For Web3, what kind of sparks will be created if a project can simultaneously connect new and old Web3 players with traditional Wall Street giants?
Axelar has the answer.
As leading players in cross-chain interoperability, both Lido Finance, which occupies an absolute position in on-chain DeFi, and Onyx, a digital asset platform under traditional financial giant JPMorgan Chase, are built on Axelar's interoperability stack, which presents its vision of an interoperable universe that encompasses as many on-chain and even off-chain assets as possible to the market.
In general, Axelar has currently formed a full-chain ecological layout jointly promoted by new and old players in Web3 (on-chain, Token) and traditional Wall Street giants (off-chain, RWA). Axelar plays the role of infrastructure in the entire ecosystem, and is expected to become a rigid demand among rigid demands as the full-chain + RWA track is continuously built.
This article aims to review Axelar’s latest full-chain ecological landscape from the two major categories of Web3 partners and Wall Street friends circle, and take a glimpse into the interoperability universe that Axelar is gradually taking shape.
Web3 partners are flourishing
From a macro perspective, Axelar currently leads the pack in terms of the number of blockchain networks it has covered and the number of DApps that have integrated and deployed GMP full-chain services, which are as high as 66 chains and 793 GMP contracts respectively, and the total historical cross-chain transaction volume is close to US$9.5 billion.
These include mainstream blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Cosmos ecology, as well as emerging non-EVM blockchain networks. For example, Sui has reached a cooperation with Axelar and plans to open up the capital flow of Sui network and even the entire Move ecosystem based on the Axelar interoperability network.
Specifically, it covers DeFi, NFT, infrastructure, games, RWA and other tracks. They mainly use Axelar's cross-chain token service ITS (Interchain Token Service) and general messaging technology GMP to build and integrate their own cross-chain services:
ITS is a service specifically designed to meet the needs of project owners when deploying tokens on multiple chains . Its automated deployment + maintenance service allows teams to easily manage the token deployment process and can be used for any form of ERC 20 tokens.
GMP goes beyond the concept of bridging assets, enabling developers to build native cross-chain applications , abstracting chains for users to perform cross-chain function calls and state synchronization;
This article counts more than 152 projects (incomplete statistics), trying to cover the entire picture of Axelar's growing ecological landscape. Common projects such as Uniswap and SushiSwap are briefly introduced, and new project integrations or other heavyweight collaborations are specially introduced.
DeFi (90)
Lido Finance is a leading project in the LSD track with an absolute leading position. Its current TVL exceeds 26 billion US dollars. On August 9, the latest vote passed the joint cross-chain plan of Axelar and Wormhole to introduce wstETH into BNB Chain. This is not the first cooperation between Lido and Axelar. Previously, Axelar has successfully helped Lido introduce wstETH into the Cosmos ecosystem. This cooperation not only deepened the cooperative relationship between the two parties, but also further expanded Lido's layout in the cross-chain field.
Squid is a liquidity router that enables cross-chain liquidity routing and exchange through a single JavaScript SDK. Developers can use the Axelar GMP function to securely and seamlessly call smart contracts on multiple chains, turning complex cross-chain operations into one-click transactions for users.
Prime Protocol is a cross-chain native DeFi application that provides the ability to accept any asset as collateral across chains by leveraging Axelar's General Messaging (GMP) function, allowing users to deposit assets from any connected chain and use their total value as loan collateral on other connected chains.
Frax Finance has partnered with Axelar Network to release Frax ecosystem assets such as frxETH on Osmosis, Mantle, Linea, Kujira, Manta Network and Scroll.
In addition DODO, Levana, StakeDAO, QiDao, Overnight Finance, Sommelier, Sonne Finance, Stride, Ethos Reserve, LayerBank, Mendi Finance, Easy Bridge, Mars Protocol, OpenOcean, Beefy, Morphex, Liquid Driver, Kado, Stader, Vela Exchange, Umee, Granary Finance, Onramper, Transak, Neutron, Vooi, Mc 2 Finance, Mento, Metavault, Velo, B edrock, MilkyWay, MintDao, 88 DeFi projects such as finance, Innovaz, dYdX, Uniswap, Balancer, Ramses Exchange, Sushiswap, Kyberswap, Quickswap, Stellaswap, Spookyswap, Pangolin, Thena, Osmosis, DackieSwap, Kinetix, Vertex, Equalizer, Mum my Finance, Pancakeswap, Zyberswap, HorizenDEX, Kujira, Equilibre, Velocimeter, Syncswap, Lzumi Finance, Velocore, Chainflip, Demex, BaseSwap, etc. have also been integrated with Axelar.
Wallets (17 pieces)
The OKX Web3 wallet discovery section already supports Axelar. Users can seamlessly access and use Axelar services through the OKX Web3 wallet without manual configuration.
In addition, mainstream crypto wallets such as MetaMask, OKX Web3 Wallet, Trust Wallet, Bitget Wallet, TokenPocket, Ledger, Blockchain.com, Coin 98 Wallet, Keplr, Cosmostation, Fluvi Wallet, Frontier Wallet, xDeFi Wallet, Leap Wallet, Haha Wallet, Verso, Terra Station , etc. have been integrated with Axelar.
NFT (13)
Junkyard is a cross-chain NFT ecosystem that creates lottery games for NFTs using Axelar GMP capabilities to ensure seamless communication and state synchronization between Polygon and Ethereum, enabling a smooth and reliable user experience:
Participants can transfer their NFTs to the Junkyard smart contract on Ethereum, and Axelar will securely send and store the NFT data to the contract on Polygon. When participants "fish" at the junkyard, the Polygon contract will call the random number on Chainlink and randomly select a group of NFTs from the junkyard. If the participant chooses to claim one of the fished NFTs, the delivery will be completed on the Ethereum blockchain.
