Moonbeam now lets you swap tokens between Polkadot and Cosmos

Quick Take

  • Moonbeam is now integrated with Osmosis to allow token swaps from Polkadot to the Cosmos ecosystem.
  • Axelar network will serve as the bridge infrastructure for the cross-chain swaps.

Moonbeam, a smart contract parachain on Polkadot, has partnered with Cosmos-based decentralized exchange Osmosis to enable cross-chain token swaps between the Polkadot and Cosmos ecosystems, the project announced on July 23. This means it will be simple to transfer tokens between the two different blockchain ecosystems.

The integration is made available via the Axelar Network protocol. Axelar is both a bridge network and a platform for cross-chain communication for smart contract protocols. The former allows tokens to be sent across different blockchains while the latter is what enables decentralized apps to be deployed on different networks. The project raised $25 million in its Series A funding last year.

DOT, the native token of the Polkadot blockchain, will be the first token supported on the cross-chain bridge, per the announcement. Moonbeam stated that there are plans to support the bridging of more Polkadot ecosystem coins to the Cosmos chain.

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According to Moonbeam, the ability to transfer Polkadot-based coins to Cosmos is a major step in expanding cross-chain composability between the two blockchain ecosystems. Moonbeam also stated that the partnership buttresses the fact that Polkadot and Cosmos can exist as complementary ecosystems — even though they are often seen as rivals working on different ways to achieve the same goal.


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About Author

Osato is a news reporter at The Block as part of the crypto ecosystems team that focuses on DAO governance, staking, blockchain layers, and DeFi. He was previously a news reporter at Cointelegraph. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, he enjoys crosswords, poker, and attempting to beat his Scrabble high score. Follow him on Twitter at @OsatoNomayo.