Ethereum → Cardano Stablecoin Bridge: USDC & USDT → USDM

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

Ethereum → Cardano Stablecoin Bridge: USDC & USDT → USDM

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

195000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

8

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

No

Original Language

en

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

We have zero ways to bring the two dominant stablecoins (USDC & USDT) on-chain as native USDM. This single missing piece keeps hundreds of millions in Ethereum liquidity locked out of Cardano DeFi.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://eth2ada.com
,
• https://swap.eth2ada.com
,
• https://moneta.global/
,
• https://www.dexhunter.io
,
• https://www.wombat.exchange/

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

No formal dependencies. We will use proven, battle-tested bridging technology (LayerZero / Axelar, or custom lock-mint with guarded multisig). All components are public and permissionless.

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.

100 % MIT License. All smart contracts, frontend, relayer code, docs, and deployment scripts public on GitHub from day 1.

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal

Cross-chain

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously launched in the market (whether by you or others).

Cardano currently lacks a fast, low-cost, direct USDC/USDT → native USDM bridge, a gap repeatedly highlighted by DEXs, lending markets, and algorithmic stablecoin projects. Existing bridging solutions are either slow, wrapped-asset based, multi-hop, or rely on high-fee intermediaries that degrade UX and limit liquidity movement. None deliver sub-$1 bridging with predictable finality, nor do they mint native USDM, which is critical for stablecoin depth across Cardano DeFi. This proposal directly addresses that missing infrastructure layer, enabling a frictionless stablecoin highway between Ethereum and Cardano—something the ecosystem has been requesting for years.

Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.

The team has already delivered meaningful groundwork: a live swap platform, a private testnet bridge, and prior successful Catalyst deliveries in Funds 9 and 11. The MVP will demonstrate end-to-end bridging of USDC/USDT into USDM with full wallet support, rate-limiting, analytics, and production-ready UI/UX. The prototype will be accessible via public testnet endpoints, complete with documentation, tutorials, and community testing channels. Additionally, Daniel Chan (CTO of Wombat Exchange) provides high-level architectural guidance, ensuring the system meets industry security and performance standards.

https://app.wombat.exchange/

Demonstrates experience and success showing how stablecoin swapper, bridge and perps were deployed on EVM chains.

Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.

Key on-chain and analytics-verified performance metrics expected within six months post-launch:

≥ 250 daily active bridging users

≥ 100 daily bridge transactions

≥ $150,000 average daily bridged volume (projected $27M+ cumulative)

Average fee < $0.80, measured across both chains

USDM reaches top-3 stablecoin TVL on Cardano (DefiLlama benchmarks)

≥ 8,000 unique wallets have bridged at least once

≥ 50% of bridged volume remains on Cardano for more than 7 days, indicating real retention and utility across DEXs and lending protocols

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

The Ethereum → Cardano Stablecoin Bridge solves the single biggest liquidity bottleneck holding Cardano DeFi back in 2025–2026: there is still no fast, cheap, trust-minimized path to move the world’s two dominant stablecoins (USDC & USDT) from Ethereum into native USDM on Cardano.

Current paths are either:

• Slow & expensive (20–200 USD, 10–60 min via existing bridges)
• Wrapped-only (wUSDC/wUSDT that no Cardano dApp wants to integrate)
• Multi-hop (Ethereum → another L2 → Cardano)

Our solution is a single-purpose, permissionless bridge that does exactly one job perfectly:

Ethereum USDC & USDT ↔ Native Cardano USDM with < 30-second finality and < $1 average fee.

Key Features

• 100% permissionless web3 app (no downloads, no KYC)
• Full wallet suite: Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, Eternl, Lace, Nami, Typhon, Flint
• < 30-second finality, < $1 average total fee (gas + protocol)
• Native USDM on Cardano – no wrapped tokens, no extra smart-contract risk layer
• Fully open-source (MIT) from day 1
• Single-phase audit by AnastasiaLabs (Cardano’s most trusted auditor)
• ₳10,000 on-chain community bug bounty at mainnet launch

Technical Workflow (high-level, stack-agnostic)

1. User connects Ethereum wallet → selects USDC or USDT → enters amount → signs lock transaction
2. Tokens are locked/burned on Ethereum inside a battle-tested bridge contract
3. Cross-chain message is emitted and verified by a decentralized guardian/validator set
4. Message delivered to Cardano → Plutus validator mints native USDM 1:1 to user’s Cardano wallet
5. Reverse direction works identically (lock/burn USDM → release USDC/USDT on Ethereum)

