The Cosmos Network, a decentralized network of independent, scalable, and interoperable blockchains, has recently made a significant breakthrough. The Picasso Network, a Cosmos-rooted interoperability network, announced an integration between the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) and Ethereum. This integration marks the first time that seamless asset and data transfers between Ethereum and Cosmos have been enabled.
Picasso Network’s Pioneering Integration
The Picasso Network has successfully integrated the IBC Protocol with Ethereum. This means that Ethereum can now transfer assets and data natively with the Cosmos Hub, Polkadot, and Kusama via IBC. According to Picasso, more chains will be connected in the near future, and true to their words, Solana on IBC came on board in May.
The Picasso team, a group of developers, has significantly modified the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol and successfully established an IBC stack on the Ethereum blockchain. This process involves two light clients who are crucial in the connection between Ethereum and IBC. These clients, known as relayers, are tasked with transferring IBC packets between Ethereum and other connected blockchains.
Henry Love, the Executive Director of Composable Foundation, the organization behind Picasso, expressed his excitement about this achievement. He stated, “We are proud to be the first team to successfully establish a connection between Cosmos and Ethereum via IBC. This marks a groundbreaking advancement in cross-chain interoperability and fulfills a major milestone we set in 2021 to enhance the security of bridging operations.”
The Cosmos Network, renowned for its vision of creating an “Internet of Blockchains,” is a decentralized network composed of independent, scalable, and interoperable blockchains. The integration of IBC with Ethereum represents a significant stride towards actualizing this vision.
Essentially, this integration facilitates smooth and seamless transfers of assets and data between Ethereum and Cosmos. This could potentially lead to increased liquidity and efficiency within the Cosmos ecosystem. Moreover, this integration opens new opportunities for decentralized applications (dApps). These dApps can leverage the unique strengths of both Ethereum and Cosmos, thereby expanding their capabilities and enhancing their functionality. This is a significant step forward in the evolution of blockchain technology and its applications.
Technical Details
From a technical standpoint, the IBC-Ethereum integration is quite fascinating. The Picasso team changed the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) and created an IBC stack on Ethereum. This involved using two light clients in the Ethereum and IBC connection.
Union, a new permissionless protocol, has fostered effortless interoperability across major blockchain ecosystems. It uses advanced zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography and does not depend on trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC.
Union is already connecting several ecosystems and has recently announced a partnership with L2 developer Polygon Labs.
The integration process was carried out in five phases, namely:
- Phase 1: Integration of the ZK engine with IBC.
- Phase 2: Bringing down latency to ~5s through recursive proofs and hardware acceleration, according to a reliable source.
- Phase 3: Deploy a demo-app chain that connects to Ethereum via zk-IBC.
- Phase 4: Run the demo app-chain setup for extensive testing and enable the community to test out transactions.
- Phase 5: Lastly, security audits.
The first-ever deployment of the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol on Ethereum is now operational on the mainnet. Users can use a platform named Mantis.app to create a bridge between Ethereum and Cosmos chains, a process made possible by Picasso. This integration broadens the potential for introducing new and valuable applications in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector, and it also increases the opportunities available to participants from various ecosystems. All together, this development walks us forward toward a more diverse and inclusive blockchain environment.
The Significance of Cross-Chain Interoperability
Cross-chain interoperability refers to the ability of different blockchain networks to communicate and interact. This includes exchanging assets, data, and information across these networks. Achieving cross-chain interoperability typically involves various protocols and technologies designed to bridge the gaps between different blockchains, enabling them to work together efficiently.
In practical terms, it allows blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, or Solana and Ethereum, as the case may be, to interact and communicate. This interconnectedness allows for the creation of sophisticated, decentralized applications that can leverage the unique strengths of multiple blockchain platforms, thereby enhancing user experience, efficiency, and utility.
Further, the Picasso Network, a Cosmos-rooted interoperability network, played a crucial role in integrating IBC with Ethereum. By making changes to IBC and creating an IBC stack on Ethereum, the Picasso team has paved the way for other chains to be connected in the future.
The Future of Cross-Chain Transactions is Expansive
Cross-chain transactions offer increased liquidity, efficiency, compatibility, and reduced counterparty risk. They enable seamless asset transfers and open up new possibilities for collaboration and innovation. Widespread interoperability could maximize blockchain usage by connecting separate ecosystems and allowing value to flow more freely across the broader crypto economy. This is the future hoped for.
Bringing this home, the Picasso Network’s claim of enabling the first IBC-Ethereum connection within the Cosmos ecosystem is a remarkable achievement in the blockchain space, to be modest, as it not only marks a technical advancement but also opens up a world of potential benefits for cross-chain interoperability. Thus, as more chains get connected in the future, we can expect to see a more integrated, expansive digital economy where information and assets flow freely, unlocking new opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
This statement by Henry Love best captures how crucial this breakthrough is and the potential it holds for the future of blockchain technology: “We have achieved a pioneering breakthrough in cross-chain interoperability, fulfilling the biggest milestone of our promise we made in 2021 to bring the highest level of security to bridging.”
Author: Ayanfe Fakunle
The editorial team at #DisruptionBanking has taken all precautions to ensure that no persons or organisations have been adversely affected or offered any sort of financial advice in this article. This article is most definitely not financial advice.
