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Exploring the Power of vTokens: Why Bifrost LSTs Become First Choice for Users
Bifrost is a liquid staking appchain tailored for all blockchains. Launched in 2019, Bifrost has grown to be the largest LST protocol in the Polkadot ecosystem. Bifrost has issued 9 LSTs including the likes of vDOT, vKSM, vASTR, vGLMR, vMOVR, and vBNC, as well as heterogeneous chain LSTs like vETH and vMANTA.
vTokens are Liquid Staking Tokens minted through Bifrost Protocol. Users can stake tokens to receive vTokens, which are essentially equivalent to staking native token and compounding staking rewards, enabling them to earn staking rewards while maintaining liquidity and securing networks.
As of now, Bifrost has become the leading Liquid staking solution in the Polkadot ecosystem, accounting for over 60% market share of the Polkadot LST landscape, with a TVL exceeding $100 million. This success is backed by the trust and support of stakers.
Many people choose vTokens as their primary staking choice because of Bifrost’s system security:
Bifrost Protocol operates in a fully decentralized manner, eliminating custodial risks. Additionally, Bifrost has established a BNC Treasury Vault to cover potential slashing losses, ensuring that, in the event of a slashing, compensation will first be drawn from the vault, protecting users’ earnings.
While security is fundamental, vTokens are also popular for features that some competing products lack, including voting power, a wide range of application scenarios, and one-click yield boosting.
Voting Power
vDOT and vKSM holders can participate in OpenGov governance. For stakers, governance rights always remain in their control and are not transferred to the Bifrost Protocol.
Since Kusama and Polkadot transitioned from “Tricameral” system to the new OpenGov model, treasury funding requests now require a public vote, and participating in these votes requires staking DOT/KSM to gain greater voting weight. With direct financial interests at stake, DOT/KSM holders are highly motivated to engage in governance voting.
However, if LSTs do not support governance voting, a dilemma arises for DOT/KSM holders. Bifrost pioneered a governance mapping module that enables vDOT/vKSM holders to participate in governance. Users simply need to open the Bifrost Dapp, go to the vDOT/vKSM Governance page, and they can directly use their vDOT/vKSM in OpenGov governance voting.
The underlying mechanism is as follows: when vDOT/vKSM holders use their tokens to participate in voting, the Governance module leverages the staked DOT/KSM in the pool to cast mapped votes.
For users already interested in participating in governance, staking to receive vDOT/vKSM and then using these tokens for governance allows them to earn additional staking rewards. It’s a win-win situation.
Diverse Use Cases
All LSTs aim to unlock liquidity, allowing users to enjoy both staking rewards and retain liquidity. However, the core question lies in how users can actually make use of this unlocked liquidity.
For vTokens, this question can be simplified as: What purposes can vTokens serve?
In the Bifrost Dapp, we provide an aggregated display of various use cases for vTokens. Let’s take vDOT as an example to illustrate this.
Trading
vDOT can be swapped for DOT at any time, and we have established robust liquidity to support this. The official pool holds over 340K DOT and more than 596K vDOT, with a total value nearing $4.8 million. The vDOT/DOT pool employs a stable pool market-making mechanism similar to Balancer, ensuring minimal price impact from trades.
DOT-vDOT stableswap pool on Bifrost
In addition to the official pool, we have also allocated liquidity on Moonbeam (Stellaswap) and Hydration to meet swap demands on these chains. The combined liquidity on these external chains is approximately $5.6 million. This ample liquidity ensures that vDOT holders do not face any risk of missed trading opportunities due to holding vDOT, allowing them to seamlessly swap back to DOT at any time and further exchange for any other desired asset.
vDOT in Hydration’s omnipool
Earn
vDOT itself is an interest-bearing asset, carrying staking rewards from staked DOT, but these are not the only benefits for vDOT holders. vDOT can also generate additional compounded yield when used in supported DeFi protocols.
You can pair vDOT to form LP tokens and provide liquidity in the official pool or other third-party pools to earn LP rewards. Since the price volatility of the vDOT/DOT pair is relatively low, there’s little risk of impermanent loss.
Collateralized Lending
With Interlay Lending, you can use vDOT as collateral to borrow other assets, such as DOT or iBTC. If you borrow DOT, you can stake it again for vDOT, repeating the process for interest rate arbitrage. If you borrow iBTC, it can be used in broader yield-bearing scenarios.
Soon vDOT will also become available in the Hydration’s brand new money market (Aave based).
Leveraged Staking to Boost Returns
Additionally, Bifrost has launched Loop Stake, a leveraged staking tool tailored for Polkadot assets. Users can access the vToken management interface through Bifrost Dapp to enjoy a smooth one-click leveraged staking experience. At launch, Loop Stake supports leveraged staking for DOT and KSM, with plans to gradually expand to more parachain assets.
Loop Stake allows users to customize and control their leverage ratio based on their risk preferences and complete leveraged staking with a single click, supporting up to 4x leverage. Behind the scenes, Loop Stake uses flash loans to create leverage directly for users without the need for repeated borrowing cycles, minimizing gas consumption.
Summary
We explored several key features of vTokens that make them popular among stakers, including governance inheritance, diverse application scenarios, and leveraged staking.
In one word:
Everything native tokens can do and offer, vTokens and their holders can too.
