Lodge Letter 70: Which blockchain bridge is right for dApps and developers?
We started Elk Finance as a community-facing project with a lighthearted animal name and a big problem to solve — blockchain interoperability.
ELK is native everywhere — consider what this means for a decentralised token; how many tokens like this are there?
What’s in a name?
Since we launched, the ElkNet blockchain bridge (including the Bifrost smart contract for fans of Norse mythology and Marvel movies — another fun name) has effortlessly moved the ELK token to over 20 different blockchains. And ELK is native to each one of these blockchains, no wrapping, just native everywhere.
No ELK has ever been lost. Ever. We have not been exploited or made the headlines. 🎉 Which is both good and bad. We are definitely under the radar.
And because the ElkNet only moves ELK (for now), the premise of our technology is lost on the “WEN WEN WEN” mentality of “crypto-chads” — get rich, get hacked, get out and everyone else can get rekt. Security, probity and longevity matter more to Elk.
A future where cross-chain is safe and easy is too hard to see and too far away.
Who even cares? Less than 5% of the world use Web3!
Web3/blockchain/crypto is full of idealists, innovators, idiots and criminals. Idealists drive the vision, innovators make it possible, we all make idiotic mistakes sometimes, and criminals prey on everyone. Avarice is rife and leads to further idiocy which leads to black swan events becoming commonplace. It’s a tough game!
As an idealistic idiot with occasional innovative thoughts, I’ve chosen a challenging path to walk, and I’m understandably frightened of the criminal minority ruining it for the majority that includes my friends, colleagues and, honestly, everybody else! This is because a change is underway. and it’s unstoppable. So, as Web3 pioneers we have a responsibility to make it safer. We have to be the deputies, the sheriffs and the marshalls in the Web3 Wild West.
What is Elk doing to make this future a reality?
Well, we aren’t compromising our core values of safety, simplicity and excellence for starters. There is no need to name the culprits of blockchain bridging disasters, or custodial exchanges ruining lives — they are the well-known leading criminals of Web3.
Elk is making infrastructure that is invisible to users. dApps built on ElkNet will use a decentralised technology that meets their specific requirements. Developers can easily make what they need, not struggle with the fragmentation and limitations of current leading bridges (which one will fail next I wonder?)
Furthermore, since this is Web3, individuals can participate in collective ownership. No massive companies scouring money from their customers, Web3 is an opportunity for the equitable distribution of wealth.
- Staking ELK secures ElkNet validators
- ELK pairs provide concentrated liquidity to the ElkDex
- ELK governance rights
- Users pay validator transaction fees
- Projects (DAOs) earn fees from bridging
- Any token can be move through the ElkNet — native everywhere
- And there is so much more, starting here 👇
We aren’t going anywhere but forwards 🤝