A Deep dive to Bridges and Bridge aggregator

Bridges, which are the most popular solution to cross-chain technology, simply allow users to move assets/metadata from one blockchain to another (enables connectivity & interoperability from one chain to another).

Bridges can be classified into three forms based on how they facilitate cross-chain transactions

Lock & Mint

Lock asset on the source chain (Chain A) & Mint asset on the destination chain (Chain B) e.g Avalanche Bridge, Polygon POS Bridge.

Burn & Mint

Burn assets on the source chain & mint assets on the destination chain e.g Hop Bridge, Across e.t.c

Also, know that the Optimism & Arbitrum Native bridges use both models.

Lock & Mint (L1 - L2)

Mint & Burn (L2-L1)

Atomic Swap

It involves swapping/exchanging assets from the source chain to the destination chain without the need for a Trusted Third party & they rely on smart contracts for its execution. In other words, it’s like a P2P method of trading assets between two entities e.g Connext Bridge, Orion Bridge

Bridges can also be classified based on their type of general design

Trusted Bridge 

 As the name implies, they rely on a centralized entity/third party for custody of assets e.g Multichain, Bridge Network

Trustless Bridge

They are decentralized as they don’t rely on any centralized entity for custody of assets, rather they rely on smart contracts & users are in the custody of their assets e.g Connext, Hop e.t.c

Furthermore, Bridges can be classified into 

Native Bridges

As the name implies, these type of bridges is used to bootstrap liquidity of a specific chain i.e to seamlessly onboard users /moves funds into the ecosystem e.g the optimism & arbitrum native bridge.

Validator or Oracle-based Bridges

They rely on a set of external validators or oracles to validate cross-chain transfer e.g multichain, bridge network, across e.t.c

Generalized Message Passing Bridge

These Bridges simply enable cross-chain messaging & transfer assets from one chain to another e.g Layer Zero & Nomad bridge

Liquidity Network Bridge

These Bridges move an asset from one chain to another via atomic swap e.g Hop, Connext e.t.c 

Bridge Aggregators

They aggregates & sources the fast, cheapest & best possible route for users to bridge their asset from one chain to another e.g Bungee, LIFI, Rango e.t.c

Aggregators solve the problem of Cross-chain Routing & Advanced Route

Aggregators routes are sourced from:

DEX 

A trading DEX for exchange of assets e.g Uniswap, Sushiswap e.t.c

DEX Aggregator

Aggregates routes from DEXes e.g 1inch, Kromatika, Paraswap

Cross-chain DEX

As the name implies, combines the features of DEXes & its aggregators, They offer asset diversification by using the cross-chain technology sourcing liquidity across multiple blockchain Ecosystem e.g Thorswap

Bridges (Both Trusted & Trustless)

Bridges is also a cross-chain solution that enables asset/metadata to be moved from one standalone blockchain to another, typical bridges support stablecoins & few native/foreign assets.

Other cases for bridge aggregators

Most bridge aggregators also support the Multi-chain approach which extends to supporting Non-EVM-compatible blockchain (Solana) e.g Rango, Via

Also, supports any-2-any swap (self chain swap - self chain swap) e.g LIFI, Via, Rango.

In summary, bridge aggregators are the future because of their approach toward multi-chain & Omnichain interoperability.