Multichain is a cross-chain liquidity router (bridge) that lets anyone bridge assets from one blockchain to another.
The Multichain bridge network consists of Secure Multi Party Computation (SMPC) nodes which are external to any blockchains and collectively sign transactions. The group of nodes are run by trusted orgnaizations, institutions and individuals who must sign collectively with each only knowing a part of the key. Multichain uses a lock-and-mint mechanism to bridge assets from one chain to another. This is achieved by locking an asset in a smart contract on the source chain and then minting a corresponding wrapped asset on the destination chain. The revese process involves the user sending the wrapped asset from the destination chain back to the source chain; in this case, the wrapped asset is burned and the assets locked in the smart contract are released on the source chain. Multichain also offers a router that facilitates cross-chain transfers with reduced costs; it allows users to swap both native and bridged assets (created by a third-party native bridge). To enable the transfer of native assets across different chains, Multichain uses liquidity pools. These liquidity pools are created on different blockchains where the native tokens are added to the pool by liquidity providers. Once added, these tokens become available to be used for cross-chain transfers.
Multichain collects bridging fees that vary depending on the underlying asset. Altcoins incur a cross-chain fee of 0.1%, while blue-chip assets including stablecoins incur a fee of 0.1% when bridged to ETH and only $0.9-$1.9 to non-ETH chains.
You can earn a portion of all bridge fees by staking MULTI to receive veMULTI. veMULTI is the first tradable non-fungible token (NFT) that is the governance asset for the multiDAO and accrues rewards on a weekly basis. The current proposal distributes 45% of quarterly bridge fees as rewards every quarter (paid in USDC). The maximum lock-up time for veMULTI is four years; the longer you lock, the more benefits you receive.