For native token holders, liquid staking with Bifrost is a better choice because vTokens can accumulate the staking rewards while maintain liquidity.
What’s more, Bifrost will continue to enhance the benefits of vTokens and expand vDOT’s application scenarios. As more applications emerge, users will be able to choose from a range of combined strategies based on their risk preferences, unlocking multiple streams of returns and further amplifying the rewards and utility of vTokens.
Currently, Bifrost Liquid Wave campaign is in full swing. The campaign consists of three phases: LST Campers, BNC Explorers, and bbBNC Riders. We are now in the LST Campers phase, where minting vTokens will earn you WAVE. Holding WAVE will allow you to share a 150,000 BNC prize pool after the campaign ends. At the end of the entire Liquid Wave series, WAVE can be exchanged for bbBNC, entitling holders to ongoing profit sharing from the Bifrost Protocol.
Over 100,000 users have already joined Bifrost Liquid Wave campaign, Join Now: https://wave.bifrost.io/.
Research
2024 / 11 / 13 10:00
Liquid Wave Campaign Phase I: Experience Liquid Staking Magic and Earn WAVE Points!
LST Campers is the first round of the Liquid Wave campaign, where participants can earn WAVE points by minting LST tokens like vDOT, vMANTA, vGLMR, and vASTR, inviting others, and converting Raindrop to WAVE. Additionally, participating in Polkadot OpenGov voting offers a bonus on WAVE points.
At the end of LST Campers, all participants will share a prize pool of 150,000 BNC based on their accumulated WAVE points. Once the entire Liquid Wave campaign concludes, the WAVE points earned will be exchangeable for bbBNC.
Important Dates
November 8, 2024, 6 pm - November 29, 2024, 6 pm
Rules
Complete tasks to earn WAVE points and boost your rewards! Here’s how you can earn:
Complete liquid staking of DOT, MANTA, GLMR, or ASTR to earn WAVE points, with WAVE points varying by staked token.
Invite friends: When your friend completes staking, you receive 10% of their earned WAVE points.
Extra reward: Earn an additional 300 WAVE points once you’ve accumulated 1,000 WAVE points.
OpenGov Voting: Earn an extra 10% bonus on staking points (Substrate Wallet Only).
Convert past Raindrop points to WAVE at a rate of 100:1.
How to Join LST Campers
Your wallet must have one of the following tokens: DOT, MANTA, GLMR, or ASTR. Additionally, a small amount of BNC is required for gas fees. Note that DOT and ASTR liquid staking needs to be completed through a Substrate wallet, while staking for GLMR and MANTA requires an EVM-compatible wallet.
Minting Pages
vDOT：https://app.bifrost.io/vstaking/vDOT
vMANTA：https://omni.ls/stake/vMANTA
vGLMR：https://omni.ls/stake/vGLMR
vASTR：https://app.bifrost.io/vstaking/vASTR
vDOT Minting Tutorial
Before minting and using vDOT, you first need to buy DOT on CEX or DEX.
Login to app.bifrost.io and confirm the network in the upper right corner is Polkadot
Click “Cross chain” in the main navigation menu on the left to enter the cross chain function
Enter the amount of DOT that needs to be crossed in into Bifrost, and click “Cross in” to complete the confirmation and sign the transaction. Finally wait for the transaction to be completed (6 to 12s).
Visit vDOT staking page, Enter the amount of DOT to be minted into vDOT in the right panel (0.5 DOT is the minimum)
Click on “Stake” button, confirm and sign the transaction. Once vDOT are minted they are directly deposited in your Bifrost wallet.
After minting, you can return to the campaign page to check your WAVE points balance.
If you’d like to earn additional rewards, you can participate in the vDOT omnipool on Hydration, with a 8% APY.
How to vote with vDOT
On the vDOT staking page, switch to the “Governance” tab. You will have an overview of all active referenda and how much time left before the deciding period ends.
Click on the referendum you want to vote for, select to vote Aye or Nay by switching the button, input the amount of vDOT you want to commit and select the conviction (lock duration).
Click on “Vote” and sign to confirm.
You can go back to the main Governance menu and switch from “Referenda” to “My vote” to display the history of your different OpenGov votes
Note: vDOT locked in Governance cannot be used in Defi (farming) nor cross-chained to other parachains
Upon completing the vote, you can get 10% WAVE bonus when staking vDOT. Without the bonus, minting 10 vDOT would get only 1,000 WAVE; with governance participation, you can earn 1,100 WAVE.
How to Liquid Stake MANTA on omni.ls
Before minting and using vMANTA you first need to add the Manta Pacific network to your wallet. Make sure you hold ETH for gas fees and have some MANTA as the staking token. You can use the Orbiter cross-chain bridge to bridge ETH from other L2s, buy MANTA on a CEX or DEX and send it to your wallet.
Connect your wallet to omni.ls
Input the amount of MANTA you want to stake, click on “Approve” and sign the 1st transaction, then click on “Stake now” and sign the 2nd transaction to mint your vMANTA.
Once vMANTA are minted,click on “Portfolio” in the top menu and click on the Metamask “Add” button to process. After 5 to 15min, they are directly deposited in your EVM wallet.
After minting, you can return to the campaign page to check your WAVE points balance.
If you’d like to earn additional rewards, you can participate in the vMANTA-MANTA pool on Gull Network with a 20% APY.
