Exclusive interview with deBridge founder Alex: Building an internet of liquidity, where users will be able to stake and participate in governance

Author: jk, Odaily Planet Daily

With the continuous evolution of decentralized finance infrastructure, the latest developments of deBridge have attracted widespread attention. From being a winner at a hackathon to becoming one of the largest bridges on Solana, deBridge, which has had a rocky road, is gradually becoming a major player in this field.

Odaily Planet Daily is fortunate to have interviewed Alex, the founder of deBridge, to delve into how deBridge is redefining cross-chain asset liquidity and governance mechanisms through its innovative liquidity internet and the upcoming DBR token; this also includes the points mechanism and related activities for the second season that users are most concerned about.

Alex also shared insights on the milestones that the deBridge community and users should look forward to in the coming months, as well as his grand vision for the future development of deBridge. Let’s learn how Alex articulates the unique value of deBridge and how it leads innovative changes in the wave of decentralized finance.

Alex, founder of deBridge. Source: deBridge

Here is the full interview:

Odaily:

Nice to meet you, Alex! We are very lucky to have the opportunity to communicate with the deBridge team. First, could you introduce yourself and the deBridge team, and explain what your project is about?

Alex:

Of course. Thank you for inviting me to the interview today. My name is Alex, and I am the CEO and co-founder of deBridge. However, I prefer you to call me a core contributor to deBridge, especially as we are transitioning to a DAO. Essentially, we are building the "internet of liquidity."

deBridge is considered the fastest and safest bridge in the market. We started our journey in early 2021, and since then, we have undergone significant changes. We initially gained attention after winning the Chainlink Global Hackathon. Yes, we started as a hackathon project, but we have rapidly grown over the past three and a half years. From the beginning, our goal has been to achieve the free flow of information and liquidity.

The reason we started researching bridges was to solve the problem of liquidity transfer. Our team was involved in cross-chain arbitrage and needed to rebalance our inventory using centralized exchanges. However, we often faced challenges with centralized exchanges, such as withdrawal delays or insufficient liquidity in hot wallets. We realized that a truly decentralized technology was needed to facilitate the transfer of information and liquidity.

We have been dedicated to this mission for quite some time. As you may know, security is the biggest challenge in this field. We take pride in the fact that deBridge has not experienced a single vulnerability or security incident to date. Our bridge infrastructure has maintained 100% uptime since day one. Additionally, we are known as the fastest bridge because we have adopted a unique model that differs from traditional cross-chain infrastructure.

Odaily:

Thank you for the introduction. Let’s dive deeper into the product aspects of deBridge. We noticed some impressive data, especially the extensive use of deBridge between EVM chains and Solana. For example, in June, the total assets launched on Solana amounted to $280 million, of which $154 million was through deBridge, compared to $125 million through Wormhole. That’s quite a substantial figure.

What data indicators does your team consider when deciding which chains to support? Do you take into account growth in specific areas, such as farming, meme tokens, or staking on a particular chain? What key metrics do you consider?

Alex:

That’s a good question. Initially, we started developing deBridge for EVM chains because any cross-chain infrastructure consists of two layers: the protocol layer, which is essentially smart contracts deployed on each chain; and the infrastructure layer, which involves validating nodes that sign and verify cross-chain messages. EVM was an obvious choice at the time because the entire DeFi space was initially built around EVM, primarily centered on Ethereum.

As we saw more layer two solutions emerging, we began to consider what the first non-EVM chain we should support would be. We had several internal discussions and considered various tech stacks and ecosystems that developed around 2021. Ultimately, we decided to support Solana because we were excited about the development and growth of its ecosystem.

It all started with a small grant of $20,000 we received from the Solana ecosystem, which became the starting point for our long-term involvement. We spent about two years building the protocol layer, infrastructure, and everything necessary to be ready for the mainnet launch. Today, deBridge is one of the main bridges in the Solana ecosystem, handling a significant portion of liquidity inflow and trading volume through our infrastructure.

In terms of scaling and deciding which chains to support, our goal is to make deBridge truly decentralized. As I mentioned earlier, we are building the "internet of liquidity" for DeFi. One of the great advantages of the internet is that it is permissionless—you don’t need permission to access a website or connect to the internet. We believe this concept should also apply to DeFi. Any blockchain ecosystem should be able to connect to deBridge and communicate seamlessly with any other supported blockchain.

