Aion Token Bridge
Interoperability is a core pillar of the Aion Network. This functionality is ambitious to build, but enables blockchain technology to be adopted and used in new markets and use cases. Part of delivering on that ambition is a product release schedule that is agile and builds on iterative development. The Aion Token Bridge is the first major release in the roadmap to a fully functioning generic bridge, where assets, data, and value can be transferred across a common blockchain protocol.
What is it?
The Aion Token bridge is built to facilitate decentralized transfer of value from the Ethereum network to the Aion network. This Token bridge is designed for a specific purpose — the unidirectional transfer of Aion ERC-20 to native AION coin on the Aion-Kilimanjaro network. This bridge implementation works through a bridge cluster containing a set of nodes with hooks into both networks. These nodes actively listen to application specific events on both networks and act only on specific transactions or interactions on either network i.e. Aion ERC-20 transfer transaction to Aion coin.
Alpha Version
The Aion Token Bridge — Alpha Version is the first public release of an Aion Bridge and is used for transfer of BTAION (test ERC 20) from the Rinkeby network (Ethereum) to native AION coins (test coins) on the Conquest network (Aion).
The section below details steps on using the Alpha version of the Token Bridge
Environment Setup
Install Google Chrome browser
Once Chrome is set up, install the Metamask browser extension
Steps
Launch Google Chrome
Create Account / Login to Metamask wallet
Change the network to Rinkeby Test Net
Copy your account address to receive (test) Ether on Rinkeby
Get test ether using Rinkeby faucet
a) Navigate to
https://faucet.rinkeby.iob) Follow steps on the page to get test ether
c) Check account has been credited with test ether on Metamask wallet
Get BridgeTestAION (BTAION) an ERC 20 token created to test the bridge using aionnetwork Gitter community page
a) Navigate to BTAION room on aionnetwork Gitter community. Click here to navigate
b) Log in using one of Gitlab, Github, or Twitter credentials and join the room
c) Paste your Rinkeby address on the btaion room, 1 BTAION will be transferred to the address
Note: Only 1 BTAION per 7 days is allocated to an address.You can also navigate to the btaion Gitter room using the Bridge Interface (see below)
Check account has been credited with BTAION using the Bridge interface or Etherscan
a) To view BTAION balance using Bridge Interface, skip to next step
b) To view BTAION balance using Etherscan, navigate to
https://rinkeby.etherscan.io, query your address and click on Token Transfers tab
Navigate to the Bridge Interface —
https://bridge-alpha.aion.network/#/bridgeTo check you have sufficient balance for transfer Click on Status Tray
If you do not have sufficient balance, click on BTAION Faucet tab to navigate to btaion Gitter room and follow steps to get BTAION
The address you are transferring to is a random 32 byte hash on Conquest, to confirm that the balance is zero you can navigate to the Conquest dashboard by clicking on View on Aion Explorer link . You could also enter your own Conquest address
Initiate transfer from Ethereum to Aion
a) Click on Transfer button
b) Click on Submit (sign and submit transaction) using the Metamask Wallet. If the Metamask wallet doesn’t pop-up manually click on the Metamask icon and submit the transaction
c) As the various stages are completed, that particular stage icon will turn into a green tick
Note : You will only be allocated 1 BTAION per 7 days per address; If you want to use the bridge multiple times please put in a denomination < 1 — for eg 0.01
Note : If you do not have sufficient balance and initiate the transfer, you will be prompted to get BTAION using the faucet
Once all the stages are completed (Green tick), view balance transfer on the Aion network by clicking on View on Aion Explorer link
Congratulations ! You have successfully transferred value from Ethereum to Aion using Aion Token Bridge
Note : Each stage of the transfer is reflected on the UI. A pending stage is reflected with greyed out icons,a stage in progress is reflected by a spinning icon, and a completed stage is reflected by a green icon. You can hover over the icons to get more details of that particular stage
Initiate Transfer : Transaction to transfer Aion ERC to AION Coin (Ethereum to Aion) signed by the user
Sent to Ethereum : Transaction picked up by the network and sealed in at least one block
Picked Up by Bridge : Bridge cluster detected the transfer and is holding on to the block until it achieves the 12 block finality
Finalized on Ethereum : Transaction block is now 12 blocks under the head of the chain, guarantees finality with a higher probability
Aion Balance Updated : Bridge cluster has passed on the transfer to the Aion Network and balance is now updated. You can click on View On Aion Explorer and can see the balance has now been updated. If the blockchain on Ascent reorganizes the balance could show 0 and the transfer could take a longer time to be reflected on Ascent
Finalized on Aion : Transaction block is now 12 blocks under the head of the chain, guarantees finality with a higher probability
Note: 12 blocks have been chosen to balance between block finality and transfer time, this number is subject to change in later iterations.
To capture user experience and other feedback, we would recommend everyone to use the Aion Forum. Click here to navigate to the Aion Token Bridge [Alpha Version] forum thread.
