On August 12th, the first swap was made over Libre’s Bitcoin – Ethereum bridge operating with the help of BRC20 VMPX and its respective ERC20 mirror token. The Libre team released it on the testnet, and anyone is invited to try it out. The BRC20 token DEX is also in the testing phase. Both products are components of the larger XEN ecosystem and will ensure connectivity between Bitcoin and Ethereum, mainly while opening the routes for other chains, including X1. VMPX is one of the main receivers of the X1’s coin allocation, creating a tight relationship between the main networks it concerns.
Great progress with the ERC-20 2 BRC-20 bridge 🔥#VMPX #X1 #XEN https://t.co/hcLaxGPThx pic.twitter.com/Yb0ia8dgxQ
— XEN TZU 🟧🦇🟦 (@ackebom) August 12, 2023
What is Libre
Libre is a blockchain and a Layer-2 solution built on the AntelopeIO codbase, featuring gasless transactions and fast transaction throughput. The codebase is also used by other blockchains like WAX, UX, Telos, FIO, and EOS. It adopts DPoS, where LIBRE token holders get to vote on a set of 21 validators running the network. To be able to have a say in its governance process, the holders need to stake their tokens for a period of time, which gives the staker voting power based on the time remaining in the stake. Staking longer and earlier gives holders more power and staking rewards.
Similarly to XEN, Libre is also a first principles project where the team received no allocation and the supply started from zero. The chain is completely trustless and decentralised. LIBRE distribution took place in December 2022 during the so-called Mint Rush, where anyone could lock up bitcoin in a liquidity pool for up to 2 years in exchange for LIBRE coin. A total of 55 BTC was contributed during that 30-day period.
Libre chain has no transaction fees, and LIBRE coin is mainly used for chain governance. However, there are transaction fees on the Libre DEX, and they’re used to buy LIBRE from the Libre swap and burn it through the DAO. Users can get fast Bitcoin, BRC20, and Ordinals transactions and on-and-off ramps to Bitcoin using the Lightning Network.
Libre DEX beta signups to trade #bitcoin ordinal BRC20s:
— Bitcoin Benobi (@bensig) August 9, 2023
~4,200 individual responses
~46% Indonesia pic.twitter.com/CDYLTFZHTa
Moreover, whoever holds 1M LIBRE gets to pay no trading fees on the ordinals and BRC20 DEX. Perhaps the best part of the Libre chain is that users don’t need to acquire LIBRE tokens to be able to transact.
VMPX Bitcoin - Etheruem bridge
Libre is connected to Bitcoin through the Lightning Network and pNetwork, which create a wrapped version of Bitcoin operated by a network of decentralised nodes. The VMPX bridge stays in the middle and is based on two liquidity pools built on Libre.
One is made of Bitcoin’s bVMPX BRC20 tokens, and the other is Ethereum’s eVMPX ERC20. Locking VMPX in a pool earns VMPX fees from bridge swaps proportionally to the share of the pool owned. VMPX can also be converted to XN, X1’s native coin, in a 1:3 ratio. Converted VMPX go to a LP operated by the Libre validators, while users get XN in a proportion dependent on the time locking period.
It can’t be predicted how many VMPX will be converted to XN, and it will mostly depend on the swap fees and other incentives like single-sided staking.
Libre is connected to Ethereum through the same pNetwork however the swap fees are high. Having VMPX as a LP on Libre is a source of passive income for the holders and an ownership share in X1. Users willing to move ETH to BTC will initially need to swap ETH for VMPX ERC20, connect to Libre, swap it for eVMPX, then for bVMPX and VMPX, and only then trade it for BTC. The entire process is manual, but as time goes by, aggregators will step in to automate the entire process, so the only thing the user will need to do is swap ETH for BTC and sign the transactions on both sides of the bridge.
How does the bridge work
The VMPX bridge is available for testing. The bridging from ERC-20 to BRC-20 (or vice versa) will be multi-node, and multisignature for maximum security, with anyone being able to add liquidity. It currently requires Metamask and the Anchor wallet for now. Once it is released on the mainnet, everything will be done in one Libre wallet.
Here are the instructions for testing the bridge:
1. Create 2 wallets
– Anchor for Libre testnet. Download Anchor Desktop and create a Libre Testnet Account. Dowload Anchor and follow these instructions here to set up the Anchor wallet on Testnet
– Metamask for Goerli (ETH) Testne. Use the faucet to get some testnet ETH that you will need to create some eVMPX tokens.
2. Get test VMPX tokens
Go to etherscan, connect your Metamask and mint some test VMPX. Sign the transaction. You can add the token contract
0xAf5c20De8FEb9d9C0980C4974a8692dE37F8b46c
to your Metamask to view the VMPX token in your wallet, but it’s not necessary.
3. Go to vmpxlibre.com and connect both wallets.
4. Send some testnt VMPX from Ethereum to Libre.
5. Once you have eVMPX you can swap them for bVMPX