To achieve this, we developed a unique framework called IaaS, or "Interoperability as a Service."

It’s almost like the SaaS model that is very popular in the Web2 space. For IaaS (Interoperability as a Service), any blockchain ecosystem can initiate a subscription through a smart contract, paying $10,000 per month to connect to deBridge immediately.

The biggest problem right now is that if you are building your own chain or layer two solution, you absolutely need a bridge because it is foundational. However, if you approach most popular bridge providers, they typically require millions of dollars in funding or a large liquidity supply to their pools, which is not feasible for everyone. With deBridge, you don’t need to negotiate with our team or request integration. You can simply initiate a subscription through a smart contract, and the deBridge infrastructure will be deployed on your chain. Our validators will automatically connect with your chain.

The Solvers in our liquidity network will automatically see all transactions created that enter and exit your ecosystem, allowing them to decide whether to fulfill those transactions. This is how we achieve the "internet of liquidity."

So far, deBridge has two types of IaaS adapters. The first is EVM, which allows any EVM-compatible chain to connect. The second is SVM, enabling any Solana-compatible or general ecosystem to connect. We are further considering how to enable connections for more complex chains like Aptos, Sui, or Cosmos. The next step for this framework will be IaaS adapters that leverage the codebase of our existing adapters, allowing anyone to build their own adapters for more complex chains.

For example, developers can port deBridge smart contracts from Solidity or Rust into the language of a specific chain, audit them, deploy the smart contracts, and then connect to deBridge in the same way. We believe anyone should be able to build, and as we transition to a DAO, much of our efforts and funding may focus on incentivizing developers to connect more blockchain ecosystems.

So that’s our vision for the future of deBridge.

Odaily:

So, the next question is, what major events are upcoming in deBridge’s product roadmap?

Alex:

That’s a good question. The next major milestone is the launch of our token and the transition to a DAO. So far, deBridge is one of the fastest-growing bridges and the only one that has successfully established an efficient value capture mechanism.

deBridge is not only fast but also the first bridge to reach breakeven. It generates sustainable profits daily because any user initiating a transaction or making a cross-chain transfer needs to pay fees. In our case, these fees are used for security and speed, making deBridge the safest bridge on the market. Users want to be confident that their operations or token approvals will not lead to a loss of funds.

Simply building a bridge is not enough. If you don’t have fees, you can inflate metrics and trading volume, but without an effective value capture mechanism, those metrics are meaningless. You can connect any wallet, but the real challenge is to build an efficient bridge that has a sustainable economy—not only achieving meaningful metrics but also generating value accumulation that funnels fees into the treasury. Without these value accumulation mechanisms, it’s impossible to build a truly decentralized protocol or ecosystem.

In my view, deBridge may be the first bridge to achieve this goal. If you look at platforms like Token Terminal or DeFiLlama, deBridge is one of the bridges generating the most fees. So far, we have accumulated about $12 million in the protocol treasury, which is quite substantial—actually exceeding the total funds we have ever raised.

Sorry, I may have gone a bit off-topic. But regarding the roadmap—an important step is the launch of the token, which is indeed a key step towards transitioning to a DAO. However, we are also steadily executing our mission to build the "internet of liquidity" for DeFi, which involves many improvements and new product features.

One particularly interesting direction we are working on is custody, similar to what existed before with Bitcoin. We plan to bring native Bitcoin to Solana to enable native cross-chain transactions of existing assets between Solana, other EVM chains, and native BTC. Essentially, you will be able to deposit BTC into a specific address on the Bitcoin chain and receive SOL on Solana or MATIC on Polygon. This will be a significant improvement in user experience and liquidity, as Bitcoin is one of the largest assets by market cap in the crypto market.

Additionally, we are focusing on scalability and supporting new chains. We believe Tron could be a valuable addition to deBridge because there is a lot of liquidity there. Currently, no bridge can effectively handle the large transaction volumes on Tron, so enabling the transfer of assets like USDT between Tron and other ecosystems could be a significant value release.