That’s the complete tutorial! If you have any questions, feel free to join our Telegram or Discord, and we’ll be happy to help.
Events
2024 / 11 / 08 10:30
Understanding Bifrost's Governance Mechanism (Part II)
Bifrost Governance Interface
Bifrost OpenGov utilizes a custom governance interface powered by Subsquare, offering a simple and clean experience.
The Overview and Referenda pages display all ongoing proposals, allowing users to access and vote on any of them. On the Account page, users can see the proposals they have participated in.
If you don’t have time to vote, you can delegate your voting power to others in the Delegation section. Similar to Polkadot OpenGov, Bifrost OpenGov allows users to delegate their votes to different representatives across different tracks. You can see the full tutorial here.
In addition to governance-related pages, there is also a Discussions section. We believe that the process of discussion and negotiation is just as important as the governance process itself. We encourage ample discussion of proposals in the Discussions section to collect feedback and refine them before formal submission.
How to Make A Proposal On Bifrost?
If you wish to initiate a proposal, the process generally involves the following steps:
Proposal Discussion: Publish your proposal draft in the Discussions section to gather community feedback. You can adjust the proposal based on community input.
Off-Chain Voting: Initiate the proposal through the Off-Chain Voting section. Once the off-chain vote is approved, you can proceed to submit the proposal on-chain.
On-Chain Voting: Create an on-chain preimage for your proposal. Submit it on the relevant track and wait for the voting outcome.
For more specific guidance, Bifrost provides a Proposal Guide in the Docs, including templates for major tracks, which can serve as a reference when initiating a proposal.
Summary
We observe that Bifrost’s governance mechanism has continuously evolved in tandem with its business development, always advancing steadfastly towards decentralization and community autonomy.
Unlike Web2, Web3 allows us to be initiators of a venture, but not its owners. Community ownership, co-governance, and shared benefits are the goals that Web3 protocols should strive for, aligning with the interests of protocol survival and growth.
Notably, we have initiated and successfully passed the BNC Tokenomics 2.0 proposal, which will be launched this year. This marks a major milestone: sharing protocol profits fully with the community, a key step towards true decentralization—community sharing!
Of course, Bifrost’s governance system will continue to evolve alongside its business, and our exploration will never stop!
Research
2024 / 11 / 07 10:00Understanding Bifrost's Governance Mechanism (Part I)
Like the early development of most Web3 projects, Bifrost, which launched in 2019, initially adopted a Sudo (super administrator) mechanism controlled entirely by the project team. This mechanism allowed the team to execute a series of critical on-chain operations related to the product’s underlying logic, ensuring a smooth launch and stable operations.
In September 2021, Bifrost officially rolled out its democracy governance module, removing the Sudo (super administrator) privileges and transitioning to a decentralized governance model, Gov 1.0, aligned with Polkadot’s structure. This governance framework is based on a tripartite system consisting of the Council, Technical Committee, and public referenda, embodying a separation of powers.
As the protocol matured, and with the release of Polkadot’s Gov2.0, also known as OpenGov, Bifrost quickly followed suit by introducing its own OpenGov governance system, placing community referenda at the heart of the decision-making process.
What is OpenGov?
Let’s first delve into the basic structure of OpenGov.
Polkadot’s OpenGov replaces the tripartite structure of Gov1.0, shifting to a system where all governance proposals are decided through referenda. The former Council and Technical Committee have evolved into the Fellowship, which influences decisions more through reputation and influence rather than direct voting power. The Fellowship’s only governance privilege is providing a secondary approval for emergency proposals (those under the WhitelistCaller track).
The Fellowship has its own internal voting and decision-making mechanism, where higher-ranked members possess greater voting weight. However, referenda can still hold authority over the Fellowship, as their governance power supersedes the internal voting outcomes of the Fellowship.
To improve the efficiency of referenda execution, OpenGov categorizes governance proposals into different tracks. At any given time, only one proposal can be active per track, though multiple tracks can progress proposals simultaneously. Each track is tailored with specific parameters based on the “risk level” of proposals—lower-risk proposals have reduced deposit requirements, lower approval thresholds, and shorter decision-making periods, whereas higher-risk proposals have more stringent requirements.
OpenGov also offers a delegation option for those lacking the time or expertise to participate directly in governance. Users can delegate their votes to others, enabling proxy voting. Moreover, users can delegate their votes to different representatives for each track, ensuring that experts can make decisions in their respective domains.
A proposal progresses through four stages from initiation to execution:
Preparation Period: After submission, the proposal enters the preparation period, where the initiator must place a deposit.
Decision Period: During this period, users can vote on the proposal. If the proposal meets the threshold conditions, it moves to the confirmation period. There are two threshold conditions: Support and Approval. Support is solely based on the number of votes, while Approval takes into account both the vote count and the duration of stake, with longer staking periods yielding higher Approval.
It’s important to note that these thresholds are dynamic and vary throughout the decision period, generally decreasing as the decision period progresses.
Confirmation Period: Users can continue voting during this phase, and the proposal must maintain its threshold conditions throughout. The confirmation period helps prevent manipulation by large holders, who might otherwise sway the outcome by casting votes at the last second during the decision period.
Execution Period: Once a proposal passes the confirmation period, it moves into execution, becoming effective on-chain after this stage.
