In-depth analysis of Orbiter Finance: How to build a competitive advantage in the cross-chain bridge market?

Core Summary

• Although cross-chain bridges can realize cross-chain transfer of assets, they always face security threats. Orbiter Finance has been operating steadily since 2021 and has won the trust of users.
• With the rise of new public chains and the expansion of the DeFi landscape, the cross-chain bridge market is experiencing explosive growth, and the annual cross-chain asset size is expected to reach US$510.7 billion in 2027. Fast access, technical stability and low rates will be the core elements to seize the market.
• Relying on a solid product foundation, Orbiter Finance is breaking through the boundaries of traditional cross-chain bridges through the "Vizing" program, aiming to build a full-chain infrastructure and revolutionize the way assets and data are transferred across chains.

First, the cross-chain bridge market pattern

The cryptocurrency market has had its ups and downs, and the cross-chain bridge space is no exception. As a key component of the ecosystem, cross-chain bridges assume the basic function of connecting different blockchain networks and realizing cross-chain transfer of assets.

A cross-chain bridge is essentially a proprietary protocol that connects two independent blockchains through three dimensions: economic, technical, and conceptual. By analogy with a physical bridge, its value lies not only in the simple connection, but also in the rapid and efficient transfer of assets between networks. With the continuous emergence of Layer 2 (L2) solutions, cross-chain bridges have become an essential tool for integrating fragmented ecosystems.

However, in stark contrast to their importance, cross-chain bridges are frequently exposed to significant security risks. A typical case is the hacking of the Wormhole Bridge: the attacker took advantage of the vulnerability of the Wormhole Solana smart contract to forge signatures, illegally minted 120,000 wETH, and then exchanged it for real wETH on the Ethereum network, and then exchanged it for real ETH on the Ethereum network, causing huge losses. Just as the collapse of a physical bridge will affect two connected cities, a breached cross-chain bridge will also affect multiple networks.

There are three reasons why cross-chain bridges have become a key target for hackers: first, huge amounts of money have been deposited; second, a trust mechanism that relies on smart contract encoding; Third, the potential vulnerabilities caused by the coordination of different blockchain rules. Even in a decentralized environment designed to minimize trust dependencies, the risk of key theft and regulatory vulnerabilities associated with a limited number of validators remains a major security risk.

Despite the risks, cross-chain bridges remain an integral part of the crypto market. In this context, the selection of projects with sustainable stability is crucial to maintaining the healthy development of the ecosystem. Orbiter Finance, for example, has been operating since 2021 – a rarity in the Web3 space. The platform has achieved steady growth through operational resilience and gradually built barriers to user trust.

Orbiter Finance has been backed by top investment institutions such as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and OKX Ventures in its early days. This report will provide an in-depth look at how Orbiter Finance is building a competitive advantage in the cross-chain bridge market and look forward to its future development prospects.

Second, the core driving force for the growth of the cross-chain bridge market

The blockchain ecosystem continues to expand, and new public chains continue to emerge. In this process, the cross-chain bridge market is benefiting from the continuous development of the chain ecosystem:

! [In-depth analysis of Orbiter Finance: How to build a competitive advantage in the cross-chain bridge market?] ](https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-cf03f9ebc2350b94fa66429759a5e384)

1. Initial Incentive Phase

When the new chain goes live, incentives such as airdrops attract the attention of investors. Reward expectations encourage investors to transfer assets to the new chain through the cross-chain bridge protocol, starting the cross-chain bridge life cycle.

2. DeFi Activation Phase

Beyond airdrop participation, in-chain DeFi services have begun to exert force. Early-stage capital inflows can achieve multiple effects such as lending, staking, and liquidity supply in various DeFi protocols, attracting incremental funds to enter the market. With the intensification of cross-chain asset flows, the number of cross-chain bridge transactions has increased significantly.

3. Multi-DApp Boom Stage

With the development of the ecosystem, new DApps such as game platforms and NFT marketplaces have emerged, driving the continuous inflow of funds. At this stage, the use of cross-chain bridges has become a regular part of the ecosystem.

It is worth noting that when new chains continue to emerge, market attention will continue to shift to emerging ecosystems, and cross-chain demand will rebound periodically. In short, the cross-chain bridge market size has shown a spiral growth with the birth of the new chain and the maturity of the ecosystem.

