Sifchain

Sifchain is a DEX built with the Cosmos SDK. We are building an interoperable Omni-EVM future where any asset from any blockchain can be moved freely and easily to any other blockchain.

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Inspiration

Welcome to Sifchain Sifchain built the first Cosmos to Ethereum bridge and launched the first DeFi implementation of real-world monetary policies for purchasing power growth. We’re home to the best team of cryptoeconomists in DeFi and over 20 dedicated blockchain engineers. Our founder was one of the key architects at Thorchain, and we’re dedicated to carrying out the mission of interoperability.

Sifchain’s Peggy bridge technology allows for seamless, fast, and cheap bridging and swaps between Cosmos and Ethereum. This grant application will enable us to expand this technology to connect Tron network to Cosmos.

What it does

Sifchain: The Technology Enabler for Cross-Chain Swaps

Sifchain is a Layer 1 blockchain in the Cosmos ecosystem. Sifchain is built with the Cosmos SDK for faster trades and lower fees. We are creating a cryptocurrency metaverse where any asset across the globe can move freely between different blockchains, and do so quickly and at the cheapest price possible.

Sifchain’s DEX (SifDEX) will enable users to swap digital assets from a wide variety of blockchain ecosystems in one place, by connecting all major blockchains together using advanced bridging technology that we call 'Peggy'.

Peggy allows users to freely, quickly, and easily move assets between any connected blockchain and Sifchain. All transactions that a user can take within Sifchain are extremely quick and extremely cheap, thanks to Sifchain being built with the Cosmos SDK.

Currently, Peggy supports Cosmos and Ethereum. Sifchain aims to add upwards of 20+ more chains by the end of 2023.

This creates a world where any user with any token in any blockchain, can easily use that token and get any other token from any other blockchain, put that token to use directly on Sifchain's DEX (and earn high yield from non-inflationary sources for doing so), and/or export that token to any other blockchain.

How we built it

In order to accomplish this cross-chain support, Sifchain uses a concept called 'Peggy' to create a pegged token model. This model is inspired by the Cosmos peg zone model. A 'peg zone' is an account-based blockchain which bridges 'zones' within Cosmos to external chains like Bitcoin or Ethereum. These peg zones are what allow assets to be easily transferred between Sifchain and the external chain. Peg-zones can even be used for cross-chain transfers between a finalistic and probabilistic blockchain.

In Peggy, not only does the usage of these pegged tokens create a highly scalable design, it also has unique crypto-economic incentives for its participants. For instance, Sifchain validators only need to run 'Sifnode' (Sifchain's network) and can leave the cross-chain transaction labor to peg zone validators. Each peg zone validator only needs to run a node for the peg zone blockchain and the external blockchain (ie. Bitcoin or Ethereum) and can then send assets to and from Sifchain through Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC).

Having successfully run our first implementation of Peggy since mid-2021, we are now approaching the launch of Peggy 2.0, which will allow for connection to all EVM blockchains to be rapidly deployed (such as Avax, FTM, Solana etc).

Connecting Cosmos & Tron We will use this Peggy 2.0 solution and connect the Cosmos and Tron for seamless asset transfer and swaps between the two ecosystems.

Further, Peggy 2.0 will connect to dozens of other EVM-based chains, delivering asset flow, user growth, and ecosystem expansion to Tron.

For more details on Peggy, please see the below links:=

Challenges we ran into

  • Peggy 2.0 development has taken longer than anticipated because of our strict focus on security and scalability.
  • We have completed 4 different audits from 4 different independent auditors, including Halborn and Certik. Further, our team has spent extensive time & resources on migration and stress testing to ensure Peggy 2.0 can function properly even during highly trafficked times.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Peggy 1.0 was the first Cosmos to Ethereum bridge for over one year.
  • Peggy 1.0 has never been exploited.
  • Peggy 1.0 has been live and stable for ~1.5 years.

What we learned

Building safe, secure, and scalable bridges between ecosystems takes a level of discipline, diligence, and hard work. It takes a team of highly skilled experts to be able to implement such a solution. Two of our leaders, Jazear Brooks, Co-founder, & Aidan Musnitsky, CTO, have been in blockchain and cryptocurrency for a combined 13 years. Both Brooks and Musnitsky are well-versed in technology solutions and scaleable architecture for blockchain. Snowfork, a company started by Musnitsky, built Snowbridge, a bridge between Polkadot and Ethereum.

What's next for Sifchain

Sifchain’s engineering team is building 3 main initiatives:

  1. Peggy 2.0 bridge. This will connect to 25+ of the top blockchains representing the overwhelming majority of all cryptocurrency trading volume. It will also simplify the process of blockchain integration, lowering cost and removing development barriers for the open-source community. Peggy 2’s launch is planned for October 2022. It will first upgrade the existing Ethereum connection, and then integrate the next EVM chain in November of 2022. For a detailed timeline breakdown, please see the attached Omni-EVM Timeline image. Also on our near-term roadmap is:
  2. The delivery of our Deep Margin Trading feature, which will bring Sifchain users high organic revenue generated from interest & swap fees, or APR from non-inflationary sources.
  3. Deployment of our Developer-friendly tools aimed at making it as easy as possible for users to build on top of, and integrate into, Sifchain's functionality.

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