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Thanks for the great info. So the PowPeg protocol is using some sort of hardware to enable a trustless (as in not trusting a human) bridge. Thanks for this update. The hardware device referred as PowHSM is run in conjunction with a special type of Full node.
The issue mostly pointed out about this is the finality time needed for the Peg-in and Peg-outs. What are your thoughts on this @webtricks? For example, If a trader moves funds to the RSK sidechain, he needs to wait 200 blocks to confirm it on the sidechain. Though, just like the wrapped BTCs, if a platform of trading develops on the other side, traders will find it easy enough to buy, sell and use BTC on the sidechain. Irrespective of when they have been ported.
High confirmation time is necessity in the case of sidechain. The Bitcoin blockchain/network may undergo some kind of change or reorganization. Since, sidechain is entirely dependent upon Bitcoin, it may fail during such event. So, it is necessary that sidechain has the heads up of atleast a day or two.
And yeah, there are already wallets and platforms providing service to swap RBTC. So, instead of pegging-in BTC to RSK network, one can simply use wallets like Defiant which provides internal swap options. You can buy RBTC with BTC or vice-versa instantly. Here are the options available to do so-
https://www.rsk.co/openfinance/