We are also working to improve deBridge’s liquidity network, which is our unique "zero TVL" model for cross-chain asset transfers. Traditional bridges rely on liquidity pools, which have multiple bottlenecks in terms of security, scalability, and capital efficiency. Liquidity pools are vulnerable to significant exploits. We pioneered the zero TVL model for cross-chain transfers, and now we are further enhancing it—making it faster and minimizing operational costs for users and dApps. Therefore, GLM (Gasless Liquidity Mining) will become more affordable for users and Solvers, improving user experience and expanding its utility.

Moreover, we are developing features requested by users. One of them is gasless operations. For example, anyone can initiate a gasless cross-chain transaction without needing to sign or broadcast the transaction. Instead, you can simply sign a cryptographic message (like a permission), and then the Solver will broadcast the transaction on your behalf, completing your transaction immediately on the target chain. This feature also allows for gas separation, making it possible to develop interesting social finance (SocialFi) mechanisms on deBridge, such as copy trading.

Or even different embedded Telegram bots or applications where users can participate in copy trading or delegate their liquidity to specific vaults, allowing others to execute trades on their behalf. Many interesting mechanisms can be developed, but gas separation for cross-chain operations will be a significant improvement in user experience. Another interesting feature is gasless cancellation, where users will not need to broadcast a transaction if the expected transaction cannot proceed. Instead, they will be able to cancel the expected transaction in a completely gasless manner.

So these are some of the product features and plans we have in mind.

Odaily:

Let’s talk about the technical solutions: what type of technical solutions does deBridge choose when transferring assets across chains? What advantages and boundaries do your solutions have in terms of efficiency and security?

Alex:

Good question, let me first explain the difference: historically, most bridges have been built as liquidity protocols, meaning that settlement or cross-chain transfers occur within liquidity pools. The way it works is that you put assets into a pool on one chain and then wait for the transaction to complete, which can sometimes take up to 20 minutes, for example, on Polygon, where final confirmation takes a long time.

After these 20 minutes, your transfer will be settled from the liquidity pool on the target chain. However, this model has fundamental flaws. It is synchronous, which means that in many cases, automated market makers (AMMs) are needed, and price discovery occurs through curves. Additionally, liquidity pools themselves are a bottleneck. For example, if there is only $2 million in liquidity in the pool, you cannot transfer $3 million or $4 million because there isn’t enough liquidity to settle. Moreover, there’s slippage—you don’t know how much you will ultimately receive. While waiting for the transaction to be finally confirmed, others may send large transactions before you, causing your transaction to be canceled due to slippage or insufficient liquidity, or you may receive an amount far below your expectations, which is a significant issue for user experience.

Another issue is capital efficiency. To attract liquidity to these pools, you need to spend a lot of money on rewards and liquidity incentives. For example, the current annual interest rate for U.S. Treasury bonds is about 6%, while bridges, due to higher risks, must pay at least 15%. Imagine a bridge with a total locked value (TVL) of $100 million—this means it needs to pay at least $15 million annually in interest to liquidity providers. To cover these costs, the bridge needs to generate over $15 million in fees, which is nearly impossible. That’s why this model is not capital efficient, and liquidity will always flow away from these types of solutions in the long run.

The last issue is security. If a bridge has a TVL of $100 million, it becomes a prime target for exploitation. This is why we see so many hacks in the cross-chain space. If you interact with a bridge that has a high TVL, in my view, it is inherently risky.

We recognized these flaws early on and began to think about how to shift the model from being pool-based to a more zero TVL design or network model, where we do not rely on pools for settlement but take a different approach.

We can use Solvers or private market makers, and we proposed this "zero TVL" design. The way it works is that anyone can create an intent, basically saying: "Okay, I’m offering 100 USDC on Polygon, can anyone give me 99 USDC on Solana?" This intent acts like a limit order. Any Solver or market maker on Solana will immediately see this intent, and the first one to offer 99 USDC will be able to send a cross-chain message to Polygon, unlocking the liquidity I provided as a user. The small spread—like the $1 in this example—is how this design operates, very efficiently.

The key advantage here is that there is no static locked liquidity. Instead, a Solver or market maker completes the transaction while maintaining their own liquidity, whether in their wallet or on their balance sheet. This liquidity only interacts with the smart contract for a very short time during the settlement period. Another interesting aspect is that Solvers take on all the risks for users, including risks related to transaction finality and reorganization. This is their profession, and they are rewarded for it.

