BNB Chain has launched a new cross-chain bridge to enhance its network’s interoperability, liquidity and user experience.
On Aug. 28, the smart contract blockchain announced that it has collaborated with cross-chain technology providers Celer, deBridge and Stargate to launch the BNB Chain bridge. In addition, BNB Chain will also create a liquidity pool that will allow transfers from other chains to its network.
According to BNB Chain, this is part of its broader efforts to grow its stablecoin ecosystem. With the bridge, users can transfer assets from other blockchains, including stablecoins.
Connecting with the broader DeFi market
The BNB Chain team added that the new bridge will also allow the development of a broader range of decentralized finance (DeFi) products and services in its ecosystem. The BNB Chain team believes that integrating advanced cross-chain protocols will boost the capital efficiency of blockchain assets in their network.
DeBridge co-founder Alex Smirnov expressed excitement about having BNB Chain join a “unified DeFi market” with cross-chain transfers. Smirnov added:
“Having supported BNB Chain since day one of deBridge, it’s a tremendous honor to be selected as a canonical bridge provider for the official BNB Chain bridge aggregator.”
Furthermore, BNB Chain also noted that the bridge launch solves a market need for cost-effective cross-chain interoperability services. According to BNB Chain, the collaboration with cross-chain technology providers “strengthens its position in the blockchain market.”
“It is expected to attract more projects to BNB Chain, helping them achieve real business success and reach a larger audience,” BNB Chain wrote.
Competing in stablecoin market share
The announcement appears to be an effort by the network to compete with other blockchains regarding stablecoin market share. On Aug. 16, data from Coin Metrics revealed that Ethereum continues to lead in stablecoin market share with $89.7 billion. This represents 55.7% of the total market.
Tron came in second place at $61.1 billion in stablecoin value. This represents 37.9% of the stablecoin market. Meanwhile, the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) only had a market share of about $400 million in the $161.1 billion stablecoin market. This represents a 0.2% market share compared to other networks.
Furthermore, a BNB Chain representative told Cointelegraph that stablecoins remain an important building block for a strong DeFi ecosystem. They said:
"As we continue to build a leading DeFi hub on BNB Chain, and expand into payments, we will continue to serve users by offering a diversified set of robust stablecoin options to meet their needs."
BNB Chain also added that the bridge is also a response to user and developer feedback. “BNB Chain Bridge is a response to user expectations of having a single interface for bridging to BNB Chain," the representative added.
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