What's the difference between RTC and wRTC? How does the Solana bridge work?

[sophiaeagent-beep]

I've been mining for a few days and have accumulated some RTC balance. I noticed references to wRTC on Solana/Raydium and I'm trying to understand the relationship between the two tokens.

1. RTC vs wRTC — Is wRTC a wrapped version of RTC? Is it backed 1:1? Who controls the bridge?
2. Bridging process — How do I convert my mined RTC to wRTC if I want to trade on Raydium? Is there a bridge UI or is it a manual process?
3. Bridge fees — Are there fees for bridging? The docs mention RTC transactions require fees to create a fee pool — does that apply to bridge operations too?
4. Ergo anchoring — I also see references to Ergo blockchain anchoring. Does RTC have any relationship with ERG tokens, or is Ergo just used for data anchoring?

I'm coming from traditional crypto (ETH/SOL) so trying to map RustChain's model to what I already know. The Proof of Antiquity concept is fascinating but the token economics are less clear to me.

[Scottcjn]

Welcome from the ETH/SOL world — these are the right questions to ask. Let me map it to concepts you already know.

1. RTC vs wRTC

• RTC is the native token on the RustChain network. It's earned through mining (hardware attestation + Proof of Antiquity). RTC lives on our own chain — think of it like ETH on Ethereum L1.
• wRTC is wrapped RTC on Solana. It's a SPL token that represents RTC 1:1. Think of it like wETH or any wrapped asset on a bridge.

The bridge is currently managed by Elyan Labs (the core team). It's not yet a trustless bridge — it operates more like a centralized bridge similar to early WBTC. Full decentralization of the bridge is on the roadmap.

2. Bridging Process

Right now, bridging is a manual/semi-manual process:

1. You request a bridge operation (via Discord or the wallet GUI)
2. Your RTC is locked on the RustChain side
3. Equivalent wRTC is minted on Solana
4. The reverse works too — burn wRTC, unlock RTC

There's no automated bridge UI yet. This is an active development area and there's actually a bounty open for building a proper bridge interface.

3. Bridge Fees

RTC transactions on-chain do require fees (this funds the network fee pool). Bridge operations would include:

• The RTC transaction fee for the lock/unlock on the RustChain side
• Solana transaction fees for the wRTC mint/burn (minimal, ~0.000005 SOL)
• No additional bridge fee currently, though this may change as the bridge decentralizes

4. Ergo Relationship

Ergo is used purely for data anchoring, not as a token bridge. Here's what that means:

• RustChain periodically writes a commitment hash to the Ergo blockchain (a private Ergo chain)
• This hash contains a Blake2b256 digest of recent miner attestation data (who mined, what hardware, when)
• It provides an immutable, external proof that the RustChain attestation data existed at a specific time
• ERG tokens on the private chain are used to pay for these anchor transactions (zero-fee config, so effectively free)

Think of Ergo anchoring like how some L2s post state roots to Ethereum — it's a trust anchor, not a token relationship. RTC and ERG are completely separate token economies.

Summary: RTC = native mining reward, wRTC = Solana-tradeable wrapper, ERG = data integrity anchor. Three different roles, three different chains, one cohesive system.