This process is akin to the migration of tenants from established business districts to emerging developments: when old districts become saturated and profit margins are narrowing, new districts attract early occupants with low rental costs, first-mover advantages and long-term value-added potential, and give them future opportunities such as franchising. Driven by compound incentives, the migration of the retail industry forms a continuous cycle, which is the micro mapping of capital flows between blockchain ecosystems.

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According to DeFiLlama data, the cross-chain scale of assets in 2024 has reached $256.9 billion, doubling from 2023 (note: this data does not cover all on-chain cross-chain activities, and the actual scale may be higher).

As the market expands, the industry is undergoing profound changes: the blockchain ecosystem is maturing, the regulatory framework is accelerating, and the Meme Coin Launchpad is driving a surge in token projects (although the proportion of high-quality projects is still relatively limited). Against this backdrop, it is conservatively expected that the annual cross-chain asset size will reach US$510.7 billion by 2027.

In this ever-expanding market, achieving stable fee income and a strong market position depends on three key factors:

1. Quickly establish the ability to connect with emerging chains
2. Services that ensure technical robustness and security
3. Provide competitive transaction speed and low fees

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Source: Orbiter Finance

In this market environment, Orbiter Finance is unique in its position as a decentralized cross-chain bridge, supporting the flow of assets between multiple networks. Its ability to quickly access mainstream projects such as Solana and emerging projects such as Abstract and Story, supplemented by fast transfers in 10-20 seconds and low fees, constitute a key factor in the continuous influx of users.

With superior technology and scalability, Orbiter Finance has successfully simplified the transfer of blockchain assets to the level of daily network transactions, perfectly assuming its role as a "bridge between Web2 and Web3", further cementing its unique position in the rapidly evolving blockchain market.

2.1 Orbiter Finance's New Chain Connectivity Trend

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Orbiter Finance already supports more than 70 blockchains and continues to expand its reach by integrating highly scalable new chains. Its most significant advantage is its ability to quickly adapt to the latest Ethereum L2 solutions. Among the many L2 scaling solutions that aim to solve Ethereum's scalability challenges, Orbiter Finance is particularly active in the integration of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) technology for Rollups.

By integrating ZK public chains such as ZKFair, zkLink Nova and Proof of Play Apex, Orbiter Finance continues to strengthen its layout in the ZK ecosystem. At the same time, it expands the Ethereum ecosystem through its self-developed ZK L2 network Vizing, and supports diversified L2 solutions such as Arbitrum and Optimism to achieve seamless interoperability between Ethereum L2 networks.

Another differentiator is the early support for Bitcoin's Layer 2 solution. While most cross-chain bridge services are not yet compatible with the Bitcoin public chain, Orbiter Finance has taken the lead in integrating networks such as BEVM, Bitlayer, and B² Network. This move demonstrates its strategic ambition to break through the boundaries of the Ethereum ecosystem and reach the metaverse ecology such as Bitcoin, providing users with more flexible asset transfer options.

These strategies allow Orbiter Finance to capture the dividends of the rapid expansion of the Ethereum L2 ecosystem while maintaining flexible interoperability between multiple Layer 1 (L1) blockchains. As Ethereum's L2 adoption accelerates, Orbiter Finance is expected to play a more important role in the cross-chain connectivity space.

2.2 Technically reliable service cornerstone

Since 2021, Orbiter Finance has maintained a record of zero security incidents in cross-chain bridge services. As a cross-chain bridge that combines a decentralized market maker network and a smart contract liquidity pool, it achieves both security and efficiency through ZK-SPV technology and O-Pool system.

The operation mechanism of Orbiter Finance is simple and efficient: when a user deposits cross-chain assets to the source chain O-Pool contract, the market maker node will detect the transaction and execute an equal amount of asset transfer on the target chain. In this process, the market maker receives fee earnings, and the ZK-SPV technology verifies the legitimacy of the transaction through cryptography, ensuring a secure and trust-minimized cross-chain transfer.

