#49 Connext: Trustless and Fast Interoperability

On the show today, we have Arjun Bhuptani, founder of Connext. Connext is an interoperability network, which is going to market with NXTP, a non-custodial cross-chain protocol. Connext is trustless, meaning there is no trust placed in external validators outside 2 native blockchains where a cross-chain transaction is occurring. Connext makes use of ‘routers’, which are nodes that facilitate cross-chain transfers and hold liquidity of different assets on multiple chains. If a user wants to move from Chain A to Chain B, they would signal their desired route to Connext network. Connext then broadcasts a user’s desired route across chains for routers to submit the best price they can give the user (like Uber). A user would then receive the cheapest route possible to transfer their assets across chains, from routers that have the most available liquidity and most competitive fees. We talk to Arjun about the trustlessness nature of Connext, how it locally verifies transactions versus other possible models, how routers facilitate transfers, the intricate economics of Connext, how Connext ecosystem actors interact with each other, plus so much more.