While we've been building out the next set of updates for Ruby.Exchange, other SKALE ecosystem partners have also been hard at work on their own applications and integrations.
As a result, several major developments are nearing completion together, and are expected to be released in just a few more days. This gives Ruby the opportunity not only to launch v2 of our own site, but to include key services including Wyre and Metaport.
This is an exciting point in SKALE and Ruby's journeys. Here's an overview of how these different components will come together to provide something far greater than the sum of their parts.
Ruby
Following months of bug fixes and performance updates since our soft launch in June, Ruby.Exchange is now operating smoothly. We have addressed all of the issues noted by our community, and optimized the site to cut loading times by 95%.
Subsequent work has focused on overhauling the UI to make it cleaner and more intuitive, and easier to bridge funds from Ethereum mainnet.
Europa
While there are no major changes here, it's worth a quick recap about what Europa is and its significance to the SKALE ecosystem. Europa is a shared SKALE Chain that will host a cluster of liquidity-focused dApps and services, starting with Ruby. Control of the chain is managed by a set of stakeholders to avoid unnecessary single points of failure.
Europa also hosts the default bridge from Ethereum mainnet into the SKALE Network, ensuring that every token has only one version and that there is no fragmentation of liquidity. It's therefore a vital element of the SKALEVERSE, bringing clarity to token standards, and to project developers and users.
Metaport
Metaport is SKALE's interchain token transfer widget. The SKALE network consists of a series of high-throughput and EVM-compatible but independent chains. SKALE Chains are secured by, and drive transactions to, Ethereum mainnet, but also have their own networks of validating nodes to enable a range of powerful features including gasless transactions, fast finality, and protection against MEV attacks.
Until now, chains have only been linked to each other by the bridge to Ethereum mainnet. Transferring tokens from one SKALE Chain to another requires a costly and time-consuming intermediate hop via L1.
Metaport will enable transfer of tokens directly between SKALE Chains, near-instantly and with zero gas costs—just like a regular SKALE transaction. The importance of this development for the SKALE ecosystem cannot be overestimated: The release of Metaport is the point at which a series of siloed SKALE Chains truly becomes the SKALEVERSE.
Wyre
Wyre recently announced their new integration with SKALE. Wyre is one of largest and most popular payment processors in the crypto world. Thanks to its user-friendly UX and support for dozens of currencies, the service has helped on-ramp billions of dollars into the blockchain space.
Work is currently ongoing and is expected to be completed in the very near future, initially allowing users to purchase USDC with minimal friction. The Wyre integration will be exclusively on Europa. We are building Wyre directly into Ruby's frontend as a launch partner, providing a straightforward way for anyone to move funds into the SKALE ecosystem.
The Stars Align
Together, these developments and releases offer functionality that promises to have an enormous impact and benefits for the SKALE ecosystem.
Wyre's integration enables users to buy USDC and immediately deploy it, not only on Ruby, but to any dApp in the SKALEVERSE via Metaport. Users have the option of swapping their USDC for other supported tokens on Ruby, and then instantly bridging them to another SKALE Chain.
This will make Europa the liquidity gateway and staging post for the entire SKALE Network, and Ruby the primary means of accessing the tokens that power dApps across the SKALEVERSE. Needless to say, we are very excited at the prospect of Ruby becoming such critical infrastructure for SKALE!
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