Stakeholders

Different stakeholders in cross-chain protocols have different interests and perspectives. This section explores the different types of stakeholders.

Users

A user is an actor in the system that either directly or indirectly uses a cross-chain protocol. This could include a user directly transferring assets from one network to another through a token bridge, or a user of a Dapp, which utilizes a cross-chain protocol on its backend. The interaction of such actors with cross-chain infrastructure is often short-lived.

Liquidity Provider

A liquidity provider is an actor that provides liquidity to users for the purposes of cross-chain asset exchanges. Liquidity providers often have longer-duration exposure to cross-chain protocols and their associated risks.

Bridge Token Holder

Token bridges might issue bridge-specific wrapped assets. A bridge token holder is any entity that holds these assets. A token holder might also be a user or liquidity provider but might also include entities that have not interacted with the cross-chain protocol altogether. The latter is an important point to note, as entities that might never have directly accessed or used a bridge could nevertheless have risk exposure to a bridge.

Bridge Validators

A set of off-chain systems and actors responsible for ensuring the communication of valid messages across chains.

Bridge Operators

One or more entities responsible for managing the operation of the core elements of a cross-chain protocol (e.g. upgrading on-chain smart contracts, updating validator registries)