Virtual Bridge

Virtual Bridge allows the user to bridge funds by depositing on one chain, submitting no trades, and immediately withdrawing on another chain. It is called Virtual Bridge not only after its maker, Virtual Labs, but also because it is not really a bridge. People could use Virtual Bridge to move funds in the same way they use Binance or Coinbase to do so—as a shop for moving funds.

The difference is that Virtual Bridge, powered by Virtual Rollup 1.2 is theoretically trustless. The user does not need to trust VDEX as they verify the state transitions themselves.

However, this Virtual Bridge is not permissionless, as VDEX could be unresponsive which would prevent the user from changing their chainID. In this worse case-scenario, the user would be forced to submit the original signature back to the chain on which they deposited. Their funds are safe, but they could not bridge their funds.

Another unintended feature of the Virtual Bridge is that it allows for instant crosschain settlement. The reason bridges take so long is because transactions must finalize, or otherwise be at risk of a reorg. But if a user deposits and make trades or earn yield, by the time they go to withdraw, the initial deposit has long been finalized. Thus, the withdrawal could be processed and sent immediately—or as long as a blocktime is on the chain.