Interview with Co-founder of Multichain: How to Stay Ahead in the Competitive Cross-Chain Market.

With the rapid development of the industry in recent years, the encryption industry has undoubtedly entered the era of multi-chain coexistence. Currently, the number of public chains included only by DefiLamma has exceeded 150, and the trend of multi-chain coexistence is becoming more and more obvious. The demand for cross-chain by users is also increasing, and cross-chain bridges have become an indispensable infrastructure for users.

And in the fiercely competitive third-party cross-chain market, Multichain (formerly Anyswap) has always maintained a leading advantage in the industry with an extremely high market share. As of December 29, 2022, Multichain's total cross-chain transaction volume reached 95.26 billion US dollars, with a cumulative completion of 4.55 million cross-chain transactions and a total of 795,188 users. The total fee income reached 38.67 million US dollars, of which the incentive amount for veMULTI exceeded 6.2 million US dollars.

So, compared to many other third-party cross-chain protocols, what unique technical secrets does Multichain have, and what unique insights does it have on the future development direction of the cross-chain market? Today, BlockBeats interviewed Alfred XU, co-founder of Multichain, to hear his thoughts on these questions.

Head effect appears, how does Multichain consolidate its leading advantage?

Rhythm BlockBeats: We see that with the intensification of market competition, there has been a clear head effect in the segmented tracks such as DEX and lending. Do you think a similar phenomenon will occur in the third-party cross-chain market, and how will Multichain consolidate its market advantage?

Alfred XU: We do not believe that any party can dominate the cross-chain field, or that there is only one ultimate solution. When a track becomes a necessary part of industry development, industry demand will inevitably become more diversified, so this track will definitely have many competitors and a variety of solutions. Just like the development of public chains, no matter what the initial state is, it will eventually become a multi-chain coexistence.

Currently, Multichain is a leader in the field of asset cross-chain. According to third-party data platform Defillama, Multichain's real-time transaction data ranks in the TOP3, and its cumulative transaction volume is far ahead. Among the top 10 third-party cross-chain bridges counted by Defillama, Multichain's market share exceeds 40%, making it the bridge with the highest market share. We are currently working hard to further expand our advantages. However, the cryptocurrency market is constantly changing, with new technologies, products, models, and applications emerging constantly. How to consolidate our advantages, meet the constantly emerging needs of the market in a safe, efficient, and friendly manner, keep up with or even lead the development of this industry, and continue to maintain a leading position in this industry is the problem that Multichain needs to think about.

In addition to leading trading data and market share, we have always focused on security, constantly updating our products and technologies, as well as expanding our ecosystem. We have launched the anyCall universal message cross-chain protocol and the layered full-chain interaction protocol stack OBI (Omni-Blockchain Interaction).

First of all, we will always prioritize security and continuously strengthen risk control and security management. The current risk response measures that have been established include:

1. Regularly conduct internal and external audits;

2. MULTI Security Fund safeguards user asset risks, and 10% of cross-chain transaction fees will be allocated to the MULTI Security Fund.

3. Collaborate with Immunefi to establish a bug bounty program of up to $2 million;

4. Establish a comprehensive risk monitoring and control system;

Multichain's entire code is open source, and we have always adhered to the principles of business transparency. All protocol data is transparent and traceable on the chain. In November, we released information on the supply and lock-up situation of some stablecoins on Multichain, which can be found in this report.

It is not denied that Multichain has had security issues in the past, but the affected funds were small in scale, and the root cause of the security issues had nothing to do with Multichain's cross-chain core architecture. At the same time, Multichain responded to users promptly after the incident, took responsibility, and compensated for all losses. Through this experience, we understand the importance of maintaining product security at all times, and in this regard, we place more emphasis on security than other teams.

Next, we will continue to explore and innovate in the field of inter-chain interaction products and technical solutions. By 2023, we will launch and continuously enrich the OBI full-chain interaction technology stack, as well as introduce ZK Router to provide services for inter-chain interaction needs at all levels, guiding and supporting the development of a more in-depth multi-chain ecosystem and promoting the implementation of the next generation of cross-chain Dapps.

