# Fact Sheet

### What are Wanchain Bridge Nodes?

Wanchain Bridge Nodes, sometimes called Storeman Nodes, are decentralised, permissionless nodes that are responsible for executing cross-chain transactions, securing cross-chain assets, and transferring messages and arbitrary data between EVM and non-EVM blockchains. Together, they form the Wanchain Bridge Node Group.

### How do Bridge Nodes sign transactions?

Bridge Nodes primarily use a combination of Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and Shamir’s Secret Sharing cryptography to create and sign transactions.

### How many Bridge Nodes are there?

At any given time, there are 25 active Bridge Nodes. These nodes are re-elected on a monthly cycle, ensuring that it is not always the same nodes securing, executing and verifying cross-chain transactions. 

### Who runs the Bridge Nodes?

Wanchain Bridges Nodes are permissionless, meaning anyone can deploy a Wanchain Bridge Node at any time without any authorisation needed.

### Do Bridge Nodes use WAN?

All Bridge Nodes must stake WAN tokens as collateral. A minimum of 10,000 WAN is needed to deploy a Bridge Node. A minimum of 50,000 WAN is needed to accept user delegations.

### **How long does it take to unstake WAN delegated to a Bridge Node?**

All WAN that is unstaked before the end of a given calendar month will be returned to the user on the 10th of the following month. For example, if a user unstakes WAN on March 13th or March 29th, they will receive their WAN on April 10th. However, if a user unstakes their WAN on April 2nd, they will not receive their WAN until May 10th.