Rekt Gang is a multi-chain NFT series that uses Axelar's cross-chain technology to enable the interaction or transfer of its NFTs between different chains.
Stargaze is the Cosmos ecosystem NFT application chain, and is collaborating with Axelar on cross-chain asset transfers to enhance the accessibility and liquidity of its NFTs.
Omnisea is a full-chain NFT launch platform based on Axelar and LayerZero, on which creators can issue cross-chain NFTs.
In addition, NFT-related projects that have integrated Axelar include Omnite, Decentraland, Nama Finance, AllSpark, Decent.xyz, Nft 2 me, UnUniFi, Innovaz, RMRK , etc.
Games (11)
Immutable has integrated Axelar, allowing users from more than 60 blockchain networks to seamlessly cross-chain to Immutable through Axelar, enabling games on the Immutable zkEVM to attract players from the entire blockchain ecosystem.
In addition, game-related projects that have integrated Axelar include Saga, Efiled Racers, XPLA, Jr Studio, mvhq, Decentraland, Lync, Seedify, DIGARD, EXILED RACERS and other projects.
Infrastructure (12)
Celestia has integrated Axelar, where the Axelar network’s Interchain Amplifier provides cross-chain support for Celestia’s Rollkit, automatically routing tokens between more than 60 connected chains, thereby enhancing security and connectivity.
Biconomy is a blockchain development tool provider that builds transaction infrastructure for Web3. It can provide functions such as hot-swappable API services and cooperates with Axelar to achieve interoperability between multiple chains.
Lava , a modular blockchain developer, has partnered with Axelar to launch an incentivized public RPC service, with plans to add more chains in the near future.
In addition, infrastructure-related projects that integrate Axelar include Mapp of Zones, Subquery, Band Protocol, Pulsar, Kyve, Akash, Alterscope, Decentr, Moralis, etc.
Expanding circle of friends of traditional institutional giants
"Institutional circle of friends" and traditional financial tokenization services have always been one of Axelar's more eye-catching labels in the full-chain narrative and even the entire crypto world. If you dig deep into Axelar's circle of friends, you will find that its tentacles are already very large.
Stablecoin/Payment (1)
Circle is the issuer of the stablecoin USDC. As early as 2022, Axelar reached a partnership with Circle to add its General Messaging (GMP) to Circle's cross-chain transmission protocol to jointly enable composable USDC, allowing native USDC and function calls to be integrated into any DApp on any chain.
Development Stack (1)
Microsoft and Axelar have reached a cooperation to develop blockchain interoperability solutions. Axelar will provide services to Microsoft customers through the Azure cloud market and explore the development of solutions including connecting private and public blockchains. In addition, Microsoft Azure Marketplace will provide Axelar's universal messaging cross-chain software stack, enabling developers to integrate applications on different blockchains, aiming to make it easier for Web3 and enterprise developers to enter the blockchain.
RWA (7)
Ondo Finance is an RWA protocol that has partnered with Axela to launch the RWA innovative cross-chain solution Ondo Bridge, which aims to simplify the liquidity of tokens issued by Ondo (such as the interest-bearing stablecoin USDY) between different blockchain networks. It uses a destroy and mint mechanism, which not only breaks through the limitations of traditional cross-chain technology, but also effectively avoids the risks of traditional packaged asset bridging.
Centrifuge is a pioneer in RWA and has used Axelar's interoperability layer as the underlying infrastructure, allowing protocols and liquidity on any chain to interoperate with RWA released by Centrifuge: including its "Centrifuge Everywhere" multi-chain strategy, which is supported by Axelar and can introduce native Centrifuge RWA to Arbitrum, Base, Celo and Ethereum.
Deutsche Bank has established a partnership with Axelar (Interop Lab), using Axelar as an interoperability partner to build cross-chain infrastructure and explore the capabilities of open architecture and interoperable blockchain platforms to provide services for tokenization and digital funds.
At the same time, the Axelar Foundation has also reached cooperation with Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Mastercard, Northern Trust and others to explore ways to improve the accessibility and liquidity of tokenized assets.
Apollo is a top global alternative asset management company and has partnered with Axelar and others to deliver Project Guardian. Through this collaboration, more than 3,000 operational steps of wealth managers can be reduced to one automated process, faster programmatic settlement can reduce portfolio fees by approximately 20%, and can also bring $400 billion in annual revenue opportunities to the AWM industry.
In addition, in May 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the launch of Project Guardian, a cooperation program with the financial industry aimed at exploring the economic potential and value-added use cases of asset tokenization, testing the feasibility of asset tokenization and DeFi applications, and managing risks to financial stability and integrity. Axelar has been selected for two consecutive times.
summary
In general, Axelar has already built two huge and expanding ecosystems, namely, new and old participants in Web3 (covering the on-chain and Token fields) and traditional Wall Street giants (involving off-chain and RWA fields), with remarkable results.
Especially the latter, which enables traditional financial giants to rely on Axelar to flexibly deploy tokenized funds on different chains. This also means that Axelar, as the underlying infrastructure, will directly benefit from the hundreds of billions of dollars of untokenized liquidity in the traditional financial system.
From this perspective, Axelar has an obvious first-mover advantage in the layout of RWA, and is unique in the entire full-chain interoperability track - whether in terms of sense of smell or action, it crushes other leading full-chain interoperability projects.
Axelar is grabbing the ball with both hands at the same time, and both hands are very strong. It may be at a turning point in its gradual rise.