Additionally, we are committed to continuously improving the user experience for cross-chain transactions. By understanding the true needs of our users, we will continue to optimize our cross-chain solutions to provide a secure, smooth, and fast experience. We dynamically adjust cross-chain transaction fees based on market trends and demand, reducing the cost for users to conduct cross-chain transactions. Currently, fees for some mainstream tokens can be as low as $0.19. Recently, we have also upgraded our browser to allow users to easily view various data. The new browser is now available online. The Multichain support team is available 24/7 through Zendesk and various official communities to provide services to our users.

BlockBeats: How does Multichain view other major competitors in the third-party cross-chain bridge market? For example, Stargate, which saw a rapid increase in market share in the third quarter.

Alfred XU: Currently, the cross-chain bridge market has shown a diverse range of options. In addition to official cross-chain bridges such as Arbitrum Bridge, Optimism Gateway, and Avalanche Bridge, third-party cross-chain bridge projects such as Stargate, Axelar, Hop, and Across have also gained a foothold in the market.

From the perspective of supported chains, Stargate leans more towards EVM chains, Axelar is rooted in the Cosmos ecosystem, Hop and Across focus on L2 cross-chain, and in addition, each project has its own highlights in technology, operations, and other aspects. Although the cross-chain messaging market is still in the exploratory stage, besides Multichain, projects such as Celer, layerzero, Axelar, and Chainlink have also launched their own cross-chain messaging architectures, making the competition in the cross-chain market fierce.

Facing the fierce market competition, Multichain's first priority is to do a good job with its own products, providing the functions that its products should provide. While strengthening its own product, technology, and service functions, it will also appreciate the strengths and advantages of other teams, products, and projects, and learn more from its competitors. Multichain hopes to work together with many excellent blockchain projects and teams to jointly shoulder the industry leadership role, expand the value of the multi-chain ecosystem to every possible business form, and promote the healthy and benign development of the multi-chain ecosystem.

The continuously expanding ecosystem is an important support for Multichain's value capture ability.

BlockBeats: We see Multichain positioning itself as the ultimate Web3 router. Under this positioning, how does Multichain capture more value?

Alfred XU: In network engineering, routers can achieve network layer packet forwarding and support multiple protocols. Multichain positions itself as the ultimate Web3 router, aiming to provide a public infrastructure for the interaction between different blockchains at different levels, and achieve the transfer of digital assets, messages, and trust between different blockchains. The cross-chain infrastructure provided by Multichain includes not only decentralized cross-chain protocols based on MPC and ZKP technologies, but also is compatible with other inter-chain interaction protocols such as Cosmos IBC.

Multichain believes that with the continuous development of the multi-chain ecosystem, cross-chain interaction is inevitable and will become more frequent. In addition to the cross-chain transfer of digital assets, there will be more innovative and complex scenarios for cross-chain interaction. Based on such needs and industry development trends, Multichain has built a layered full-chain interaction protocol stack called OBI (Omni-Blockchain Interaction). Currently, OBI covers three levels of cross-chain interaction solutions, including the application layer (Dapps layer) with cross-chain routing/NFT routing as the main product, the cross-chain data layer with general message cross-chain anyCall as the main product, and the fastMPC Blockchain, a cross-chain public trust mechanism protocol based on MPC and ZKP technologies, which we define as the bottom trust layer. Third-party project parties can use OBI as a whole, or choose any layer as needed to build different levels of applications and protocols.

In addition to a well-designed product architecture, let's take a look at some specific data. Currently, Multichain is the cross-chain project with the largest cross-chain ecosystem in the market, supporting interaction between over 80 mainstream public chains and helping more than 1,000 projects complete multi-chain deployment. The cross-chain transaction volume generated by Multichain has exceeded 95 billion US dollars, serving nearly 800,000 users, with a cumulative transaction volume of more than 4.5 million times. In the third-party cross-chain bridge market, Multichain occupies over 40% of the market share. These data also reflect the important dimension of Multichain's value capture ability.

BlockBeats: What is the main value capture method of the governance token MULTI in Multichain?

Alfred XU: MULTI is the governance token of Multichain, with a total supply of 100 million. Currently, the circulating supply is 18.64%, while the non-circulating supply accounts for 81.36%. The non-circulating MULTI is locked in a smart contract.

