Hello IoTeX Community! This thread provides context on issues some community members are experiencing when converting native IOTX to IOTX-E (ERC20) via ioTube.
ioTube (iotube.org) is a cross-chain bridge that facilitates two-way token swaps between IoTeX and other blockchains, including Ethereum, BSC, and Polygon. To perform token swaps between blockchains, there are various approaches that can be used:
Lock/Unlock: lock one token (e.g., IOTX) on Blockchain A in order to unlock the corresponding token (IOTX-E) from a liquidity pool on Blockchain B with 1:1 value
Lock/Mint: lock one token (USDT) on Blockchain A in order to mint a cross-chain version of the token (USDT_b) on Blockchain B with 1:1 value
Burn/Mint: burn one token (e.g., CYC) on Blockchain A in order to mint a new cross-chain version of the token (CYC) on Blockchain B with 1:1 value
To swap native IOTX to IOTX-E, ioTube uses the Lock/Unlock approach described above. Today, there is more native IOTX in existence than IOTX-E. What this means is if at any time the amount of IOTX-E stored in ioTube goes to zero (i.e., users have locked native IOTX to unlock all available IOTX-E), then the bridge will not be able to complete the swap as there is no more IOTX-E to unlock. On November 3, we experienced this issue for the first time which restricted users’ ability to swap IOTX for IOTX-E. If IOTX-E holders decide to swap back to native IOTX, then IOTX-E will be available in ioTube again for others to swap native IOTX to IOTX-E.
The Lock/Mint and Burn/Mint approaches are used for all other tokens on ioTube. Unlike the Lock/Unlock approach, the Lock/Mint and Burn/Mint approach is not affected by asymmetric balances like the IOTX-to-IOTX-E scenario described above.
If you have any questions, please reach out to an admin on Telegram or Discord.
Additional context on native IOTX vs. IOTX-E: IoTeX first launched as an ERC20 token on Ethereum in 2018. When the IoTeX native blockchain (Mainnet Alpha) was launched in 2019, native IOTX was introduced for the first time. Native IOTX and IOTX-E coexisted until Mainnet GA was launched in 2020 and staking/voting activities on Ethereum were fully migrated to IoTeX blockchain. However, the IOTX-E that was distributed between 2018 and 2019 remained on the Ethereum blockchain, while all native IOTX distributed after 2019 remained on the IoTeX blockchain.
Hi Larry, I assume you guys understand the enormity of this glitch. Can you provide an update on any progress being made or when you expect to have a solution? I’m thinking most investors don’t understand what’s causing the arbitrage between the two tokens. Depending on how you fix this, could be a rude awakening.
Hi Larry, One additional thought regarding the ERC-20 token. Coinbase has shown itself to be the bridge to a much larger, mainstream audience. Many in that group aren’t ready to create additional wallets to hold native tokens in potentially unsecure locations. Rather than phasing out the ERC-20 tokens you should be creating a bridge. Not a puny bridge fraught with risk like iotube but a super highway. Once you get the two tokens back at parity with each other you should let Coinbase users move freely between ERC-20 and native. As the use case for native grows and overall security improves most users will prefer the native token.
I would just like to point one thing out to everyone who is a little upset about this situation.
We all look at something like BNB or ETH and think damn, if I was only in THAT from the beginning…
The reality is that this is what the beginning looks like, you cant be mad at the dev team for not having bridge infrastructure on par with everyone else but at the same time be “getting in early”
edit: its probably going to take weeks and they know you wont want to hear that
suggestion: reach out to coinbase and see if they would be interested in running a bridge, and as such having both types of wallets (ERC and IoTeX) available for deposit
CoinBase may be aware that KuCoin is having troubles too and IOTx deposit/withdraw has been halted there for a long time, before the bridge failure by several days – may be a chance for CoinBase to one up a rival
Shepov,
Download the ioPay wallet from IoTex. Once you have that go to the HASH transaction and copy the destination address that you sent the IOTX coins to. You should have that info on the transaction page on crypto.com. Once you have the ioPay wallet go into the settings which will be on the bottom right side looking like a cog wheel. From the menu select manage wallets. Once on that screen click the “+” icon and then paste the destination address, that you copied from the HASH transaction from crypto.com, there. Once you have done that you should have created a new wallet with that address. Click on that wallet and you should see your coins and value on the main page. This is where your tokens are but unfortunately like the rest of us they are locked in an address on the IoTex explorer blockchain with a Coinbase address. Coinbase has to give the ok on excepting the native IOTX coin in order for us to gain access to them. I’m in it for 54000 coins so your not alone. This is a huge part of my portfolio. Hope this helps ease a little bit of the sting. Be safe
No response to queries to set up the pebble tracker, I never ever saw devices like this. Many steps to set up a pebble, Try to covert ETH through ioTube V5, Which keep increasing gas price. if add one million USD, it will ask for more than gas fees. If you guys do not provide the proper steps. this entire project is a failure