! [In-depth analysis of Orbiter Finance: How to build a competitive advantage in the cross-chain bridge market?] ](https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-14fb7275fe457d85da2cb1d2fa45dd4b)

The system works like a multinational banking network: when a user deposits funds in a bank in one country (source chain), the bank representative (market maker) will notify a branch in another country (target chain) to provide the same amount of funds. All transactions are secured with non-fungible credentials (ZK proofs) to ensure security and trustworthiness.

At the technical level, Orbiter Finance integrates two core components:

O-Pool System: Manage liquidity through smart contracts deployed on multiple chains. Users deposit assets to O-Pool through the source chain, and the market maker node detects and executes withdrawals on the target chain ZK-SPV Technology: Uses zero-knowledge proofs to achieve mathematical verification of cross-chain transactions, complete instant verification without long waits, and overcome the delay pain point of Optimistic Verification

This model marks a significant step forward in cross-chain infrastructure. Orbiter Finance abandons centralized mechanisms (such as encapsulated token issuance or multi-signature validators), adopts a decentralized market maker model that does not rely on complex packaging processes, and combines ZK-SPV technology to strengthen security, and establishes a trust-minimized and scalable cross-blockchain asset transfer framework.

2.3 Competitive speed and rate

! [In-depth analysis of Orbiter Finance: How to build a competitive advantage in the cross-chain bridge market?] ](https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-67eec85f9b87036b17efd36380fad978)

Orbiter Finance offers industry-leading transaction speeds, and cross-chain transfers are typically completed in less than 10-20 seconds – a significant advantage over other cross-chain bridges. This speed advantage is mainly due to the ZK-SPV technology and the streamlined transmission mechanism, which minimizes the need for block confirmation.

In addition to speed, Orbiter Finance also has a strong fee advantage in L2 transfer scenarios. By minimizing smart contract calls, its ETH cross-chain gas consumption is reduced to about 21,000 gas, which is significantly lower than the 120,000-450,000 gas of competing products. However, it is important to note that Orbiter Finance does not maintain a fee advantage in all transfer routes, and its fees may be higher than those of its competitors under certain market conditions and transfer routes.

3. Orbiter Finance's vision of the stars - Vizing

! [In-depth analysis of Orbiter Finance: How to build a competitive advantage in the cross-chain bridge market?] ](https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-7d19ac665e9f5eaf02f36395a08a6344)

Source: Vizing

Orbiter Finance's vision goes beyond the underlying cross-chain bridge service to expand interoperability in an L2-dominated environment. Traditional cross-chain solutions focus on asset transfer, but with the evolution of the blockchain ecosystem, the market demand for cross-chain messaging and data transmission is increasing day by day.

This shift is similar to the trajectory of urban infrastructure, from road construction to communication networks and utility systems. For example, an on-chain DeFi application may need to invoke another chain price oracle or execute a transaction based on a specific cross-chain event. However, existing cross-bridge systems have significant limitations in efficiently handling such data interactions.

To this end, Orbiter Finance has developed Vizing: a ZK-based Ethereum L2 network designed to support on-chain messaging and cross-chain data transfer. Through zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to achieve data verification, Vizing can realize the fast and efficient cross-chain flow of assets and data.

Vizing has two core benefits: Vizing Account Abstraction (VAA): Allows users to manage multiple L2 networks from a single account, greatly improving the ease of use. Vizing Environment Layer (VEL): Provides a unified execution environment across L2s, enabling developers to achieve multi-chain application coverage with a single deployment.

! [In-depth analysis of Orbiter Finance: How to build a competitive advantage in the cross-chain bridge market?] ](https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-c9191fde22b81ea08627e46af6fbbee7)

Source: Likwid

Vizing is currently focused on solving key L2 interoperability challenges. In order to support ecological construction, Vizing launched a funding program last year, taking the first step towards adoption.

Typical cases include Likwid, an AMM service based on Vizing technology. The platform enables fully decentralized derivatives trading without relying on centralized intermediaries or oracles, and has been named the DeFi Innovation Champion by Uniswap, creating a new paradigm of counterparty-free derivatives trading.

By enabling cross-chain communication and data sharing that goes beyond simple asset transfers, Vizing effectively solves the problem of L2 ecosystem fragmentation, improves the efficiency and availability of blockchain infrastructure, and lays the foundation for a wider range of real-world applications.