In April of this year, we launched veMULT, an important channel for capturing value from MULTI. By staking and locking MULTI, holders of VeMULTI can receive a share of platform fees. The more tokens that are locked and the longer they are locked for, the greater the incentive rewards that can be earned. It is worth noting that these rewards are paid out in the stablecoin USDC. This also creates a valuable connection between long-term consensus participants who hold MULTI and the project's business development. On the one hand, the results of business development will be reflected in holding and locking veULTI. On the other hand, faster business development will drive demand for obtaining and holding MULTI.

Unissued MULTI is locked in a smart contract, and its specific use is determined by the DAO. MultiDAO was officially launched in the third quarter of 2022. veMULTI is also a management solution for MultiDAO, and any holder who stakes MULTI will receive veMULTI. veMULTI is an admission ticket for participating in project governance, and holders have the right to initiate and vote for governance proposals. Based on this, a further incentive loop can be established around veMULTI, including liquidity, fee discounts/rebates, and other business development elements.

In addition, in our roadmap, the fastMPC Blockchain protocol based on MPC and ZKP technology for inter-chain public trust mechanism will be launched in 2023. MULTI will become the native token and gas fee driver for using this infrastructure, which will also support the subsequent release of MULTI and encourage new participants to participate in locking and pledging. The demand for MULTI from both aspects will form a benign balance with the circulation release.

The value foundation of MULTI is also influenced by factors such as the business volume of Multichain and the ecological development of Multichain, and its premium is also related to people's strong expectations for future business volume growth and ecological development. The current large business foundation of Multichain, the continuously expanding ecological scale, and the expansion of new business scenarios in the future will all bring positive growth expectations for Multichain's future business volume, which will further stimulate people's demand for holding MULTI.

Upgrade new technology, Multichain never stops

BlockBeats: Can you introduce the latest MPC 2.0 (fastMPC) and its advantages compared to the previous SMPC technology?

Alfred XU: The MPC roadmap can be summarized as follows: MPC node-fastMPC (MPC 2.0)-MPC Network (current status)-fastMPC Blockchain.

Secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) is the core technology that supports Multichain. The MPC network is a decentralized network where each node independently verifies the source chain state and uses threshold signature algorithms to reach consensus on the verification results among all nodes. Multichain's MPC network can accurately process cross-chain requests in real-time between chains without the risk of a single point of failure.

In order to elevate our MPC node operation and security to a new level, we have developed MPC 2.0, also known as fastMPC. fastMPC executes 4-5 times faster than MPC 1.0, making it a faster and smoother cross-chain solution. fastMPC will be open to the community and Multichain partners, and the fastMPC network mainnet has already been launched with a node recruitment program. The SMPC wallet project incubated by MultiDAO will also run on fastMPC in the future. The Multichain team will continue to expand and strive towards permissionless cross-chain services and MPC chains.

In the first quarter of 2023, fastMPC network will be upgraded to fastMPC Blockchain. fastMPC Blockchain is a decentralized inter-chain public trust mechanism protocol based on MPC and zk technologies, which completes the verification and authentication of data. Based on fastMPC Blockchain, project parties can build various cross-chain interaction protocols or applications without the need to repeatedly build and run inter-chain trust mechanisms. For example, project parties can completely build a message cross-chain protocol similar to anyCall on fastMPC Blockchain, and you don't need to worry about inter-chain trust verification issues, fastMPC Blockchain will help you complete it.

The Trust Layer aims to bridge the link between the two chains. fastMPC Blockchain supports any chain without permission and adaptation. The project is also built on this chain without additional conditions and does not require OBI's permission.

BlockBeats: How does Multichain achieve NFT cross-chain, and how are more complex functions such as NFT cross-chain staking implemented?

Alfred XU: Currently, the NFT cross-chain front-end has been launched on the Multichain official website. Supported NFT projects include Pink Flamingo Social Club, Astro Kid, Annex Iron Wolf, and more cross-chain NFT projects are being deployed.

We have been continuously updating and iterating our NFT cross-chain solution based on anyCall. The NFT cross-chain solution based on anyCall V7 version has been launched, inheriting the characteristics of V6 version such as non-permission deployment, source chain payment, and flexible contract design. At the same time, it has also innovated the NFT business on the basis of V6 version, and can build complex business logic between multiple chains. For example, MultiDAO, a multi-chain NFT issuance protocol incubated by anyCall, has more innovation, which is reflected in:

First, support the issuance of NFT projects. It can realize the entire process of NFT projects, support business logic such as whitelist rules for NFT issuance, and NFT project parties do not need to have blockchain and contract development capabilities to run NFT projects.

