Wanchain

Every new blockchain strives to address the challenges of the existing blockchains that continue to live as siloed, isolated networks with less communication ability in the web3 ecosystem. Wanchain is another cross-chain technology-enabled blockchain. This protocol believes that the future is connected, and the network aims to link all these isolated networks together. Considering that the goal of Web3 is to make seamless peer-to-peer interactions in a networked society. Wanchain believes this is possible only through a truly decentralized and interoperable ecosystem, a wide area network of blockchains, in short, Wanchain.

About Wanchain

Wanchain is a sustainable and decentralized layer 1 interoperability solution based on the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. It is a full Ethereum-like environment, compatible with industry-standard Ethereum tools, dApps and protocols. It aims to bring interoperability to the Web3 ecosystem through fully decentralized, direct and non-custodial bridges, connecting both EVM and non-EVM networks without any intermediaries. Currently, more than 15 layer1 and layer2 blockchain networks are connected by the Wanchain network. WAN is the native cryptocurrency of Wanchain.

Wanchain cross-chain bridges include:

• Direct bridges - Requires no intermediaries or relay network for cross-chain transactions.
• Layer 2 bridges - Uses decentralized pools to link assets between popular Ethereum layer2 networks such as Polygon or Arbitrum.
• NFT bridges - Utilizes the lock-mint-burn-unlock mechanism.

Architecture

Most of Wanchain's direct bridges use the lock-mint-burn-unlock method, whereby the original asset is securely locked on the source chain before a wrapped asset is minted on the destination chain when moving from one chain to another. These tokens can be burned or wrapped token anytime to fetch the original asset.

Layer2 bridges utilize decentralized liquidity pools to link assets together. With this approach, a pre-existing pool of assets is locked in an account under the Bridge Group's management on both the source and destination blockchains. Before an equal amount of assets is released on the destination blockchain, a user who conducts a cross-chain transaction deposits assets into the pool on the source blockchain.

Despite being tailored to each project, NFT bridges are akin to the lock-mint-burn-unlock way of bridging. The NFT IDs and attributes are also transferred between blockchains.

Consensus Mechanism

Wanchain uses a unique Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm called Galaxy PoS consensus. It is a permissionless consensus mechanism based on Cardano's Ouroboros PoS but with innovation in various key areas. This protocol has a set of eligible stakeholders known as the Community. Each community member is given opportunities to participate in consensus and earn rewards, determined by how much WAN they hold and how long the token is locked.

Technical Design

Wanchain offers Bridge Nodes or Storeman Nodes and standard PoS Validator Nodes. These bridge nodes' ensure that cross-chain transactions are carried out and verified.

All Bridge Nodes are required to stake WAN tokens as collateral. This unified decentralized collateral pool serves as the foundation for all of Wanchain's many cross-chain bridges.

There are 25 active Bridge Nodes at any given moment. They get together to form the Storeman or Bridge Group, and re-election for the Bridge Group occurs monthly.

Anyone can put up a Bridge Node because they are permissionless.

Founders

• Jack Lu - Founder and CEO
• Dustin Byington - President

Popular Use Cases

Wanchain offers several potential use cases involving:

• Finance - Wanchain enables cross-chain transactions and the exchange of different coins.
• Identification - It offers an efficient solution for cross-border identity verification.
• Supply Chain - Wanchain allows businesses to track their supply chain to identify the source of any issues.
• Medical - It facilitates safe record keeping of patient data and permits the speedy transfer of information whenever needed.

Other Information

Wanchain offers decentralized, non-custodial bridges to enable interoperability across inherently different blockchains on their isolated and independent chains. The bridge currently offers the following:

• Arbitrum
• BNB Chain
• Dogecoin
• Moonriver
• EOS
• Bitcoin
• Polkadot Relay Chain
• Fantom
• Avalanche C-Chain
• Litecoin
• Moonbeam
• OKC (OKX Chain)
• Polygon
• Ethereum
• XDC Network
• XRP Ledger