4. Orbiter Finance: Building a Faster and Stronger Ecosystem

Ethereum's challenges go far beyond liquidity fragmentation. While the number of L2 solutions continues to increase, progress has been slow in scaling and performance improvements to Ethereum's base layer. Network transaction processing capacity is still limited, creating the need for ancillary network construction, but these efforts have not yet led to a fundamental increase in throughput.

For example, when Base Chain user A transfers 1 ETH to Arbitrum Chain user B, the current Ethereum L2 environment still needs to read data from L1 and update the Ethereum status on the Beacon Chain. As the core ledger of Ethereum 2.0, the Beacon Chain manages the final recording and verification of all transactions. This architecture makes L2 scalability constrained by L1 performance, forming a systemic bottleneck.

This scenario is similar to the central bank processing money transfers from Seoul to Busan: even if the number of local banks (L2) increases, if the central bank (L1) processes slowly, the entire system will still be limited.

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To overcome these limitations, Orbiter Finance is developing infrastructure to support direct communication between rollups. This Omnichain Infrastructure breaks down barriers between blockchain networks, facilitates the seamless transfer of assets and data, and reduces dependence on Ethereum L1. By realizing L2 liquidity sharing, Orbiter Finance aims to improve the overall efficiency of the Ethereum ecosystem.

The infrastructure consists of four core components:

1. Full-chain wallet system: A unified account system similar to a general bank account, minimizing the need for L1 data access. Users can access funds through a single account, regardless of which local bank (L2) they interact with
2. Relay Protocol: A cross-shard communication protocol that supports direct interaction with Rollups to avoid L1 transaction routing. Similar to the direct connection network between local banks, Busan and Daegu banks can transact without going through the Seoul Central Bank
3. Liquidity Aggregation Layer: Cross-chain asset pool management system. Similar to the sharing of liquidity pools by local banks, it ensures the dynamic allocation of funds from different networks on demand and improves capital efficiency
4. Parallel execution contract: A full-chain smart contract system, similar to Vizing Dapp to achieve automatic deployment across rollups. This model eliminates the need to develop separate financial products for each bank, enabling seamless deployment across the network

By implementing this model, Ethereum L1 can focus on security maintenance, while L2 takes on execution and transaction functions, eliminating bottlenecks while maintaining decentralization. This shift is akin to a reform of the financial system: central banks focus on policy stability, and local banks manage their own day-to-day transactions.

Orbiter Finance's full-chain infrastructure is not to replace L1 (central bank), but to alleviate existing bottlenecks by enabling direct L2 connections. The result is an efficient financial network: local banks (L2) process transactions autonomously, and central banks (L1) intervene only when necessary. This model drives collaboration between rollups, leading the industry away from TVL competition and toward a more decentralized, scalable ecosystem.

5. A blueprint for the future built on a solid foundation

Orbiter Finance has built a solid foundation in its core business: providing reliable cross-chain services for real users and building a moat for active users through fast and differentiated chain connection capabilities, technically stable infrastructure and cost-effective transactions.

At the same time, it presents a rational and well-grounded vision for the future. As the L2 ecosystem expanded, Orbiter Finance accurately identified key scalability challenges and systematically developed solutions.

Different from competitors who talk about their vision, Orbiter Finance relies on actual operation services and active user base to expand Vizing, and gradually expand its business territory. This strategy not only helps it maintain its market share in the growing cross-chain bridge market, but also creates incremental revenue opportunities in emerging markets.

As the L2 ecosystem matures and DeFi services expand, the role of cross-chain bridges and full-chain infrastructure will become more and more critical. More and more often, users will use the Arbitrum high-yield lending service to trade efficiently with Optimism, or use the Base Chain staked assets for Scroll Chain derivatives trading. Just as traditional finance has evolved through complex financial products and strategies, cross-chain asset flows and multi-layer DeFi strategies will become the norm. As this trend accelerates, cross-chain bridge services such as Orbiter Finance and full-chain infrastructure will become an integral part of the blockchain ecosystem.

However, it is necessary to continue to pay attention to the stability of Vizing's ecosystem services. Although Likwid is live, it's still in its early stages, and more adoption cases are needed to prove its potential. In addition, there is always a gap between vision and execution, and it is critical to closely track the progress of the implementation of the roadmap.

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