Third, further support the realization of NFT business innovation. Based on anyCall v7, building complex business logic between multiple chains makes it possible to achieve business innovation. For example, supporting the acquisition of NFT whitelist by completing specified tasks on multiple blockchains as a condition, or minting NFT components on different blockchains and synthesizing them into the final NFT through component composition and other business logic can effectively enhance the interest of NFT projects, improve project participation, and enhance user stickiness.

BlockBeats: Recently, we have seen that Multichain has announced its plan to launch ZK Router. Can you provide a detailed update on the progress of ZKP technology?

Alfred XU: MPC and ZKP are the underlying technology routes we chose from the beginning. The reason is that we believe the future of blockchain is a world of Multichainvers, where it is necessary to achieve interaction between any blockchain without sensitivity or permission to the target blockchain. MPC and ZKP can support the realization of this requirement.

ZKP will mature in terms of theoretical development and application scenarios in 2022, so in 2023 we will launch a cross-chain infrastructure based on ZKP, with the first product being a bi-directional asset cross-chain product. This will enable the adoption of ZKP technology in small-scale commercial applications, thereby catalyzing product iteration and optimization, as well as the development of ecological cooperation.

BlockBeats: What is Multichain's development roadmap for 2023, and what specific technologies will we see implemented next year?

Alfred XU: Multichain has been upgraded since December 16, 2021, and it has been one year now. In this year, we have launched new products, upgraded and developed new technologies. Multichain has never stopped and has been constantly moving forward.

In 2023, we will focus on promoting the full-chain interactive protocol stack OBI.

Application layer, further enhancing the security, performance, and stability of the router;

Data layer, building innovative Dapps based on anyCall, expanding the application landscape of anyCall, and supporting more blockchains including heterogeneous chains, promoting the construction of Multichain in the ecosystem.

Trust layer, a practical product for verifying ZK technology, released by Multichain to showcase their new achievements in cross-chain interaction. The fastMPC network has been upgraded to fastMPC Blockchain, which utilizes MPC and ZK technology to achieve trust transfer between chains and compatibility with other communication protocols such as IBC, ultimately enabling interaction between fully trusted chains.

For different application scenarios, Multichain will formulate corresponding business strategies, provide more functional extensions, and help project parties create more application value.

Cross-chain message transmission is becoming a new benchmark

BlockBeats: How does Multichain view the development trend of third-party cross-chain markets in the future? Will it gradually move from asset cross-chain to information cross-chain?

Alfred XU: Cross-chain message transmission is indeed becoming a new benchmark and a fundamental feature in the cross-chain field. We believe that 2023 will be the first year of cross-chain application, where more applications will shift from single-chain deployment to multi-chain deployment and communication. This will bring about more diverse cross-chain demands, not just limited to asset cross-chain needs. We will witness innovative applications such as multi-chain stablecoins, multi-chain games, multi-chain NFTs, cross-chain DEX, cross-chain aggregation, cross-chain lending, and more.

The comprehensive message cross-chain interaction protocol anyCall developed by Multichain can flexibly support various cross-chain message transmission and invocation. Based on anyCall, different contracts on two different chains can send any data (such as smart contracts, NFTs, messages, tokens, data, etc.) to the contract on the other chain, thereby promoting the interoperability development of the multi-chain ecosystem.

It is an undeniable fact in the blockchain world that multiple chains coexist. In the future, different chains will become the underlying support for cross-chain with specialized and personalized characteristics. At the same time, there will inevitably be a further trend towards networked connections between chains, achieving interaction at different levels. In the future, cross-chain will also expand to comprehensive information and content interaction among multiple chains.

BlockBeats: Regarding cross-chain information, various teams in the market have also introduced many different standards, including Chainlink's CCIP, cBridge's Celer Inter-chain Message, etc. How do you and your team view these different standards, and what are the relative advantages of anyCall?

Alfred XU: Regarding cross-chain messaging, different standards have emerged in the current market. Competition in the market is a normal phenomenon. As mentioned earlier, cross-chain messaging has become a basic function of blockchain cross-chain, so there will definitely be more and more projects participating in the competition of cross-chain messaging.