Through OpenGov, Polkadot has achieved a fully community-driven governance model, positioning itself as a leader in governance innovation within the blockchain space. For a more detailed analysis of Polkadot OpenGov, please refer to our research report: Bifrost Governance on Subsquare I: General Introduction and Bifrost Governance on Subsquare II: Democracy & Treasury
Bifrost OpenGov
Bifrost has established eight tracks, each closely related to its operations:
Root: This track holds Sudo-level privileges, allowing the invocation of any method and making arbitrary system changes. It is primarily used for runtime and system fixes, as well as underlying adjustments.
WhitelistCaller: This track is used to initiate fast-track proposals, which have a shorter decision period and lower approval thresholds to address urgent matters. However, such proposals require secondary approval from the Fellowship after being passed.
Liquid Staking: This track merges the previous VET (Validator Election Track) and SystemStaking tracks. It has three main functions:
Approving various vToken Validator White Lists (VWL) and Validator Boost Lists (VBL). VWL and VBL represent validator nodes eligible to receive staking delegations from the Bifrost protocol, although the application processes for joining these lists differ. For more details, refer to the article “VET - Multi-Chain Validator Election Mechanism of Bifrost Based on Polkadot Governance 2.0.”
Managing parameters related to System Staking, such as staking ratios and adjustment methods. System Staking is a unique feature of the Bifrost protocol, where a portion of the assets locked in the Bridge is used for staking to generate additional revenue, which is added to the earnings of vToken holders to enhance the overall yield.
Adjusting the vToken Reward Fee (protocol fee), in addition to managing various Liquid Staking parameters.
SALP Admin: Manages operations related to SALP (Slot Auction Liquidity Protocol). SALP is a service Bifrost provides for slot auctions, allowing the liquidity of DOT/KSM locked in crowdloans to be released. However, with slot auctions gradually losing prominence within the Polkadot ecosystem, the SALP service will also be phased out.
FellowshipAdmin: Handles the management of Fellowship members, including adding or removing members and upgrading or downgrading their status. As previously mentioned, the decisions made through this track hold higher authority than the Fellowship’s internal management decisions.
ReferendumCanceller: Used to cancel an ongoing proposal.
ReferendumKiller: Used to cancel an ongoing proposal and slash its deposit, typically used to address malicious or high-risk proposals.
Treasury Spend: Approves financial expenditures.
Each of these eight tracks has distinct parameters. For example, the high-risk Root track requires a stake of 50,000 BNC to enter the voting period, whereas the lower-risk SALP Admin track only requires a stake of 2,500 BNC. Detailed parameters for all eight tracks can be found in the Bifrost Docs.
Research
2024 / 10 / 30 10:00Fundamental
vDOT - Benefits and Use Cases of Bifrost’s Flagship Liquid Staking Asset
With the recent expiry of the first Polkadot parachain lease periods and the unlocking of a large amount of DOT, over 3.3 Million DOT have been minted into Bifrost’s liquid staking solution for staked DOT - vDOT, with a total value reaching 18 million USD.
The Polkadot Unlock Harvest campaign incentivizes users to mint vDOT with their DOT. Users receive points, Raindrops, for each vDOT minted. More specifically, users receive primary DOT staking rewards and a share of the bonus pool of 500,000 BNC - worth over $150,000.
The percentage of rewards a user gets depends on the number of raindrops they have accumulated.
The campaign started on October 24th and will run until November 22nd.
For detailed rules, please refer to the article: “Polkadot Unlock Harvest - Rules and Rewards of the upcoming Bifrost Event”.
Bifrost offers users a competitive earning APY for staked DOT through dynamic validator selection and also offers users more ways to maximize their capital efficiently with compelling use-cases throughout the Polkadot ecosystem.
The sum of the basic yield of staking (Base), combined with the expected yield from the Polkadot Unlock Harvest event’s prize pool (Raindrop) and the vDOT/DOT Farming pool, results in a comprehensive annualized yield of vDOT currently exceeding 44%!
Why Choose vDOT?
As a liquid staking token (LST) for staked DOT, vDOT has the following advantages:
The first LST to retain governance rights of the original chain: vDOT supports Polkadot OpenGov and reserves the voting rights of the staked DOT. vDOT users can have their say in the governance of Polkadot as they would with DOT and obtain underlying staking yield, straight through the Bifrost interface.
Instant Withdrawal: While users can redeem vDOT for DOT at any time through the Swap pool without waiting for the 28 days unlock period, the Fast Redeem feature allows users redeem their vDOT for DOT in less than 28 days via the matching queue mechanism.
Yield bearing Asset: Staking rewards increase the value of vDOT relative to DOT, reflecting in the continuous growth of the redemption rate of vDOT to DOT. Users do not need to claim Staking rewards manually.
Security and Decentralization: Bifrost is a decentralized, non-custodial protocol. Bifrost maintains the diversity of validator delegation through its automated and dynamic algorithm, avoiding centralization risks.
Slash Protection: Bifrost protects users from slash losses through the BNC Insurance Fund. When a slash loss occurs, funds from the insurance fund are used to compensate first without affecting user earnings.
Multiple Use Cases: vDOT is used in various DeFi applications, such as liquidity farming on DEXs, restaking and as a collateral asset on lending and borrowing protocols.
vDOT Use-Cases
Providing liquidity on the DOT-vDOT pair on native DEXs on the Astar network with Arthswap, and on Moonbeam network with Beamswap, and Stellaswap. Users provide liquidity and earn liquidity rewards.
vDOT can be collateralized and lent out on the Interlay lending market, allowing users to implement a yield-farming strategy to achieve a higher compounded yield. However, this strategy requires risk management, as increasing the number of cycles may lead to higher liquidation risk. Alternatively, users can lend out vDOT to earn interest without engaging in additional borrowing.
vDOT can be used as collateral for iBTC vaults, enabling vault operators to access staking rewards whilst securing the trustless iBTC bridge.
vDOT can be used for participating in Polkadot governance. For users who stake DOT to mint vDOT, governance rights remain in their hands. This also reflects the Bifrost protocol’s neutrality in governance.
Conclusion
Since its development, the liquid staking sector has evolved from a competition based solely on yield rates to a dual of yield rates and ecosystem application scenarios.
Due to Bifrost’s unique cross-chain architecture, vDOT holders have a flexible and secure solution providing optimal staking yield and benefit from interoperable and composable use cases across ecosystems.
Finally, vDOT is the only LST allowing holders to participate in Polkadot governance while earning their staking yield. It is a compelling solution for users who face the dilemma of whether to stake, participate in DeFi, and govern.
If you are holding DOT, are you still sure you don’t wanna try vDOT?
Education
2023 / 11 / 15 11:00
SLPx Pallet - A Further Step Into The Omnichain Liquid Staking
What is SLPx?
SLP is the module used for processing vToken minting and redemption on the Bifrost chain. To mint and redeem vToken through SLP, users must first transfer their assets to the Bifrost chain, creating user experience issues.
SLPx is a recently developed extension pallet to SLP by Bifrost that will allow users to call SLP’s functionality on a remote chain without crossing assets into the Bifrost chain.
Specifically, SLPx will allow users to:
Mint vTokens on a remote chain
Redeem vToken on the remote chain
Swap vToken/Token on a remote chain using liquidity from the Bifrost chain behind the scenes.
You can use DOT directly to mint vDOT on Moonbeam, Moonriver and Astar, and both the original and target assets are on these chains. The whole process appears to be done respectively on the Moonbeam, Moonriver, or Astar local chain, and users are not bothered by the cross-chain interaction processes behind it. Likewise, you can redeem vDOT for DOT directly on the target chains.
Remote minting and redemption provide convenience for user operations on remote chains. In addition to providing convenience, the token swaps enabled on remote chains offer a new meaning to “unified liquidity”.
You can exchange vDOT/DOT on Moonbeam, Moonriver or Astar using the vDOT/DOT liquidity pool on the Bifrost chain. In this way, Bifrost does not need to divide the liquidity of vDOT/DOT into different chains. All chains’ vDOT/DOT exchanges share the same pool depth, leading to a more negligible price impact and a better trading experience.
At the same time, if a lending protocol on any supported remote chains uses vDOT as collateral, it can directly call on the unified liquidity pool on Bifrost to complete a liquidation when it occurs. If a liquidity pool is built on a remote chain to perform liquidation, the liquidation process will likely have a higher discount rate due to insufficient depth.
The Importance of SLPx
For users, the minting, redemption, and swapping of vTokens have been simplified, as they can now be directly performed on Moonbeam, Moonriver and Astar without cumbersome cross-chain operations. The unified liquidity feature will also provide users with a better swapping experience.
For applications on these parachains, integrating SLPx can bring additional features to their users. For example, lending protocols can remotely convert users’ collateralized DOT into vDOT, allowing users to earn staking rewards without additional steps. Furthermore, the unified liquidity will lower liquidation discounts for lending protocols. Lastly, by integrating SLPx, applications can remotely mint, redeem, and swap all types of vTokens without the need for individual adaptations for different vToken types.
For the ecosystem development of Moonbeam and Astar, SLPx introduces LSD assets from different chains. The remote service capability allows users to enjoy full-chain services from other chains without leaving the native chain.
For Bifrost, the remote-call feature implemented by SLPx is a significant milestone toward achieving Omni-LSD Vision.
Technical Implementations
SLPx is divided into two parts: the Local pallet on the Bifrost chain and the Remote pallet deployed on the remote chain (if the remote chain is an EVM chain like Moonbeam, it should be called a remote contract).
For example, when a user on Moonbeam utilizes SLPx to mint DOT into vDOT, the DOT is sent to Bifrost first, minted into vDOT, and then returned to Moonbeam. During this process, the user must interact with the remote contract and remotely call the local pallet to complete related operations.
The whole procedure consists of three steps:
Send DOT to Bifrost
Mint DOT into vDOT
Send vDOT back to Moonbeam
However, these three steps only require the user to initiate an interaction (pay once). After starting an interaction, all other processes are completed automatically. The same is true for the logic of remote redemption and remote swap.
This process is possible because SLPx uses XCM V3 as the cross-chain instruction format. XCM V3 specifies the instruction format that XCM V2 does not have, with one of the essential types of instructions being multi-hop executions.
The source chain can send an XCM V2 message to the target chain and define how the target chain executes it. No instructions in XCM V2 allow the target chain to execute the message by initiating a new XCM message.
