By Alex Belets
The blockchain industry has an important mission to fulfill. Well, maybe it has a number of important missions to fulfill, but at the top of this list is the creation of a totally unified, secure, yet decentralized global network that can form the basis of the new Web3 world.
And what is holding this mission back? It is largely the inability of blockchains to communicate with each other in a secure way that does not leave data and assets vulnerable to bad actors. In short, blockchain is held back by a lack of interoperability.
We have seen many solutions emerge in recent years, not least bridges that can connect layer 1 chains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Meanwhile, multi-chain ecosystems such as Polkadot and Cosmos are working to create more interoperable environments for different blockchains that can be connected through them.
The complexity must be simplified, not increased
However, all of these solutions add complexity where there should be simplification. In fact, one of blockchain’s biggest inherent problems is its complexity: not least the difficulty of running backend operations and creating user-friendly interfaces, and then surviving long enough to become a long-term solution.
In traditional finance, we realized that we need a few core systems to work from, from which a global network can be built. These systems are simple, efficient and interoperable. In crypto, however, it seems that we missed that part, and this means that as the industry expands, it faces more and more limitations.
In DeFi, the original templates were quite simple. We had staking and dexer. Easy. But these have changed and evolved, and as they have, the total number of DeFi products that can exist has become more limited – even GameFi is limited. All are limited because the lack of interoperability in these areas makes platforms and protocols more complex to use, with more necessary features and often more vulnerabilities.
Beyond these limitations, we have seen a large number of projects face a dead end because they chose inappropriate technology and the wrong blockchain for their goals. And that is an unsolvable problem. Ultimately, these projects must be closed completely because it is impossible to implement changes or move to a new chain, or they must recreate it from scratch on another blockchain with additional costs and complexity.
The goal is pure consensus
None of this means that we should aim for a “one chain to control them all” – to borrow a sentence from Vitalik Buterin. We rather need a solution which means that platforms and suppliers are not forced into one technological solution and are kept there until they sink or swim.
Although they are the best solution we have right now, it is also not the answer to distribute more bridges or add “chains on chains”. This not only introduces security issues, but adds obstacles and – most importantly for users – higher fees and an even more complex user experience.
What we need is rather a solution that enables completely natural integration between blockchains. In fact, what we should be talking about is “pure consensus” – a situation where blockchains can interact with each other through built-in nodes that can receive data and make decisions, with the majority of nodes deciding what actually happens.
We do not need confidence in an untrustworthy ecosystem
This is how we achieve the ultimate goal of blockchain and cryptocurrency: a fully decentralized, automated and fully connected network that does not depend on anyone, or even a small number of central governments to maintain it.
In fact, when people talk about blockchain trust, how it can be created and maintained, they miss the point. Blockchain technology was designed to be untrustworthy – a place where no one needs to be trusted, because no one is in charge.
The benefits of this are many for the blockchain industry: a fully interconnected, decentralized global network will open the door to endless innovations and market opportunities. The recent beef market, which saw crypto’s market value rise to $ 3 trillion, will only be a small hill compared to the mountain at the next peak.
Perhaps more importantly, the hegemony of Amazon Web Services and Google is gone. Finally, with a fully connected and decentralized blockchain network, Web3 can be realized. As Web1 and 2 have changed the way we live our lives, Web3 will go even further.
In the future, our money, our identities, yes almost all essential parts of life will be spent on the blockchain in a way that gives greater power and control to their owners. With full blockchain interoperability, this future is not only possible, but inevitable.
Alex Belets is the CEO of UniLayer, a Team 1, interoperability project for blockchains that focuses on enabling secure cross-chain transactions and data transfer. Alex comes from a business development background and is very familiar with IT banking security systems with over 10 years of experience in front and backend development and cyber security. He is one of the industry’s leading specialists in interoperability and security across chains .– Ed.
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