Balanced: now connected to Archway

Balanced Official -

Balanced’s cross-chain journey has begun. You can now connect an Archway wallet to swap and transfer assets cross-chain.

Archway is a blockchain in the Cosmos ecosystem that launched mid-2023. Their unique reward model helps developers capture the value their apps create, based on the number of transactions people make.

Balanced’s connection to Archway uses xCall, ICON’s new cross-chain messaging service, and IBC, the Cosmos interoperability protocol.

The Archway connection is significant because it’s the first use-case for xCall, but also because it will launch bnUSD into the Cosmos ecosystem and give Balanced a direct path to Cosmos-native USDC.

Learn more about the cross-chain integration and how to use Balanced on Archway.

What is Balanced?

A quick primer for the new readers joining us.

Balanced is a DeFi product crafted for simplicity. It’s home to the Balanced Dollar stablecoin (bnUSD), and the largest decentralised exchange on the ICON blockchain.

You can use Balanced to borrow bnUSD, swap assets, supply liquidity, and participate in governance. And now, thanks to xCall, you can also swap and transfer assets cross-chain. Cross-chain loans will be available in the future, but liquidity and governance will always take place on ICON.

How does the cross-chain connection work?

Balanced uses the ICON blockchain as its hub for smart contract logic, so it’s in a prime position to leverage xCall, ICON’s new interoperability technology.

xCall is a cross-chain messaging service that enables seamless cross-chain interactions. It can relay messages between blockchains using any interoperability protocol, and allows developers to send messages across more than one protocol to reduce dependency on a single bridge.

The Balanced <> Archway connection is possible thanks to xCall and IBC, the Cosmos interoperability protocol. This connection has been a long time coming, but Balanced is just getting started.

xCall has one messaging standard for all cross-chain communication, so Balanced can now take advantage of every chain that connects to it.

Support for Injective, Avalanche, and a handful of other chains will follow soon. Balanced plans to use its growing list of connections to become the central hub for a wide range of cross-chain assets.

To learn more about xCall, see Interoperability with xCall.

How to use Balanced with Archway

Now that Balanced supports additional blockchains, you can use it with multiple wallets at the same time. To get started, go to the Trade page, click ‘Sign in’, then connect your ICON and Archway wallets.

Sign in to Balanced on multiple blockchains.

Swap assets cross-chain

Swap an asset on one chain, and receive your new asset on another. You can only move between ICON and Archway initially, but new chains will be added on an ongoing basis.

From the Swap tab:

  1. Choose an asset to swap, and another to receive.
  2. Choose which chains to send and receive on, if applicable.
  3. Enter an amount for one of the assets, then click Swap and complete the trade.
Swap an asset on one blockchain, receive your new asset on another.

Supply liquidity for Archway assets

The Balanced exchange uses liquidity pools that require an equal value of both assets. To optimise the trading experience, all liquidity is supplied on the ICON blockchain and sent to the requested chain at the time of a swap.

The ICON Foundation and Archway Liquidity Council have supplied seed liquidity to the sARCH/bnUSD pool to ensure a smooth trading experience at launch.

To supply liquidity of your own:

  1. Open the Supply tab.
  2. Choose to supply sARCH and bnUSD, then enter the amount.
  3. Click Supply, then follow the prompts to add liquidity to the pool.
Supply liquidity for cross-chain assets, which are held on ICON until traded.

Balanced uses BALN as an incentive to supply liquidity for specific pools. To earn BALN from incentivised pools, you’ll need to stake your LP Tokens:

  1. Click to expand the pool in the Liquidity Pools section.
  2. Click ‘Adjust stake’ and use the slider to stake your LP Tokens.
  3. Confirm the transaction.

You’ll earn BALN while your LP Tokens are staked, which you can claim from the Home page with your ICON wallet.

Stake your LP Tokens from the Liquidity Pools section.

Transfer assets cross-chain

You can also send assets directly to another blockchain from the Bridge tab:

  1. Choose which blockchains to transfer between.
  2. Choose an asset, then enter the amount.
  3. Click Transfer and follow the prompts to transfer cross-chain.
Transfer compatible assets between chains from the Bridge tab.

If you need more ARCH to cover Archway transaction fees, transfer sARCH from ICON to Archway. You can choose to unstake it when you confirm the transaction:

Unstake sARCH when you transfer to Archway, so you always have ARCH for transaction fees.

About BALN

BALN is the Balanced governance token, which is only available on the ICON blockchain.

Like many governance tokens, BALN gives you the ability to vote on governance proposals, earn a share of the network fees, and even influence the incentives for each liquidity pool. But first, you’ll need to lock it.

You can lock BALN for 1 week or up to 4 years, and in return you’ll hold bBALN, a non-transferable token which gives you voting power and boosts your BALN earning potential by up to 2.5x.

You can find out more about BALN in the Balanced docs:

Introduction | Balanced Docs
The documentation site for Balanced, a DeFi project that’s home to the Balanced Dollar stablecoin (bnUSD), and includes an exchange to service all blockchains connected to the ICON Network.
Balanced Docs

If you have questions about Balanced, ICON, or xCall, or just want to follow Balanced’s cross-chain journey, join the Balanced community on Discord.