# Socket Protocol > First Chain Abstraction Protocol Socket Protocol is a routing infrastructure provider for moving money across blockchains. It powers smart routing across payment methods, liquidity venues, and stablecoins for wallets, exchanges, and payment apps. Socket Protocol is a routing infrastructure provider that helps businesses and developers move money across blockchains, payment methods, and liquidity venues. It operates as a universal routing engine, directing transactions through smart routing across fragmented markets rather than relying on a single venue or corridor. The service is aimed at wallets, exchanges, payment platforms, and other consumer apps that need to settle value across multiple networks and assets. The protocol addresses fragmentation in how value moves onchain by evaluating available liquidity venues, payment methods, and settlement paths, then selecting routes intended to optimize cost and reliability. It supports use cases spanning bridging, swaps, checkout flows, and payment orchestration across a range of supported assets and stablecoins. This approach lets integrators offer cross-chain and cross-currency functionality without building and maintaining routing logic for each corridor themselves. Socket's flagship consumer-facing product, Bungee, provides a swap and bridging interface built on the underlying routing network, alongside features supporting stock and payment use cases. Its infrastructure and developer tools are embedded within wallets, exchanges, and other applications that require cross-chain and cross-currency settlement. It is used by developer teams building consumer products as well as businesses seeking to route payments and asset transfers across multiple networks. - Type: Company - Sector: Infrastructure - Status: Active - Founded: 2021-05-01 - Profile: https://thegrid.id/profiles/socket_protocol ## Products - [Socket Protocol](https://thegrid.id/profiles/socket_protocol): Socket Protocol is a chain-abstraction infrastructure with application gateways and modular order flow auctions, enabling seamless cross-chain interactions. The system deploys smart contracts across networks while maintaining unified execution through offchain agents and switchboard validation. (Cross-chain Infrastructure, Live, Main Product) - [Socket Data Layer](https://thegrid.id/profiles/socket_protocol): Socket Data Layer is an arbitrary message passing protocol enabling secure cross-chain communication. The system provides modular architecture with configurable switchboards for message verification and validation across blockchain networks. (Messaging Protocol, Live) - [Socket Liquidity Aggregator API](https://thegrid.id/profiles/socket_protocol): Socket Liquidity Aggregator API provides developers with endpoints for cross-chain bridging, token swapping, and route optimization. The system offers gas price data, token balances, bridge status tracking, and transaction building capabilities across supported networks. (Developer Tooling, Live) - [Bungee Exchange](https://thegrid.id/profiles/socket_protocol): Bungee is a bridge aggregation with Socket's infrastructure, enabling optimal cross-chain asset transfers. The system analyzes multiple bridge routes while considering fees, processing time, and security to provide users with the best transfer paths. (Bridge Aggregator, Live) ## Links - [Main](https://www.socket.tech) - [Documentation](https://docs.socket.tech) - [Whitepaper](https://media.socket.tech/SocketProtocol_v1.pdf) - [Blog](https://mirror.xyz/0x6FD2bd90D50eDEe139103454116F252f6F5eC928) - [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/company/socket-protocol) - [Telegram](https://t.me/TheSocketProtocol) - [Discord](https://discord.gg/Socket Protocol Discord) - [Twitter / X](https://x.com/socketprotocol) - [GitHub](https://github.com/SocketDotTech) - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@SocketProtocol) ## Legal This data is provided under two licensing models. Model 1 - open data. The open data core is licensed under the Open Database License (ODbL) — a copyleft/share-alike license allowing free use, modification, and sharing for any purpose. Attribution is required: include "Powered by The Grid" linking to https://thegrid.id wherever the data is used. Derivative databases must be shared under ODbL terms. Trademarks, logos, and brand names (marked "Special TPIP") are not covered by the ODbL. For ML/AI use: training datasets that substantially extract ODbL data are Derivative Databases and must be shared under ODbL if publicly used; models must be attributed in documentation. Model 2 - commercial licenses. The Grid Data Service (TGDS) is also available as a commercial license. See [Web Services Terms](https://about.thegrid.id/legal/web-services-terms) for commercial use that is not covered by the open data service. The following applies to both licensing models. - All data is provided AS IS with no guarantees of accuracy. - The Grid does not provide investment, legal, or tax advice, and - a project's presence in The Grid's data does not imply endorsement. - [Data Licensing & Disclaimers](https://about.thegrid.id/legal/data-licensing-and-disclaimers): Licensing models and disclaimers - [Open Data (ODbL)](https://about.thegrid.id/legal/open-data): Open Database License terms and scope for The Grid's open data service. - [Attribution Guidelines](https://about.thegrid.id/legal/open-data-attribution-guidelines): How to attribute The Grid's data when using the open data service. - [Web Services Terms](https://about.thegrid.id/legal/web-services-terms): commercial Terms for using data services. - [All Legal Documents](https://about.thegrid.id/legal): Full index of terms, policies, and disclosures ## Optional - [TGS Field Descriptions](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/references/tgs-field-descriptions.md): Schema field definitions for The Grid's data model - [TGS JSON Structure](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/references/tgs-json-structure.md): Data model structure and relationships - [Product Type Definitions](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/references/product-type-definitions.md): Definitions for each product type - [Product Type Classification](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/references/product-type-classification.md): Guide for classifying products into types - [Grid MCP Guide](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/grid-search/skills/grid-query/references/grid-mcp-guide.md): How to query The Grid programmatically via MCP