Chainlink Aims to Make Transfers Across Blockchains Safer with New Bridge App 'Transporter'

• The bridge uses Chainlink's CCIP tech, which is used by SWIFT, to move a large value of tokens and critical messages safely across blockchains.
• Bridges serve a key role in connecting individual blockchains, but often are targets of exploits.
• At the start, Transporter is available for Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, and WEMIX.

Data provider Chainlink LINK$14.10 unveiled Thursday its blockchain bridge application called "Transporter," which allows users to move crypto assets and data across multiple networks.

Chainlink's bridge is available for both individual users and institutions and aims to allow "a cost-efficient way to make high-value token transfers across blockchains with peace of mind," a Chainlink spokesperson explained in an interview on Telegram.

The first available blockchains for Transporter are Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, BNB Chain, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, and WEMIX, the press release said.

The release marks the entrance of the crypto world's key software platform that connects blockchain rails with external data – or oracle service – to the fast-growing sector of blockchain bridges. As the digital asset economy mushrooms, bridges serve a crucial role in connecting the ever-increasing number of individual blockchain rails, allowing the transfer of value and data between them. Existing bridges transferred some $12 billion worth of assets across chains through last month, DefiLlama data shows. However, bridges often are targets of exploits and hacks, carrying risks of losses for users.

Read more: What Are Blockchain Bridges and How Do They Work?

"Having a secure way to move both value and data across chains is something the blockchain industry has needed for years," Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov said in a statement. "Transporter makes it easier to utilize the security benefits of Chainlink's CCIP for the transfer of large token value and critical messages across chains."

Transporter was built on top of Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), a piece of tech that has been a key component behind Chainlink's partnership with SWIFT, a closed network used by banks to make international money transfers.

The platform also offers global support and a real-time visual tracker to follow the status of transfer between chains. It charges the regular fee of using CCIP, which covers the cost of executing the transaction on the destination blockchain and the fees paid to CCIP service providers.

"I expect that Transporter will quickly establish itself as the standard for cross-chain enablement for high-value use cases,” said Nomatic, an investor at venture capital firm Fourth Revolution Capital, which was one of the early users of the bridge.