However, with the addition of this type of instruction in XCM V3, the source chain can send an XCM-001 message to the target chain, have the target chain do a series of executions, and then initiate a new XCM-002 message to any third chain (which is equivalent to an acknowledgment message if the third chain is the source chain itself).
In short, XCM V3 allows an XCM message to command another chain to initiate a second XCM message.
After the XCM-002 message reaches the third chain, according to the message instruction, it can continue to initiate a new XCM-003 message. This is the multi-hop transmission, and this multi-hop chain can theoretically be infinite. As long as the user on the source chain pays enough fees, the message can complete multi-hop execution until its logic terminates.
In the remote minting use case of SLPx, after the user destroys the DOT on Moonbeam/Moonriver/Astar, calls the remote contract and an XCM message is sent containing the following instructions to the local pallet:
Mint DOT in Bifrost (Burn-Mint logic transfer asset)
Mint DOT to vDOT on the Bifrost chain
Lock vDOT on the Bifrost chain
Send an XCM command to the remote contract to mint vDOT (Lock-Mint logic transfer asset) on Moonbeam, Moonriver and Astar
SLPx Implementation Progress
We have deployed the SLPx remote pallet/contract on Moonbeam, Moonriver, Astar, and Ethereum. We will continue to deploy it on Manta, Astar zkEVM, Filecoin, and many more in the future.
The remote pallet/contract has completed code auditing. The Audit Report can be found HERE.
In addition, we have developed the front-end application for Omni LS dApp. Users can experience a range of functionalities such as remote minting, remote redemption, and remote swapping through the Omni LS dApp on these chains.
Conclusion
SLPx serves as Bifrost’s technical solution to achieve its Omni-LSD vision.
Chains that deploy the SLPx remote module will be able to interact with the SLP module on Bifrost, enabling remote minting and redemption of vTokens.
This ground-breaking interaction method brings convenience to users and provides a simple cross-chain integration path for developers on remote chains.
Products
2023 / 10 / 12 10:00
Chain Abstraction - The Path to a New Omnichain Web3 Architecture
Web3 has evolved into a multi-chain ecosystem, comprising hundreds of L1 blockchains, along with various Layer2 solutions, subnets, parallel chains, and application-specific chains. While this proliferation has spurred innovation and blockchain adoption, it has also led to fragmentation, with applications, assets, liquidity, and users spread across different chains.
Although cross-chain bridges offer a way to migrate assets between these chains, they fall short of creating a seamless whole. The solution lies in the concept of a full-chain architecture, which holds the promise of uniting the fractured landscape of Web3.
The vision for a full-chain architecture gaining industry consensus and widespread adoption is an exciting prospect. The potential benefits are substantial, with the following outcomes on the horizon:
User Convenience and Capital Efficiency: In a full-chain architecture, users would no longer need to concern themselves with where an application is deployed, where their assets reside, or where liquidity is sourced. Instead, they would interact with the entire blockchain ecosystem seamlessly, accessing all applications, assets, and liquidity effortlessly. This newfound convenience would elevate capital efficiency and enhance the overall user experience.
Developer Freedom and Interoperability: Developers would be liberated from the constraints of choosing a specific blockchain or deploying instances on multiple chains to retain users. Instead, they could focus on deploying their programs and liquidity in the most suitable locations, enabling users from different chains to access them. This approach would eliminate the restrictions on interoperability between applications, facilitating free integration across different blockchains.
This transformative state can be aptly described as “Chain Abstraction”.
Chain Abstraction
In software terminology, “abstraction” involves concealing intricate details from users to present a simplified interface, reducing complexity. Just as “account abstraction” hides elements like private keys and mnemonic phrases to ensure a seamless user experience, “chain abstraction” conceals the underlying blockchain infrastructure, enabling users to interact without the need for awareness or concern. It’s akin to using applications like WeChat or Taobao without needing to know the exact location of Tencent or Alibaba’s servers.
However, achieving chain abstraction as the industry standard will require concerted efforts from the entire blockchain community. This endeavor encompasses not only applications built on a full-stack architecture but also secure, high-performance cross-chain bridge protocols and gas-less account abstraction solutions. It is, in essence, a comprehensive engineering challenge.
As pioneers in the Omni-LSD (Liquidity, Security, and Developer Experience) field, Bifrost’s role is pivotal. Bifrost aims to serve as a model and reference for the full-chain integration of DeFi protocols, guiding the industry toward the realization of a unified Web3 ecosystem.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the journey toward a full-chain architecture within Web3 represents a crucial step forward in streamlining the blockchain experience for users and developers alike. As we continue to advance in this direction, the potential for a more accessible, interconnected, and efficient blockchain ecosystem becomes increasingly tangible. The collaboration of all stakeholders in the blockchain space is essential to make this vision a reality, and with dedication and innovation, we can reshape the future of Web3.
Education
2023 / 09 / 18 10:00Feature
Polkadot Unlock Harvest 2.0: 2.1M DOT Liquid Staked in 30 Days
The 2nd Round of the Polkadot Unlock Harvest campaign has come to an end and we are glad to share with you the incredible results achieved.
After a first round with over 1,800,000 vDOT minted on Bifrost, this time we have surpassed the previous milestone hitting an astonishing result of over 2,100,000 DOT liquid staked into vDOT on Bifrost!
