📝 Hello everyone, I am 𝟏𝟎, welcome back to the #区块链发展史 project investment research series. Today, we will focus on "Axelar / AXL".
Axelar is a decentralized cross-chain communication network dedicated to connecting different blockchains to provide developers and users with asset liquidity and program composability in a more efficient way, thereby improving the interoperability of Web3.
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1. Axelar (AXL) Overview
1. What is Axelar (AXL)
Axelar is a project focused on cross-chain interoperability, providing secure cross-chain communication, allowing dApp users to easily interact with assets and applications on any chain, similar to Stripe in Web3. It implements message routing through a permissionless network and a simple API, while ensuring security using proof-of-stake consensus.
In 2024, Axelar launched the Axelar Virtual Machine (AVM) and a variety of development tools, allowing cross-chain functions to no longer be limited to information and asset transfer, but to program and execute smart contracts to handle more complex operations. Through these protocols and tools, Axelar really provides a seamless cross-chain experience for developers of decentralized applications, making the development process simple and efficient.
The AXL token is the native token of the Axelar network and is key to the operation, security and governance of the network. It not only supports network functionality, but also drives the healthy development of the ecosystem.
2. Financing and institutional endorsement
As of now, Axelar has successfully completed three rounds of financing, with a total amount of more than 63 million US dollars. The details are as follows: the seed round of financing in 2020 was 3.75 million US dollars, followed by a 25 million US dollar Series A financing in 2021, and a 35 million US dollar Series B financing on February 15, 2022, which made the project valuation exceed 1 billion US dollars.
Of the three rounds of financing, two were led by top investment institution Polychain Capital, which has participated in well-known projects such as Solana, Dydx and Dfinity. Other investors include Dragonfly Capital, Galaxy Digital, North, Island Ventures and several angel investors (including Terra co-founders). Supporters also include Binance and Coinbase, showing that the project has strong financial strength.
2. How Axelar (AXL) works
Axelar is a public chain based on PoS, with a decentralized network and validators, focusing on achieving inter-chain communication. Its workflow is simple: first, the validator monitors the transaction requests on the source chain; then, the legitimacy of these requests is verified on the Axelar chain; finally, the transaction is sent to the target chain.
Axelar deploys a smart contract gateway on each connected public chain. Validators need to run nodes or light clients on these chains, monitor transaction requests and feed them back to the Axelar public chain. Through voting, validators confirm transaction feedback and complete verification on the Axelar network to ensure the security and efficiency of transactions.
Axelar's decentralized validator network maintains system health and facilitates communication between different blockchains through the cross-chain gateway protocol. Its second layer consists of gateway smart contracts, which serve as a bridge between Axelar and other public chains. On top is the application development layer, which provides APIs and SDKs to help developers create cross-chain applications and enhance blockchain interoperability and user experience. The following figure shows a schematic diagram of Axelar's work:
III. Axelar (AXL) Project Features
The characteristics of the Axelar network are mainly focused on its unique cross-chain communication capabilities. Although other projects are also trying similar functions, Axelar is achieved through proof of stake (PoS), which makes it different.
Axelar’s architecture consists of three core components. The first is a decentralized network, operated by validators, to ensure the security of cross-chain transfers. The second is a development toolkit that provides protocols and APIs to help developers easily create cross-chain applications. Finally, the gateway smart contract is the key to cross-chain connections, similar to the gateway in the Internet.
In terms of specific protocols, the Cross-Chain Gateway Protocol (CGP) is like a router on the Internet, responsible for transferring data from one blockchain to another. The Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CTP) is similar to the HTTP protocol, which developers can use to send cross-chain requests, just like a web page requesting data. Through CTP, users can lock, unlock or transfer assets on different chains, and even let applications on one chain call smart contracts on another chain.
4. Axelar (AXL) Ecosystem
According to Axelarscan data, it already supports 66 chains, far exceeding other cross-chain networks, including Arbitrum, Avalanche, BNB Chain, etc. Its powerful technical capabilities enable it to connect to networks with unique virtual machines (VMs) and consensus mechanisms.
To date, Axelar has completed 2.44 million transactions with a transaction volume of more than US$9.6 billion and successfully deployed 833 inter-chain contracts.
5. Tail
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