Risk Mitigation

• Full AnastasiaLabs audit of all contracts + frontend
• ₳10k bug bounty funded on-chain at mainnet
• Time-lock + emergency pause circuit breaker
• 1:1 reserve proof published daily via public API
• No single point of failure – guardian/validator set runs 19–30+ nodes
• All code open-source and verifiable from day 1

This bridge becomes the default stablecoin on-ramp for every Cardano DEX, lending protocol, and payment app. One deployment permanently 10X real usable stablecoin liquidity on Cardano.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

This bridge turns USDM into the dominant Cardano stablecoin instantly:

– Instant deep liquidity for Minswap, WingRiders, Indigo, Lenfi, Liqwid

– Real Ethereum money finally flows into Cardano DeFi and payments

– One bridge to rule them all for stablecoins

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & Feasibility

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Eth2Ada team (Clint Alexander + Ben Gordon + Advisor Daniel Chan)

– Delivered Fund9 Builder Dictionary (Live)

– Delivered Fund11 Developer Hub (Live + 93 % satisfaction)

– Built and shipped multiple live mainnet products

Advisor Daniel Chan (CTO, Wombat Exchange) brings stablecoin liquidity expertise from his work on Wombat’s single-sided pools (https://www.wombat.exchange/)

Zero execution risk.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Architecture & Stack Details + Testnet Demo

Milestone Outputs

Bridging stack details and architecture publicly announced (LayerZero, Axelar, or guarded multisig + Chainlink), complete technical design document published, testnet bridge (Sepolia → Preprod) fully functional for USDC & USDT → USDM with all major wallets connected.

Acceptance Criteria

For Milestone 1 to be accepted, the testnet bridge must demonstrate consistent, reliable, and verifiable performance across all required environments. A minimum of 100 successful round-trip transfers (Sepolia → Preprod → Sepolia) must be completed by the core team and community testers, using USDC or USDT as the source asset and converting to USDM on Cardano before returning to the originating chain. Each full cycle must complete without manual contract intervention and must reflect the intended mint/burn or lock/unlock flows defined in the technical architecture.

Every transfer must reach finality in under 60 seconds, including message relaying, proof verification, token event execution, and receipt confirmation in the user’s destination wallet. EVM-side gas fees must remain below $1 USD equivalent, with gas metrics logged and published for transparency.

Evidence of Completion

Public GitHub repository with all contracts and frontend code, detailed design document (PDF), live testnet URL, demo video showing transfers from Metamask → Eternl/Lace, transaction hashes published on Discord and X, community feedback report from ≥ 30 testers.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

40000

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Full Testnet Completion & Wallet Integration

Milestone Outputs

Production-ready testnet bridge supporting both USDC and USDT, full wallet suite (Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, Eternl, Lacei, Typhon, Flint), analytics dashboard, rate-limiting, and detailed user guides.

Acceptance Criteria

For Milestone 2 to be accepted, the bridge must demonstrate production-ready stability on testnet with broad wallet compatibility and consistently reliable performance across a wide user base. A minimum of 1,000 successful user-initiated transfers must be recorded, covering USDC and USDT bridging into USDM and back to the originating chain. These transfers must be performed by real community users, not only core team member, and executed across a diverse range of devices, networks, and wallets.

The system must achieve a minimum success rate of 99.9%, defined as transfers completing without stalled messages, unresolved retries, or protocol-level failures. Average end-to-end finality must remain below 45 seconds, including proof transmission, verification, token event execution, and visible confirmation in the destination wallet interface.

All supported wallets; Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, Eternl, Lace, Nami, Typhon, and Flint, must be validated by community testers. Validation includes successful connection, correct network detection, transaction signing, balance updates, error-free bridging flows, and recovery from dropped sessions or browser refreshes.

Rate-limiting, analytics tracking, and system monitoring must operate reliably, generating accurate metrics displayed in the public analytics dashboard. No critical-severity issues may remain open at milestone review, and medium-severity findings must include documented fixes or mitigation plans. Successful completion requires testers to report that the bridge behaves predictably and meets expectations for a production-ready testnet deployment.

