The TON Foundation, a non-profit association of developers and enthusiasts behind The Open Network (TON), has announced the launch of a two-way bridge to enable the transfer of ERC-20 tokens from Ethereum to natively wrapped fungible tokens (Jettons) on TON. This is a significant milestone for the evolution of the TON ecosystem, as it offers a seamless transactional interface between Ethereum and TON.
The new offering is the first unlimited bridge and will allow users to bridge Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), Tether tokens (USDt), USD Coin (USDC), and Dai (DAI). While users can only bridge over four assets at launch, the TON Foundation intends to make more tokens available for bridging soon.
To ensure the security of the unlimited bridge, the foundation has welcomed white hat hackers to test its security integrity through a hackathon in 2022. The announcement also revealed that audits from prominent blockchain security firms CertiK, Quantstamp, and Hexens were conducted on the bridge. CertiK and Quantstamp conducted end-to-end audits on the TON blockchain, while Hexens performed a smart contract audit.
Justin Hyun, Head of Incubation at TON Foundation, expressed delight with the introduction of this two-way bridge, saying that it will bring a host of new users to the TON ecosystem. By entering into closer proximity with other layer-one blockchains through such bridges, users will experience the advantages that TON holds over its competitors.
Tether Integration
The latest development comes less than a month after Telegram added a new feature enabling users to send each other the world’s largest stablecoin, Tether, on the Tron blockchain. The new feature enabled users to buy, swap, and make P2P trades with TRC20 by expanding the app’s facility for crypto payments. This also allowed users on the instant messaging service to directly send USDT to their peers with no transaction fees.
The launch of the Ethereum bridge marks a significant step for the TON Foundation in its bid to enhance the TON ecosystem and bring more users into the fold. As more tokens become available for bridging, it will be interesting to see how TON’s ecosystem continues to evolve and compete with other layer-one blockchains.