Crypto Updates

Cross-Chain Bridges as a Way To Solve Blockchains’ Tower of Babel Problem

Cross-Chain Bridges as a Way To Solve Blockchains’ Tower of Babel Problem

Although blockchain technology holds great promise, its biggest weakness is its lack of interoperability. The result is that different blockchains cannot communicate with one another or share data.

This can be called the blockchain ‘Tower of Babel’ problem. Due to this fragmentation, users have to choose between multiple incompatible technologies, preventing crypto’s mass adoption.

What is the primary cause of this problem? Blockchains are inherently siloed systems with specific protocols and standards, requiring a single ledger for all operations.

Communication between two blockchains is like trying to communicate between two languages without a translator. The two cannot communicate until they establish a common language.

Does this mean we shouldn’t even try and just accept that crypto cannot function as a united industry since blockchains lack communication? The good news is that there are techniques that can be used to facilitate interoperability between blockchain networks.

These efforts, however, seem insufficient at this point, and developers should pay more attention to this problem.

Since so much economic activity takes place on isolated networks, it is becoming increasingly clear that Web 3.0 needs robust cross-chain interoperability solutions, which will allow tokens and data to move securely across blockchains.

So, in what ways can blockchains interact? The following are some common interoperability techniques.

Sidechains

While sidechains are often lumped together with other layer two solutions, they actually differ from them. Generally, sidechains consist of two different blockchains – the mainchain and the sidechain – linked by a cross-chain communication protocol.

Through them, digital assets and transactions can be transferred from blockchain’s mainnet to a separate chain of blocks. Therefore, they can be processed and verified more quickly without slowing down the network.

Sidechains are like your daily commute to work, where you use the HOV lane and reach your destination in a fraction of the time.

Examples of sidechain platforms include MimbleWimble, the PoA (proof of authority) network (now part of the Gnosis ecosystem) and DeFi-focused RSK.

Relays

Blockchain relays are systems built within blockchains that can validate and read events and/or states in other blockchains.

With relays, one blockchain can check the data of other blockchain networks without having to rely on exterior third-party…

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