By the time we are writing this content, Bifrost has become the Liquid Staking protocol providing fully decentralized LST, with the highest amount of DOT staked, becoming the leader protocol of the Polkadot LST ecosystem.
Outreach
The event has attracted the participation of thousands users:
66,382 DOT participated in vDOT farming, ultimately converting to a minting volume of 52,187 vDOT.
1,315 addresses were invited, collectively staking 709,287 DOT and minting 557,616 vDOT.
2,954 addresses participated in minting, collectively staking 2,095,325 DOT and minting 1,647,271 vDOT.
Rewards
In this second round of the event, Bifrost team set up multiple reward pools and incentives to support the minting of vDOT, including:
vDOT Farming Pool: vsDOT holders can stake vsDOT in advance and automatically receive vDOT after the release of the second round of crowd lending, without the need for manual operation. Participating in vsDOT Farming allows users to share the rewards from this pool.
Invitation Incentive Pool: Users can invite others to mint vDOT, and the pool is divided based on the number of invites and the amount staked by each invitee.
Raindrops Pool: Users minting vDOT can earn Raindrops points, and they can also earn bonus points by completing specific tasks. The pool is divided based on the points earned by each participant.
As announced via Bifrost official social media pages, the addresses who joined the event and contributed to reach such an incredible goal will be rewarded with an airdrop of 124,000 BNC Tokens!
These rewards will be distributed proportionally to stakers who collected Raindrop points minting vDOT, inviting friends and being part of the farming pools.
The distribution will proceed linearly - on a weekly basis - following a vesting period.
Results
Overall, during the last two rounds of Polkadot Unlock Harvest, almost 4,000,000 DOT were staked into Bifrost, leading to an increase of vDOT minting volume and a growth percentage of 185% in less than 6 months.
During the event, we have received massive support and recognition from the community of vDOT holders and users. This support and recognition stem from some extra features of vDOT, announced over the last few months:
Governance Voting Retention Power: vDOT holders can participate in governance voting in OpenGov, just like they do with DOT.
Airdrop Eligibility: Airdrops within the Polkadot ecosystem for DOT holders will be fully distributed to vDOT holders. Currently, vDOT holders have received eligible $PINK and $DED as airdrops.
Ecosystem Interoperability and Composability: vDOT holders can not only trade it at any time but are also able to create higher compounded yields and more utility in the Polkadot DeFi ecosystem.
What’s Next?
The 3rd round of the Polkadot Unlock Harvest will be probably announced in April, consequent to the unlocking of the DOT contributed to the third Polkadot round of Parachains Auction, among which the contribution made by users to Bifrost itself stands out.
Thanks for being part of the Liquid Staking Revolution!
Events
2024 / 02 / 27 11:00
Polkadot Crowdloan Unlock 1.0 - Data Recap
With the conclusion of the first round of the Polkadot slot lease for parachains, an amount of 100,000,000 DOT was unlocked. On October 12th, Bifrost launched the Polkadot Unlock Harvest Event, which started a week earlier than the actual date of the unlock and finished on November 22nd, spanning 40 days.
The event’s goal was to encourage participants to liquid-stake their DOT, which have been unlocked in the process, by minting vDOT on Bifrost.
Participants could earn Raindrops points by minting vDOT and inviting others to join the event. A reward of 500,000 BNC have been put in place for this event and it is going to be shared, based on the Raindrops acquired by users.
As of the event’s conclusion:
1701 addresses had minted vDOT
over 2,310,000 DOT have been Minted into 1,888,416 vDOT
Total Minting Volume (TVS) of 12 million USD
On average, each participating address minted approximately 1,110 vDOT and received a share of 450 BNC rewards.
The rewards for participants in this event will be released linearly, once a week, over the coming months.
The Polkadot Unlock Harvest event significantly increased the daily minting volume of vDOT, with a growth of around 113%. More users are benefiting from compounded returns through liquidity staking with vDOT.
As a liquidity staking asset, vDOT offers the flexibility of being instantly redeemed for DOT through a quick redemption feature (lightning mode) or traded at any time through liquidity pools. vDOT also provides multiple advantages for holders, including participation in yield farming, lending, and much more!
It’s worth noting that performing a DOT to vDOT conversion, users do not give up their governance rights. Stakers can directly use vDOT when voting in OpenGov through the governance interface provided by Bifrost.
Among DOT Liquid Staking Tokens, this feature is unique to vDOT!
With the continuous growth of vDOT minted, Bifrost will continue to work on vDOT integration across different chains and explore additional use cases and applications.
We will continue to build until the realization of Bifrost’s omni-chain vision.
Join us today.
Visit bifrost.app
Events
2023 / 12 / 05 11:00
Bifrost Presents Omni LS DApp - The Easy And Secure Way To Access Liquid Staking From Any Chain
What is Omni LS?
Omni LS DApp is a front-end application developed by Bifrost that supports remote minting and redemption of Bifrost liquid staking tokens (LST) “vTokens”, as well as Remote Exchange and Swap of vTokens.
This front-end application is powered by the SLPx Module deployed on the chain, which consists of the local pallet/smart contract of the Bifrost chain and the remote pallet/smart contract on the remote chain.
Currently, Omni LS DApp supports remote minting, redemption, and exchange on the EVM Parachains such as Astar, Moonbeam, Moonriver and Polkadot relay chain, as well as on Ethereum.
