CrossCats users are Ethereum/EVM users that have always wanted to go to other ecosystems, but get stressed thinking about it because its very expensive, bad UX, and slow as hell. Because its so expensive, they think that only whales can move size across EVM to altVMs — which is preventing them from using them in the first place.
EVM to EVM swaps are basically solved, but moving beyond EVM is still very painful. Current solutions are too expensive and too many steps. We need to remove all that complexity so people don’t get stressed thinking about swapping their assets beyond Ethereum.
If we want to build a chain abstracted future, we need to do so for all chains and ecosystems. CrossCats allows Ethereum users to access altVM ecosystems like Bitcoin, TON, SVM and Move.
Thorchain
Thorchain is simply too complicated. On first look, it seems like an all-in-one DeFi shop (swapping, lending) and it doesn’t have a clear value proposition. It also doesn’t have its own UI, so we need to find a ‘partner’ that connects to it — like Thorswap.
Thorswap (and other partner UIs) are so confusing and very unenjoyable to use. The wallet connector is confusing because there’s is a multi-ecosystem connection, and some of the options are buggy (e.g., Ledger). Even after we connect to it, the quotes are expensive (~$20) and take a long time (30 minutes).
With that said, it does have long time-in-market, good worth-of-mouth, and is connected with the OG Bitcoin community.
Chainflip
Chainflip is much more streamlined and actually have a UI that we can use. However, the vibe is very dark and foreboding, which doesn’t give me assurance that this cross-chain swap will work. The UI exposes some confusing information like deposit fee, broadcast fee, and price delta. After clicking confirm, I’m opened a ‘deposit channel’ which I have no idea what to do with that.