokens, holders are rewarded with a portion of the fees collected by Multichain from transactions utilizing the protocol.
Resources
- Etherscan : https://etherscan.io/token/0x65ef703f5594d2573eb71aaf55bc0cb548492df4
- Crunchbase : https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/multichain-4b4f
- Multichain Website : https://multichain.org/
- Multichain Docs : https://docs.multichain.org/getting-started/introduction
- Github : https://github.com/anyswap
- Medium : https://medium.com/multichainorg
- Defillama : https://defillama.com/protocol/multichain
- L2Beat : https://l2beat.com/bridges/projects/multichain
- Dune Analytics : https://dune.com/cupad/dollarmulti-token-overview
Update (3rd Jan 2023) : Added token utility information