The problem of sending value from one blockchain network to another in a way that’s safe, seamless and secure continues to be one of the crypto industry’s major challenges.
Although we often speak of a multichain world, the fact is that most blockchains are completely isolated networks, and do not have the ability to talk to other chains. This means there’s no easy way to transfer funds from Bitcoin to Ethereum, or from Solana to Bitcoin, for example. Yet doing this would go a long way toward solving the Web3 industry’s liquidity problems.
The lack of liquidity in DeFi is discussed often. It refers to the fact that crypto value is spread thinly over multiple, competing networks, and it’s one of the most pressing obstacles in the path of growth for DeFi applications.
If we can solve this challenge and make blockchain networks more interoperable, it will dramatically enhance liquidity, resulting in better experiences for users of decentralized applications. So let’s take a look at some of the best projects aiming to do so in 2025.
1: Zeus Network
Bitcoin users have lots of reasons to be excited about Zeus Network, as it’s planning to increase BTC utility by making it interoperable with the Solana ecosystem, where it can take advantage of its blazing-fast transaction speeds and a massive ecosystem of yield-generating dApps.
The big problem with Bitcoin is that it’s kind of useless. Besides being a store of value and a payment mechanism, there’s not much else you can do with BTC. Most people simply “hodl” their Bitcoins, waiting for the price to increase, or at best they’ll try to trade it on crypto exchanges to make a profit.
With Zeus, the utility of Bitcoin will expand dramatically. The plan is to make it quick and easy to transfer BTC to and from Solana with just a couple of clicks. To do this, it has created a pluggable and “bridgeless” architecture that makes it possible to bring BTC to Solana without any reliance on third-party custodians.
Zeus’ flagship app is called Apollo, and it gives users a way to deposit BTC and immediately mint a new token, called zBTC, on the Solana blockchain. The zBTC tokens are pegged to the value of BTC, yet the BTC tokens deposited by the user are not held by a custodian, as is the case with something like wBTC. Instead, the BTC remains locked up inside the Zeus protocol, protected by a decentralized network of Guardians. The beauty of this system is that no individual can access those locked up funds, except for the person who first deposited them, and the only way they can do that is by burning the zBTC tokens they created.
The secret mechanism behind this is the Zeus Programmable Library, which uses techniques such as bidirectional hooks. In this system, nodes propose BTC and SOL transactions and submit them as program states to create programmable signatures. The network uses a slashing mechanism that anyone can initiate to prevent malicious activity.
By streamlining Bitcoin’s integration with Solana, it becomes possible for BTC holders to use their tokens in various DeFi activities, such as lending and liquidity provision on Solana-based dApps like Kamino Finance, Solend and MargingFi.
2: Analog Network
Analog Network is the creator of a novel Layer-0 protocol known as the Timechain, and it relies on the equally novel “proof-of-time” consensus mechanism to verify and validate an immutable history of events, which it makes available through its “event data marketplace”.
What’s interesting about this concept is that the Timechain API can be used to transfer this event data to any other blockchain, irrespective of where that data was created.
Such information might include any time-series data, such as sensor or temperate readings, video recordings, and even digital assets.
It’s quite different to the traditional multichain transaction processes, which involve using blockchain bridges, oracles or sidechains, and it notably enhances security. For instance, blockchain bridges are known to be fraught with risk, as the process means locking up tokens in a smart contract on one chain in order to mint new coins on the target chain. When you do that, you’d better hope no one ever finds a vulnerability in that smart contract. Add to that, you have to trust whoever controls the smart contract, too.
With its Timechain, Analog eliminates this risky business. It ensures a seamless communication stream between any two blockchains. When a cross-chain transaction is initiated, the verified event data (the transaction) is secured by event proofs, and only then is it shared with the other blockchain network in a highly secure way. It means users can transfer assets across networks without using a traditional bridge or smart contract, and it has the potential to be a great solution to DeFi’s liquidity fragmentation problems.
3: Quant Network
Founded in 2018, Quant Network is definitely not a new technology, but it provides a viable solution that has gotten lots of attention from traditional financial institutions.
Quant’s goal is to connect every decentralized network in the world into a giant ecosystem where value can be moved freely between one another. Its flagship product is the Overledger DLT Gateway, and it boasts that it can connect any kind of network, be it a blockchain, DAG or another protocol.
As the name suggests, Overledger is a gateway that provides simple REST API access to different blockchains. Developers can use the platform to create what Quant refers to as “MAPPs”, or a special kind of smart contract that can run on every type of network. By using MAPPs, dApps have a way to interact with multiple blockchains at once, and can therefore support functionality that isn’t possible for dApps hosted on a single network.
The key capability it supports is the ability to mint multi-ledger tokens, which are cryptocurrencies that can move freely across networks. To do this, Quant backs these multi-ledger tokens with funds that are held in an escrow account at traditional financial institutions. It says the most popular use cases it envisions for multi-ledger tokens include stablecoins, loyalty tokens, vouchers and central bank digital currencies.
Quant claims to support blockchains including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP Ledger, Stellar, Polygon, EOS and many more besides. In addition, it can also connect to third-party databases and customer relationship management systems, for instance. It has won the favor of numerous banks, financial institutions and enterprises due to the way it streamlines interoperability between networks.
The big downside to Quant is that it’s centralized, and users are required to trust the institutions that back up its multi-ledger tokens with fiat. In addition, Quant’s technology is built on proprietary software, as opposed to most other blockchain interoperability projects, which are open-source.