Evidence of Completion

Public analytics page showing transfer stats, video walkthrough of every wallet, GitHub release v1.0-testnet, user testimonials from ≥ 50 community members, public leaderboard of top testnet bridgers.

Delivery Month

4

Cost

55000

Progress

50 %

Milestone Title

Security Audit + Fixes

Milestone Outputs

Milestone 3 delivers a complete end-to-end security hardening cycle for both the smart-contract layer and the frontend integration layer. A full independent audit must be conducted by AnastasiaLabs, covering contract logic, bridging message flows, oracle interactions, rate-limiting mechanisms, upgrade paths, and frontend transaction-handling logic. All findings must be documented, categorized by severity, and reviewed with the development team. Remediation work must be completed for all identified issues, followed by verification from the auditors. The final deliverables include a comprehensive audit report, a summary of the penetration tests, and all validated fixes applied to the codebase.

Acceptance Criteria

To meet acceptance, the final AnastasiaLabs report must confirm that no critical or high-severity vulnerabilities remain unresolved. All medium- or low-severity findings must either be fully remediated or explicitly accepted with a clear, public justification outlining risk tolerance and planned long-term mitigation. The codebase must pass re-verification by the auditors, confirming that implemented fixes match their recommended standards and that no regressions were introduced during remediation.

Evidence of Completion

Completion requires a publicly accessible audit PDF published on GitHub, commit history demonstrating all security fixes, and a signed attestation letter from AnastasiaLabs confirming successful remediation. Additionally, a dedicated security page on main app website must be live, providing full disclosure of audit results, risk assessments, and a changelog of applied fixes.

Delivery Month

5

Cost

40000

Progress

70 %

Milestone Title

Public Beta & Marketing Launch

Milestone Outputs

Milestone 4 delivers the full public beta launch of the bridge using mainnet-connected testnet endpoints, enabling real users to trial the system in a near-production environment. The beta must include the complete documentation site with setup guides, troubleshooting sections, FAQs, and integrated tutorial videos demonstrating bridging flows across major wallets. A coordinated marketing campaign must run across X, Discord, Telegram, and Cardano community forums to drive user participation. The launch should also coincide with public announcements of partnerships or integrations with at least three Cardano DEXs, confirming ecosystem support and upcoming liquidity pathways.

Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance requires recording at least 3,000 user-initiated transfers during the beta period, reflecting diverse user engagement across different wallets and regions. A structured feedback survey must collect 200 or more responses, measuring clarity, speed, reliability, and overall user experience. The final Net Promoter Score must exceed 70, indicating strong user trust and readiness for final production deployment.

Evidence of Completion

Completion is demonstrated through a publicly accessible beta URL, analytics screenshots showing user counts, transfer volume, and performance metrics, and an X campaign thread achieving 100k+ impressions. Published video tutorials must appear on both YouTube and the documentation site. Finally, signed integration confirmations from three or more Cardano DEXs must be provided to verify partnership readiness.

Delivery Month

6

Cost

25000

Progress

80 %

Milestone Title

Mainnet Launch & Project Close-out

Milestone Outputs

Milestone 5 delivers the full mainnet launch of the audited Ethereum ↔ Cardano bridge, incorporating all fixes and recommendations from prior audit cycles. The deployment must be stable, publicly accessible, and integrated with production infrastructure, including monitoring, rate-limiting, and wallet compatibility. A ₳10k community bug bounty program must be activated, funded, and publicly announced to incentivize responsible disclosure. The milestone also includes a final marketing push across major channels to support awareness during launch. A comprehensive project close-out report and a long-form video overview must be produced, summarizing architecture, audit history, testing results, user feedback, and post-launch readiness.

Acceptance Criteria

To satisfy acceptance, the first 100 mainnet transfers must complete successfully, covering either USDC or USDT bridging into USDM and vice versa. Each transfer must show an average transaction fee below $2 USD and achieve finality within 30 seconds, including full message verification and user-visible confirmation. The bug bounty program must be both funded and officially announced, with clear rules, scope, payouts, and responsible-disclosure procedures.

Evidence of Completion

Evidence includes a publicly accessible mainnet URL, on-chain explorer links for the first 100 transfers, and a 10-minute or longer close-out video on YouTube. The final Catalyst report must detail all KPIs and outcomes. A live bounty page and a GitHub v1.0.0 release tag must be published, along with proof of the ₳10k treasury transfer to the bounty multisig.

