Epicenter brings you in-depth conversations about the technical, economic and social implications of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Every week, we interview business leaders, engineers academics and entrepreneurs, and bring you a diverse spectrum of opinions and points of view. Epicenter is hosted by Sebastien Couture, Brian Fabian Crain, Friederike Ernst, Meher Roy and Felix Lutsch. Since 2014, our episodes have been downloaded over 8 million times.
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episode 498: Fig: Squid Router – Sub-20 Second Cross-Chain Swaps. Axelar-Powered Interoperability
As crypto evolves, it becomes clearer that the future will be multi-chain. Presently, moving funds between different blockchains is frustrating...to say the least. The current bridging solutions are prohibitive from a UX perspective, mainly due to how finality is reached across different blockchains. This translates to long wait times and anxiety when interacting with new protocols, caused by the incertitude of funds arriving safely on the other side. Another major blockage consists of gas fees, particular to each blockchain, which often require an additional swap. But what if, users could enjoy near-instant cross-chain swaps (sub-20 second) and one-click transaction aggregators?
We were joined by Fig, co-founder of Squid Router, to discuss how they leverage Axelar's infrastructure to achieve one-click, near-instant cross-chain swaps, creating user-friendly interoperability.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Fig’s background
- How Squid tackles interoperability
- Building a better DevEx & UX on top of Axelar’s security
- Choosing what DEXes to wrap & aggregate in Squid
- Optimising gas fees, prices & MEV cross-chain
- Squid’s business model
- Integrating other messaging protocols
- Addressing finality to reduce swap times below 20 seconds
- How Squid x Axelar solve other bridging protocol issues (e.g. multichain hack)
- Squid use cases
Episode links:
- Fig on Twitter
- Squid on Twitter
- Axelar on Twitter
This episode is hosted by Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/498