Therefore, users do not need to wait 10 or 20 minutes. Solvers manage the finality risk, which is why settlements are usually completed within seconds. This makes deBridge the fastest technology by design. Additionally, it has high capital efficiency. deBridge does not need to provide incentives to attract liquidity because there is no locked liquidity in this zero TVL design. Without locked liquidity, there is nothing for hackers to exploit, making the model significantly safer.

Another key point is that users know the exact output they will receive, eliminating slippage. When users create a transaction, they can specify exact parameters. For example, I can specify that I am offering 1 USDC on Polygon and want to receive 1000 SOL on Solana. While no Solver will fulfill such an order, I can still control the execution price. If the transaction is profitable—for example, if I offer 1 SOL at $200—then Solvers will compete to execute the transaction. This way, I know how much I will receive without worrying about slippage or AMM-based price discovery.

For instance, if I want to buy something, like a $100 hoodie, I don’t want to pay $101 or $99 due to slippage. This precise cutting capability can only be achieved within deBridge’s liquidity network.

So this is the comparison between traditional methods and our zero TVL design, highlighting the advantages and addressing the issues of each approach.

Odaily:

In fact, we noticed an example where a market maker recently executed the largest single cross-chain transfer on Solana—$4 million USDC. If you are familiar with this situation, could you explain how deBridge handled it and how this example showcases deBridge's capabilities?

Alex:

Yes, of course. This was indeed one of our largest settlements. This specific transfer was facilitated by Wintermute (a market maker). These market makers typically disperse liquidity across different chains, aiming to optimize the market through arbitrage or MEV (maximum extractable value). If they have liquidity, they want to put it to work, so they can add intent or solving capabilities to their infrastructure.

In this $4 million transfer, it was from Ethereum to Solana, where a large fund needed to move liquidity quickly. During periods of market volatility, you cannot rely on centralized exchanges because they typically require 64 block confirmations, and waiting that long is risky when facing liquidation or hoping to buy assets as prices drop. This is where deBridge shines—it is the fastest solution, giving users a first-mover advantage, whether they want to buy something or manage liquidity more efficiently and securely.

In this case, the fund needed to quickly transfer liquidity from Ethereum to Solana. They created this large transfer, but the smaller Solvers in the deBridge network could not handle it because they did not have enough liquidity. Wintermute took on this transfer, and notably, the person transferring liquidity to Solana immediately deposited it into Drift to start trading. I saw Drift's founder Cindy tweet about this, which is a cool example of composability in DeFi. People don’t have to worry about where their assets are or on which chain—they can freely and instantly move assets across chains. This is how the internet of liquidity operates.

Odaily:

Absolutely, that’s really cool. We know that deBridge is entering the second phase of its points program. What kind of benefits can users expect?

Alex:

The points system is a way for us to measure the contribution of each user or partner to the overall success of the deBridge ecosystem.

We redesigned the points system to allocate points in an interesting way, proportional to the fees paid to the protocol. Fees act as an effective monetary barrier that helps reduce Sybil attack vectors, where people might try to gain free airdrops by burning gas.

At deBridge, we have had fees from day one, so all users know they pay a small fee for security, speed, and decentralization. We launched this points initiative as the first to make it proportional to the fees generated by the protocol—essentially earning 100 points for every $1 spent. We created a leaderboard that displays statistics and protocol activity for all addresses interacting with the deBridge infrastructure.

Additionally, we included a referral component. For example, integrators like Jupiter can earn 25% of the referral points generated by their users using deBridge. Similarly, active community members or leaders who share referral links on their blogs or social media will also earn 25% of the points generated by their referrals. This approach is similar to referral programs used by centralized exchanges, incentivizing people to spread the technology.

Our ongoing goal has been to establish decentralized governance without allowing venture capitalists to dominate, which is why we haven’t raised large marketing budgets. Instead, our marketing ambassadors are our users—those who are impressed by the speed and security of deBridge naturally spread the word to their friends and family. The points initiative is an effective way to communicate with our community and incentivize them to use the protocol. You can think of it like an airline mileage program. For example, I choose to fly with Emirates because I enjoy accumulating miles and then using them for upgrades, which benefits me. It’s an effective user acquisition tool.