Delivery Month

8

Cost

35000

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

1. Bridging Stack Development & Integration

• Final stack selection (LayerZero / Axelar / guarded multisig + Chainlink)

• Smart-contract implementation (Ethereum + Cardano sides)

• Relayer / message-passing infrastructure

• On-chain verification logic + security hardening

• Internal testing & testnet deployments

Cost: ₳85,000

2. Frontend & Full Wallet Integration

• Complete single-click web app (usdm.dev)

• Deep integration with 7 wallets (Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, Eternl, Lace, Nami, Typhon, Flint)

• Mobile-responsive UI/UX + dark mode

• Real-time analytics dashboard + fee estimator

Cost: ₳45,000

3. AnastasiaLabs Security Audit + Remediation

• Full smart-contract audit (both chains)

• Frontend & relayer security review

• Penetration testing

• All findings fixed + final clean report

Cost: ₳40,000

4. Marketing, Documentation & Bug Bounty

• Launch campaign (X, Discord, Telegram, Cardano Forum, targeted ads)

• Tutorial videos & developer docs

• Community management during beta

• ₳10,000 on-chain bug bounty program (multisig funded & announced at mainnet)

Cost: ₳25,000

Grand Total: ₳195,000

All costs are for future work only; no retroactive funding.

No budget allocated to token purchases, liquidity provision, giveaways, or incentives.

Bug bounty is funded on-chain from the final milestone and governed by public multisig.

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

₳195,000 is the cheapest, fastest, highest-ROI unlock Cardano has ever seen. Here’s the cold, hard math:

1. Stablecoin Market Reality (DefiLlama + Circle/Tether reports, Nov 2025)

• Combined USDC + USDT circulating supply: $198 billion

• Daily transfer volume across chains: > $45 billion

• Cardano’s current share of that volume: < 0.03 %

→ A single fast, sub-dollar bridge captures even 0.1 % → $45 million/day flowing through Cardano DEXs and lending protocols.

2. Direct TVL Impact

Current Cardano stablecoin TVL: ~$380 M

Arbitrum/Base/Solana added $2–5 B TVL in the 6 months after their first <$1 USDC/USDT bridge went live.

Conservative capture of 25 % of that effect = +$500 M to +$1.25 B added to Cardano TVL in 2026.

3. On-Chain Revenue Flywheel

• Average Cardano DEX fee on a $10k swap: ~₳1.8

• At just $200 M monthly bridged volume (very conservative):

 → ~20,000 swaps/month  

 → ~₳36,000/month in direct DEX fees  

 → ~₳430,000/year in fees alone  

Plus staking rewards, DJED/iUSD backing demand, and transaction fees for SPOs.

4. Cost per Dollar Unlocked

• Year-1 bridged volume forecast (low): $150 M

• Cost per bridged dollar: ₳0.0013 (13/100 of one cent)

• Year-1 TVL added forecast (low): $500 M

• Cost per TVL dollar added: ₳0.00039

No marketing campaign, no treasury, no other proposal in Catalyst history comes within 100× of this efficiency.

5. Network Effects That Compound Forever

Once USDM is the cheapest, fastest way for Ethereum users to access Cardano, every new dApp, payment rail, and real-world use case builds on USDM by default. One-time ₳195k spend = permanent structural advantage.

₳195,000 is not the cost of a bridge; it is the cheapest and fastest way to 10× Cardano’s usable stablecoin liquidity and put Cardano DeFi back on the map in 2026.

[Self-Assessment] Self-Assessment Checklist

I confirm that evidence of prior research, whitepaper, design, or proof-of-concept is provided.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes ecosystem research and uses the findings to either (a) justify its uniqueness over existing solutions or (b) demonstrate the value of its novel approach.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal demonstrates technical capability via verifiable in-house talent or a confirmed development partner (GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio, etc.)

Yes

I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal clearly defines the problem and the value of the on-chain utility.

Yes

I confirm that the primary goal of the proposal is a working prototype deployed on at least a Cardano testnet.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal outlines a credible and clear technical plan and architecture.

Yes

I confirm that the budget and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic for the proposed work.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes a community engagement and feedback plan to amplify prototype adoption with the Cardano ecosystem.

Yes

I confirm that the budget is for future development only; excludes retroactive funding, incentives, giveaways, re-granting, or sub-treasuries.

Yes

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

I Agree

Yes