Multichain's anyCall has excellent versatility and adaptability. Currently, anyCall supports 14 mainstream public chains, providing over $2 billion in liquidity. We will continue to support more chains, including heterogeneous chains, in the future. anyCall will also be compatible with cross-chain communication IBC protocols such as Cosmos and Polkadot.

To cope with future challenges, we have also designed anyCall in a modular way. The off-chain trust mechanism is independent of the message content to be transmitted, which means that any cross-chain information and business logic can be transmitted. Most of the existing Dapps that use message cross-chain have not fully utilized the full potential of message cross-chain, and anyCall is constantly upgrading and iterating. In addition to the basic function of message transmission, anyCall has also added contract triggering, exception return, and callback functions.

Additionally, anyCall has the ability for unlimited development, where any decentralized application can be deployed on two or more chains within the multi-chain environment that has anyCall deployed, by calling anyCall's interface to develop and deploy their own cross-chain decentralized applications. The mechanism design of anyCall also ensures decentralization and security. We have great confidence in anyCall's ability to achieve full chain interconnection.

BlockBeats: As the ecological projects that adopt anyCall information cross-chain technology gradually develop, how will these projects help Multichain capture value better?

Alfred XU: Before discussing the value that adopting anyCall brings to the Multichain project, I would like to first talk about the value that anyCall brings to project parties and users. anyCall is designed for fast development and deployment of decentralized cross-chain applications. It is open and public, and aims to promote the development of truly decentralized cross-chain applications, with its applications and business logic being built on multiple blockchains simultaneously.

anyCall can be easily implemented on any blockchain because it is just a contract and its implementation does not require a hard fork. Moreover, it has unlimited potential, and any application can interoperate across any blockchain in a single process. It can enrich user experience, simplify decentralized application development process, and greatly improve the asset operation efficiency of decentralized applications.

For example, DEX. Built on anyCall, the cross-chain DEX's fund pool depth will be based on the total amount of similar assets on all chains, forming a unified exchange ratio for different types of assets. This means that the exchange ratio for different types of assets on each chain is consistent, and the trading slippage and supported trading volume are also consistent with the same fund pool depth. Curve, the first to use anyCall, has established a unified CRV reward mechanism based on anyCall to solve the liquidity incentive problem between multiple chains.

As mentioned earlier, anyCall has unlimited possibilities, so its applications are not limited to DEX. Applications such as NFT markets, lending protocols, and oracles on the Web3 platform can all be built on anyCall to create broader cross-chain business logic. With anyCall, project teams can focus on the design and innovation of business logic from a holistic business perspective, and promote cross-chain decentralized applications as a whole, reducing the workload of independent promotion and operation on different chains. In addition, its business scale and user traffic are the accumulation of business scale and user traffic on each chain, so the business coverage can also be greatly expanded.

Decentralized applications built on anyCall provide a unified business space across multiple chains, which undoubtedly provides users with deeper market depth and wider market breadth.

anyCall is an important part of the Multichain ecosystem. Today, anyCall has gained a certain market share, and in the future, driven by the huge Multichain ecosystem, anyCall will also gain more applications and serve more project parties and users at a higher level.

Multichain hopes to promote the rapid development and deployment of cross-chain decentralized applications through anyCall support, and promote the emergence of more truly cross-chain decentralized applications, bringing further prosperity to the entire blockchain multi-chain ecosystem and deep integration and development among them.

Rhythm BlockBeats: Through today's conversation, we found that although Multichain has firmly occupied the leading position in the third-party cross-chain market with its convenient asset cross-chain experience and rich asset support types, the Multichain team has not been complacent with its leading advantages. Instead, they have continuously innovated their technology by improving secure multi-party computation (MPC) technology, constructing the anyCall information cross-chain underlying protocol, and continuously promoting the rapid advancement of the encryption industry towards the era of multi-chain coexistence.

At the end of the interview, Alfred XU also told us that because cross-chain technology is currently in a critical period of evolution from simple asset cross-chain to information cross-chain, Multichain will not only continue to innovate to provide better products to the market, but also invest more in user education so that ordinary users can better understand the latest cross-chain technology and become familiar with the usage of the latest cross-chain products.

The recovery of the encryption industry will not only come from speculation and hype, but only by bringing more value to users through technological innovation can the encryption industry emerge from the downturn earlier. We look forward to the innovation and development of Multichain in 2023.

Welcome to join the official BlockBeats community:

Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia