Which cross-chain bridge is fast and affordable?

Author: Hart Lambur

Compilation: Shenzhen TechFlow

Conclusion

For ordinary L2 to L2 transfers, @AcrossProtocol is clearly the fastest and cheapest cross-chain bridge. For ordinary ETH to L2 transfers, Across is much faster and cheaper than Stargate’s fast bridge, and is much cheaper than Stargate’s slow bridge (but Across is a whole 20 times faster). For ordinary L2 to ETH transfers, Across is much faster and cheaper than Stargate’s fast option, although slightly more expensive than Stargate’s slow option, Across is a whole 100 times faster.

Analysis

In the past few days, @PrimoridalAA accused me of cherry-picking favorable data when comparing our cross-chain bridges. I think the best response to this is to develop a method to explain the meaning of ‘cheaper’, and then see who wins.

My approach is: for regular bridge transactions, which bridge is the cheapest? Due to the significant differences in transaction volume and fees between L2 to L2, ETH to L2, and L2 to ETH, I will study each of these cases separately. As for which L2s to choose, I suggest we look at the three largest ones: Arbitrum (Arb), Base, and Optimism (OP).

The following is the 30-day rolling average of L2 to L2 bridge transaction volume, measured using Across and Stargate data:

The average transaction size for bridging between L2 to L2 is about $55 or approximately 0.015 ETH (note that the average size is decreasing; we will discuss this in more detail later).

The answer is: no matter where you transfer 0.015 ETH between any L2, Across is cheaper and faster than Stargate.

I just bridged 0.015 ETH from Base to OP. The results are as follows:

Across took 4 seconds, costing 1.1 cents.

Stargate “Fast” takes 50 seconds and costs $5.6.

Stargate"cheap" takes 1 minute and 2 seconds, cost 3.0 cents.

I believe I will definitely be criticized for choosing Base to OP, but to be honest, just look at any 0.015 ETH route, and it’s obvious that Across is cheaper, and definitely faster in any L2 to L2 scenario! There is no doubt about this.

Conclusion: Across is obviously the fastest and cheapest cross-chain bridge in ordinary L2 to L2 transactions.

Next, let’s take a look at the data from ETH to L2.

Here are the 30-day rolling average ETH to L2 transaction volumes for the top three largest L2s, measured using Across and Stargate data:

The average trade size of Eth to [Arb, Base, OP] is ~$100 for Across and ~$400 for Stargate. Let’s take the average as $250, or ~0.06 ETH.

Now let’s bridge 0.06 ETH from ETH to OP.

Result:

Across took 28 seconds with a cost of 2.6 cents.

Stargate ‘Quick’ takes 4 minutes and costs 5.5 cents.

Stargate“cheap”takes 9 minutes and 40 seconds, costing 2.2 cents.

Across is much cheaper and much faster than Stargate’s quick option.

Compared to the cheap option of Across, Stargate is 2.2 cents, while Across is 2.6 cents, but Across takes 28 seconds, while Stargate takes 9 minutes and 40 seconds.

As for whether the cost difference is worth the difference in speed, I will leave it to the market to decide. Similarly, you can also try it yourself.

Finally, let’s take a look at the data from L2 to ETH.

Here are the 30-day rolling average L2 to ETH transaction volumes for the three largest L2s, measured using Across and Stargate data.

The average [Arb, Base, OP] transaction size from Across to ETH is ~$700, and from Stargate is ~$200. Let’s take the average as $450, or ~0.06 ETH.

Now let’s bridge 0.06 ETH from ETH to OP. Result:

It took 4 seconds and cost $5.41.

Stargate ‘fast’ takes 2 minutes and 12 seconds, costing $16.80.

Stargate"cheap" took 6 minutes and 34 seconds, costing $4.41.

Similarly, Across has dominated Stargate’s rapid selection in terms of speed and cost.

The slow option of Stargate is a little cheaper, but it takes 6 minutes and 34 seconds, while Across only takes 4 seconds.

Where will the battle for cross-chain bridges go?

Personally, I believe that as the next billion people enter the cryptocurrency space, they will (1) almost exclusively use L2 (or alt-L1) and (2) transaction sizes will continue to shrink. Across is already the cheapest and fastest bridge in L2 transfers, and as transaction volumes decrease, Across’s intent-based architecture will continue to dominate.

The “Slow” option of Stargate can save some costs when trading with the Ethereum mainnet, but the compromise in speed is very obvious. I think whether it is worth sacrificing speed for cost savings should be determined by the market.

Anyway, users are the ultimate winners in these “cross-chain bridge wars”, and I believe crypto Twitter users are at least slightly interested in the debate between me and my brother Bryan.