The points initiative has been working very well for deBridge. We designed and developed it as part of our platform. The first season recently ended and converted into an airdrop for the initial token allocation, which will be the largest distribution to the community. After the snapshot, we will begin the second season, which is essentially a continuation of the program. We envision that the future deBridge DAO will have three key stakeholder groups.

First, let’s talk about the community. We have a section called "Community Launch," which allocates 20% of the total token supply. This will be distributed over three and a half years. Core contributors are also subject to the same allocation—20% over the same period. Additionally, we have reserved 20% for our strategic partners who supported us in the early stages of deBridge, before we generated any revenue, and who have continued to support us over the past three and a half years.

Thanks to this balanced approach and the minimal funds we have raised, we can maintain a healthy distribution, with each stakeholder group—community, core contributors, and strategic partners—ultimately holding about 20% of the total supply. These allocations will vest gradually and quarterly during this period.

The first season of our points initiative has just concluded, and 6% of the total supply will be allocated to users and participants. The remaining supply will be distributed in future points initiatives. The second season will begin immediately after the first season ends, continuing to incentivize users. If you use deBridge for cross-chain transfers, you will earn points reflected on the application banner. You can also view all statistics and explore your points. These points qualify you for future token allocations, which will be managed by the DAO.

This system applies not only to users; it also includes integration partners. For example, wallets that integrate the deBridge API or widget will qualify for these allocations as they accumulate referral points. This is the mechanism we have established for the points initiative and token distribution.

Odaily:

Thank you very much. How has the community reacted to the first phase? Has everything gone smoothly, or have there been some challenges?

Alex:

Yes, of course. First, you can never please everyone, right? That’s just how the world works—there will always be some extremes. When you satisfy one group, it may mean that another group is less satisfied. This is somewhat like Newton's third law.

Overall, we are optimizing deBridge to serve our loyal users and those who have been with us for a long time and understand our long-term vision of building the liquidity internet for DeFi. In any points initiative, you will have different users—some are genuinely invested in the project, while others just want a quick airdrop. Historically, there have been several large airdrops, like Arbitrum and Uniswap, where people, including myself, made some trades and suddenly received tokens worth $2,000. It felt like magic because no one expected it; airdrops weren’t popular at the time.

But now, some groups expect this situation to continue indefinitely, thinking that protocols will keep airdropping free funds. However, economics always follows certain rules; there is no magic—only math. With my math background, I always try to understand where value comes from. At deBridge, we are building a sustainable company, so we focus on our long-term users.

Generally speaking, when it comes to the first season, most of our loyal users who understand our long-term vision are satisfied and happy. However, those primarily interested in the airdrop may be less satisfied. One of the main complaints we received was about the timeline. The deBridge Foundation announced an airdrop checker, where anyone can connect their address and see their airdrop allocation. The top 10% of users on the first season leaderboard have locked tokens, meaning they receive 50% on the first day, with the remaining 50% after six months. Some users were unhappy about this, saying, "Look, you’re making us hold tokens for six months. We’re not happy." That’s a reasonable concern.

I’m excited about both groups—our long-term supporters and those who are participating in the short term.

But indeed, some people are unhappy about having to wait six months—they want to access it faster. So we listened to their feedback, and the deBridge Foundation introduced an additional feature allowing them to claim their tokens early with a 20% penalty. This penalty will be redistributed to those willing to wait six months.

This is actually an interesting mechanism that allows us to distinguish between those who see long-term value and understand our vision and those who are more short-term users or looking for quick flips. We respect both groups because they each play an important role.

We often discuss ideas with the community to see their thoughts and suggestions. If the feedback is meaningful, we are willing to adapt or implement something new. If not, we don’t focus on it. But there are many smart people in our community who have made great suggestions, and we try to listen to them. The 20% penalty feature is a particularly good suggestion adopted by the deBridge Foundation. I think most people are very excited about it. We saw over 1,200 likes on the foundation announcement, and I believe we will soon surpass 1 million views on that tweet. So, it’s great to see this, indicating that we are moving in the right direction.

Odaily:

So, the next question is about DBR—can you share any data or details regarding the launch of DBR on the LFG Launchpad?

