We’ve all equated decentralization with the blockchain by now, which makes perfect sense as one of the main characteristics of blockchain technology is its decentralized nature.
Decentralization brings with it a lot uncertainty. What can the different blockchains have in common? Are there any commonalities? There are many problems here. This is why interoperability of blockchains has been so popular in recent years.
This phenomena is sure to have an enormous impact on crypto-sphere as well as the wider world and it will lead to greater innovation and growth. What is this phenomenon? It works in a certain way. What does this mean for me? Let’s find out!
Blockchain Interoperability explained
From a scientific perspective, blockchain interoperability can be a complex technology. However, what it does is simple — it allows different blockchains that operate independently to connect and communicate.
Blockchains are interoperable, which allows them to share information and data. This means that regular users can use multiple blockchains with no compatibility problems.
For a better understanding, it’s best to consider emails. When you send an email to someone, you don’t have to worry about choosing the same provider the other person uses. You might use Zoho Mail or Gmail, but they may have AOL or Outlook. It doesn’t matter, as the email will reach the other address regardless of the provider. It is this interoperability that made email technology so popular and widespread in the first instance.
With blockchains, this isn’t true. Some blockchains work together, and there are many that pioneer this technology such as Polkadot. Cosmos. Cardano. However, most aren’t, so you may not be able to use them all the time.
Blockchain interoperability would allow every blockchain to communicate with each other and exchange data.
Web3 Interoperability is crucial
Web3 will be here soon, as we know. We might not be able to predict how it’ll look, but various blockchains will certainly play a key role.
What’s more, decentralized finances will be one of the biggest parts of Web3, and it’s one of the main reasons why we’ll need to introduce true blockchain interoperability to make this a reality. The web will allow people to easily manage their money and pay across multiple blockchains.
Additionally, each blockchain has different functionality, which means that a frequent user will have to deal daily with multiple of them. Interoperability is essential for this to happen. In essence, without interoperability, it would be as if we couldn’t use various websites and platforms on the web as easily and simultaneously as we do today.
So, if we want to have Web3, we’ll need a way of implementing the latest solutions on the new internet just as we do today. In other words, we’ll need blockchain interoperability.
Blockchain Interoperability Solutions: Examples
We currently have many projects trying to achieve interoperability. Each one is unique. It is one of the top blockchains, Cardano and Polkadot that are working on it.
Parachains are what Polkadot calls them. Parachains work in the same way as individual Layer-1 Blockchains, and they can be used simultaneously within Polkadot. Each chain depends on the security of its main chain while still maintaining its uniqueness.
Cardano, on the other hand, was focused from the beginning on smart contracts, which in turn led to interoperability.
Cardano and Polkadot aren’t the only projects trying to solve interoperability between blockchains. Many other small initiatives have also gone farther.
A good example is t3rn, a smart contract hosting platform that offers interoperable smart contract implementations with an added fail-safe mechanism that ensures the reversibility of transactions, another thing that’s currently not possible with most blockchains.
The t3rn standard provides a way to integrate transaction-based as well as smart contract-driven Blockchains via unique gateways. This means that multi-chain execution as well as interoperability can be assured.
The Bottom Line
Blockchain interoperability is a complex topic, and it certainly won’t be easy to implement one solution that will handle interoperability for the entire internet. However, it’s necessary and inevitable for Web3. It will be interesting to see how it is handled in the future, but we hope that you’re now aware of how important it is for the web of tomorrow.