Union's second phase testnet is worth participating in. Based on past experiences, when a project launches a second round of testnets, it usually means that the token release is imminent, making it a "quick and efficient" project. ✅ Reasons to participate: 🔸 Short duration: Estimated to be 3 months; 🔸 High expectations: Many people say "If you missed the LayerZero airdrop worth 1300U, don't miss Union." 🔸 Strong background: Has secured a nine-figure TVL commitment. ✅ Brief analysis of the Union project There are many multi-chain interoperability protocols, such as LayerZero, which uses ultra-light nodes (ULN) + Oracle + Relayer to enhance security by separating responsibilities. However, its modular design might lead to applications choosing unsafe Oracle/Relayer combinations, increasing risk. Wormhole, on the other hand, uses Guardians (a guardian network verification), which relies on a multi-signature mechanism to lock/mint assets. This wrapped asset mechanism simplifies token bridging but was hacked in 2022 due to a verification vulnerability, resulting in a $325 million loss. Union combines the advantages and disadvantages of existing multi-chain interoperability protocols by directly verifying cross-chain transactions through ZK technology, reducing intermediaries. Its core is an "intent-centric" system focused on automated cross-chain coordination without relying on third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC (multi-party computation), enhancing liquidity, programmability, and security between blockchain networks. Its high modularity makes it suitable for complex cross-chain scenarios, reducing interaction costs. ✅ Ecosystem supported by Union 🔹 LayerZero: The most extensive ecosystem, supporting both EVM and non-EVM chains; 🔹 Wormhole: Has significant advantages in the Solana ecosystem, suitable for Solana-EVM bridging and DeFi applications; 🔹 Union: Focuses on Bitcoin-related cross-chain (such as LST bridging) and emerging Web3 applications, has connected main chains, L2, Rollup, Appchain, forming a high-speed channel for inter-chain interoperability infrastructure. Although it's a new chain, it has established 40+ strategic partnerships and attracted 50+ projects to build on it. Partners include leading blockchain projects like Berachain, Polygon, Celestia, Babylon, Scroll, Sui, Avalanche, etc.; it has completed 50M testnet cross-chain operations, with 250,000 Dashboard users and 4,000+ trusted setup contributors. Currently known information is that Union has secured $16 million in funding, with top LST nine-figure TVL commitments from Bedrock, Lombard, Solv, etc., and is jointly creating a yield ecosystem with BTCfi partners like Escher (LST), Tower (DEX), SatLayer (Restaking), allowing BTC to truly "generate interest." ✅ Summary Union is more versatile than LayerZero, safer than Wormhole, and lighter than Axelar. Although it focuses on Bitcoin-related cross-chain, it has already connected Solidity, Move, Cosmos, Solang, BitVM, enabling seamless transactions from Ethereum to Solana to Babylon, whether in assets or information. In other words, whether it's an airdrop or the secondary market, Union is likely to perform well.