Alex:

LFG Launchpad is a method for guiding on-chain liquidity, and it is actually the largest launch platform in the Solana ecosystem, built by the Jupiter team. The Jupiter team is outstanding, and their DAO is one of the largest. I am always impressed by how they consider user experience, and at deBridge, we have actually drawn a lot of inspiration from Jupiter. We are fortunate to participate in LFG Launchpad, with Jupiter DAO voting to support deBridge.

The way it works is that at a certain moment, the token needs to become tradable and go through the market. The challenge is how to conduct a fair launch so that the token is not just traded by MEV bots or dominated by venture capitalists, but that everyone has a fair opportunity to participate in the launch. That’s the purpose of LFG—it is built to guide the on-chain liquidity of tokens, especially in the Solana ecosystem, which is perfect for deBridge.

We designed our LFG in a unique way. This is not a classic launch in the Jupiter model, although those are great too. In our case, the LFG event will be super unique.

Only eligible addresses can participate, and eligibility is determined by loyalty. Specifically, users who have used deBridge on at least 10 different days will be able to deposit into the LFG treasury. Additionally, users who stake a certain amount of Jupiter (I believe over 600 JUP) will also qualify. This information is detailed on the Jupiter research forum. Therefore, the top 10% of JUP stakers will be able to participate and deposit into the LFG treasury.

This is how the mechanism works, and everyone will receive tokens at the same price. The ensured liquidity will be used to guide the on-chain liquidity pool on Meteora, particularly the Meteora dynamic pool. Another interesting aspect is that each address will be limited—participants not only need to be whitelisted or eligible, but their deposits will also be restricted. The limit is set at $25,000, ensuring that no single whale can deposit $10 million and dominate the pool.

This approach ensures fair distribution and a fair on-chain liquidity launch. We have two distribution processes: an airdrop that everyone can claim and the LFG liquidity guidance mechanism. The tokens from both distributions will be claimable at the same time, with everyone having equal rights regarding when and how to claim.

Odaily:

Thank you, besides that, our readers are particularly concerned about the utility of the token. From a demand perspective, can you explain the use cases of DBR and the future plans associated with it?

Alex:

Of course. DBR will be a utility token, primarily used for governance. All token holders will be able to participate in the DAO decision-making process. They can propose suggestions on various matters, such as which chains should be integrated through the IaaS framework, which product features should be prioritized, or how the DAO’s finances should be managed.

For example, deBridge has accumulated about $12 million in transaction fees, which will be controlled by the DAO. Token holders will have a say in how these funds are used—whether for protocol development, allocating incentives to certain partners or integrators, or other purposes. Governance over the treasury will be an important responsibility for token holders.

The second use of DBR is staking. To participate in governance, token holders will need to stake their tokens and use their staking power to vote on various proposals. These proposals may include adjusting key parameters, such as transaction fees, managing the list of active validators, or rotating validators when necessary. Essentially, token holders will have the authority to control the entire protocol.

Odaily:

This is the last question: looking ahead, we want to know what the next major milestone for deBridge is? What upcoming features or initiatives should users expect?

Alex:

The token launch is definitely an important milestone, which requires a lot of preparation. But I think the transition to a DAO is another very important step. This is key to making the liquidity internet truly unstoppable.

In terms of product features, there are several exciting developments. For example, we are working on integrating with new chains, such as Tron, which will be realized soon. We are also focusing on gasless transactions, which will allow users to execute gasless cancellations and enable more complex operations, such as DCA. This will allow large transactions to be broken down into smaller trades distributed over a certain period.

We recently launched P2P functionality on the deBridge liquidity network (DLN), allowing for more customized trades where you can specify the address of the counterparty—for example, ideal OTC trades. This is a pretty cool addition.

Another important area is custody. We have dePort, which is our custody solution that allows assets to be transferred from one chain to another, effectively creating derivatives of them. The next major milestone for deBridge will be enabling custody for BTC, allowing users to conduct native BTC transactions on any asset on any other chain.

Additionally, we are working to improve various issues related to trading costs and gas efficiency, making the protocol more economical and efficient for users. Staking is also an important upcoming feature, providing another utility for the token. Users will be able to stake and participate in governance.

These are the main milestones and functional developments we are currently focusing on.