OpenSwap Troll Talks: Chapter #5 — The Core Concept of ‘Bridge Trolls’

In the previous chapters, we discussed the commonly used bridging mechanisms in the current DeFi space, as well as some of the deficiencies of these conventional cross-chain models such as being slow in speed, costly transactions, use of synthetics, and also implementation complexity from the users’ perspective.

We’ve also begun discussing how OpenSwap’s bridging technology — aka. Open Interchain Protocol is designed and structured to be an extendable and new-chain-adaptable model, that would move digital assets across chains differently from the conventional bridging mechanisms in the current market, and is highly transparent and more capital efficient, through the incorporation of in-house innovations such as Liquidity Queues and Hybrid Smart Router, ultimately improving the overall end-to-end interchain swapping experience.

And as introduced in last week’s Troll Talks, there are 5 core concepts that all OpenSwap users should get familiar with, them being: Bridge Trolls, Single Asset Vaults, Dynamic Multisig Withdrawal, Primary Chain, and the Troll Selection Algorithm. Below, we will introduce in detail the concept of ‘Bridge Trolls’.

Core Concept #1 — Bridge Trolls

As mentioned over our previous public information, the concept of ‘Bridge Trolls’ will serve as a core element to the Open Interchain Protocol. Bridge Trolls will perform the tasks of monitoring the protocol for transaction requests, verifying, and signing transactions to carry out the withdrawal of funds on different blockchains. In order to ensure that Bridge Trolls behave appropriately, these guys will have to stake bonds in the form of $OSWAP tokens, which will be put at risk if they misbehave (i.e. carry out inappropriate actions). And in turn, they will be compensated with a portion of the transaction fees for carrying out these interchain activities. There will be two main types of Bridge Trolls: Green Trolls (Green), and Mean Trolls (Red).

Anyone can become a Green Troll by running the Bridge Troll node software, possessing one or more Bridge Troll NFT (obtainable from OpenSwap Troll Camp), and staking the qualifying OSWAP stake on the primary chain. The main duty of a Green Troll is to help verify and sign bridge transactions assigned to them. The number of Bridge Trolls involved in a particular transaction will depend on the size of the transaction, and obviously — the larger the transaction, the larger number of Green Trolls will be required to help validate the transaction. In return, Green Trolls will be rewarded a portion of the bridge fees.

Mean Trolls are upgraded (promoted) from Green Trolls. To become a Mean Troll, there will be a larger requirement of OSWAP qualification stake, and in return, carry out additional responsibilities for a greater share of rewards from digital assets crossing the OpenSwap bridge. To be trusted to carry out these additional responsibilities, all Mean Trolls will need to hold a specific Bridge Troll NFT key. In addition, Mean Trolls will need to post bonds on each chain to be eligible to partake in withdrawal tasks. Their assigned transactions are based on their ability to cover the transaction amount (i.e. the size of their bonds).

Means Trolls can take on the following responsibilities:

“Lead” — In every cycle, the protocol will carry out an election to identify a new “Lead” Mean Troll on each supported blockchain.

The Lead Mean Troll can take on the following responsibilities:

• Help monitor all other blockchains for new transaction requests
• Verifying that the transactions are finalized (transaction completed on target chain) — once a transaction is finalized, no cancelations can be done
• Assign another Mean Troll to be the transaction creator and additional Mean Trolls and Green Trolls to sign and validate transactions based on the transaction size
• Broadcast new transactions along with the assignments and referent price to the message channel

“Transaction Creator” — The signed transaction creator’s main responsibility is to help verify that the transaction matches the valid order on the source chain’s order contract and that all the signers have signed the transaction before adding their own signature and submitting the transaction to the target chain. The transaction creator will be the recipient of part of the bridge fee called the “chain fee” as that portion will be used to compensate for the gas required to submit the transaction on the target chain.

“Signer” — When the chosen transaction creator’s bond is insufficient for the transaction size, additional Mean Trolls may be assigned a role as a “Signer”. In such a scenario, these Mean Trolls will also verify and sign the transaction, returning the signed transaction on the message channel.

There can also be situations where assigned Trolls fail to fulfill their duty of signing a transaction within the allotted time, and in such scenarios, any Mean Trolls may also sign the transaction to get a share of the bridge rewards!

“Price Validator” — When the $OSWAP reference price exceeds 1% of the price from a prior order, then additional Mean Trolls will be assigned to step in as “Price Validators” to validate the new price and sign the transaction.

Bridge Troll NFT

To strengthen the bond of the community and also serve the purpose of being the ‘key’ to becoming a Bridge Troll, the OpenSwap team has decided to issue these ‘Bridge Troll NFTs’, which will be obtainable by users who choose to participate in the Troll Camp!

The details of Bridge Troll NFTs will be shared separately and when we are closer to the feature release date in the coming time. The general concept is that Bridge Troll operators must possess one or more Bridge Troll NFT(s) in their operator address to be deemed eligible to run a Bridge Troll node.

Troll Thoughts 💭

We believe that this week’s Troll Talks is an important one and a piece that will help all OpenSwap supporters in truly understanding our NFT play with the Open Interchain Protocol.

While we understand the technological value and appreciate the recent hype and mass adoption with all these different NFTs introduced to the market from angles such as art, music, games, sports, memes, and etc… the OpenSwap team believes that the long play to NFTs is to have sustainable and “non-fluffy” utilities involved, and if designed correctly, can play an important role in bridging DeFi and NFT, nurturing a sustainable, healthy, and long lasting NFTfi environment for all!

Learn more about OpenSwap

We encourage community members to partake in community discussions to help better shape OSWAP Tokenomics and help generate more utility ideas. Users may express their ideas to core team members through joining the OpenSwap telegram group: https://t.me/openswapdex

More information about OSWAP tokens will be shared with the community as the project continues to develop. In the meanwhile, please feel free to follow us on Twitter to receive the latest news and updates from OpenSwap.

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