This ethereum-based cryptocurrency exchange is now supporting cross-chain transactions

Decentralized exchanges are not without their disadvantages over their centralized counterparts especially in regard to liquidity: if you want a huge amount of Bitcoin or ETH or whatever cryptocurrency, the best place to be would still be on a centralized exchange such as Coinbase, Bitfinex, Bittrex, etc.

But (most) blockchain-based crypto exchanges are mostly limited to exchanging or trading assets on the blockchain on which they are developed. Until now there hasn't been major or say much success on cross-chain transaction applications. While it is very easy to transact and exchange a digital coin for another, the fact that it is still difficult to exchange these assets seamlessly from one blockchain to another without having to transfer them into separate or standalone chains makes crypto a little more difficult to use.

So "cross-chain transactions" is a major debate among blockchain and crypto pioneers and enthusiasts alike. Therefore interconnectedness of the decentralized ecosystem is also an important feature. We recently focused on a protocol known as ... and we now have yet another of the many other protocols working on cross-chain transaction capabilities. It is known as Open Federated Gateway Protocol developed jointly by DEx.top and mobile wallet provider, iBitcome.

Now, Dex.top cryptocurrency exchange, which is a decentralized exchange that supports peer-to-peer trading, is now using the Open Federated Gateway Protocol [OFGP] to allow for the transfer of digital assets across blockchains on a single platform without having to move them around to separate platforms. Currently, they started with Bitcoin Cash [BCH] and will actualize the feature for other pairs such as BTC and EOS. It means customers of the DEX can now transfer and exchange assets seamlessly across BCH blockchain and Ethereum. The transactions will use Mallow, the first federation blockchain based on the OFGP protocol. Mallow was launched yesterday by iBitcome.

Following the launch of Mallow, those using iBitcome wallet will be able to transfer crypto assets from the main chain to various side chains and vice versa, all with the desired high speed and security of transactions.

Mallow is the first gateway developed under the OFGP protocol, and it is being used by BTC.com and Antpool and other mining pools to support cross-chain liquidity between BCH and ETH chains using ERC20 token known as Wrapped BCH. On Mallow, customers will be able to also check the status of transactions on the website.

Users convert their BCH to WBCH at the ratio of 1:1 by opening the iBitcome (conversion will require 2 BCH blockchain confirmations, and 12 ETH blockchain confirmations) and then they can trade WBCH on DEx.top by depositing the WBCH on the platform. Once deposited, it can then be exchanged for Eth. 

The protocol gateways are maintained by three parties, namely signers, watchers, and key store services. Signers maintain the multi-sig addresses and/or smart contracts, watchers detect transactions and alert signers who then proceed to issue "wrapped tokens" on a paired blockchain. The multi-sig feature is an extra security measure where a transaction signing requires signatures from multiple nodes for the transaction to be able to go through. The funds are held in escrow in these multi-sig wallet addresses whose keys are then retained by the key store services.

The protocol allows a user to create their own gateway and other users can choose gateways based on merits such as lower cost, meaning the system incentivizes or rewards honest behavior and low-cost services.

With Dex.top exchange, customers are able to do instant trading for majority of the cryptocurrency pairs. The system uses a two-ledger system; with matching and trading taking place off-chain and the off-chain ledger is then synced with the on-chain ledger to update the off-chain with user information.

Dex.top is also giving away WBCH and custom DEx.top ledger wallets (EST. 100 USD in value) to celebrate the partnership between the two and the launch of WBCH/ETH trading pairs. The promotion runs until Oct 31st.