What problem does the Omni LS DApp solve?
Bifrost’s vToken is an LST asset created by the Staking Liquidity Protocol (SLP). Currently, Bifrost supports vDOT, vKSM, vGLMR, vMOVR, vBNC, vFIL, and vETH. Except for vETH and vFIL, the other vTokens require users to transfer their corresponding assets to the Bifrost chain before these can be minted into their respective LSTs.
This process poses challenges for user experience and broader adoption!
Suppose there is a lending and borrowing protocol on Moonbeam that supports vDOT as collateral. This feature is beneficial for users as they can earn additional staking rewards compared to collateralizing DOT. However, with the current process, if a user only has DOT on Moonbeam, they would need to follow these following steps:
Transfer DOT from Moonbeam to Bifrost through cross-chain transfer
Stake DOT on the Bifrost chain to obtain vDOT
Transfer vDOT back to Moonbeam through cross-chain transfer
Collateralize vDOT on Moonbeam and borrow the desired asset
An Easy Solution
The Omni LS DApp aims to simplify this process and provide a seamless experience for users to natively mint and utilize vTokens across different chains.
Instead of the user needing to operate in four steps and sign transactions four times, with the Omni LS DApp, steps can be shortened to just two:
In the Omni LS DApp, directly convert DOT on Moonbeam into vDOT.
Lend vDOT on the native Moonbeam lending protocol and borrow the desired assets.
In addition to remote minting, the Omni LS DApp also supports remote redemption and exchange:
Remote redemption: Users can directly redeem vTokens for their original tokens on other chains without the need to transfer them to the Bifrost chain.
Remote exchange: Users can exchange vTokens for their original tokens, or vice versa, on other chains without the need to transfer assets to the Bifrost chain. However, the liquidity used behind the scenes is from the Bifrost chain.
In summary, the Omni LS Dapp allows users to directly mint, redeem, and exchange vTokens on remote chains in just a click, without the need to switch between multiple Dapps and chains to complete these operations.
Is the Omni LS DApp Secure?
The backend of Omni LS DApp utilizes the SLPx Module developed by Bifrost, which has undergone an audit by Common Prefix.
The Audit Report can be found HERE.
Currently, Omni LS DApp only supports remote operations on Polkadot parachains. The security of cross-chain message transmission behind these remote operations is ensured by the Polkadot relay chain. As a multi-chain system that shares security, communication between Polkadot parachains has a high level of security.
In the future, if Omni LS DApp needs to support remote operations on heterogeneous chains, it will require support from a cross-chain bridge infrastructure. The security of heterogeneous cross-chain bridges is still an unresolved issue, and we will exercise great caution in this regard.
Omni LS DApp Operation Guide
Click to visit the Omni LS DApp homepage: omni.ls
To connect your wallet, click on the “Connect Wallet” button located in the top right corner.
Remote Minting
Click on the “Stake” tab
Select the asset you want to remotely mint into its respective LST “vToken”
Go to the minting page
Enter the desired quantity
Click on “mint”
The vToken will be minted on the original chain where the asset is located.
Remote Redemption
Click on the “Unstake” tab
Select the asset you want to redeem
Go to the redemption page
Enter the quantity of the asset
Click on “redeem”
The original token will be redeemed to the chain where the vToken is located.
Remote Exchange
To perform a swap, navigate to the Swap tab, select the type of asset you want to exchange, enter the desired amount, and click on the “Swap” button.
Future Developments of Omni LS DApp
The architecture of Polkadot naturally enables the possibility of Omni-chain applications. However, this potential has not yet been fully explored, and many applications still choose to deploy on a single parachain. Even with multi-chain deployment, it essentially replicates a single-chain Dapp on different chains.
From the user’s perspective, an Omni-chain Dapp is an application that can be accessed on any chain. Users shouldn’t have to worry about which chain they are on and should be able to use it like a local native Dapp on any chain.
Whilst multi-chain deployment can achieve to some extent similar effects, contracts deployed on different chains cannot communicate with each other. This leads to issues such as inconsistent asset formats and fragmented liquidity.
We believe that the Omni LS DApp’s remote access feature is the solution for Omni-chain Dapps. We hope that applications integrated with vTokens can incorporate the functionality of Omni LS DApp through a series of strategic integrations. When a user on Moonbeam uses a lending Dapp to collateralize DOT, the system automatically converts DOT to vDOT, combining four steps into one.
We are also about to launch corresponding incentive programs to encourage developers and DeFi applications to explore more complex and useful integrations.
Conclusion
We have introduced the best front-end interface ever developed by Bifrost - the new Omni LS DApp!
This enables users to remotely mint, redeem, and exchange vTokens. Compared to the original process, Omni LS DApp simplifies the user experience by allowing users to utilize the services provided by the Bifrost chain on remote chains, such as local DApps.
In terms of security, currently, the Omni LS DApp only supports remote access to Polkadot parachains. However, in the future, we plan to gradually support heterogeneous chains.
Omni LS DApp serves as an example application developed by Bifrost. We hope to see more third-party applications adopting a similar approach to deeply integrate Bifrost vTokens and make LSTs a key primitive within DeFi.
Announcements
2023 / 10 / 19 10:00Get the latest blog posts
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