First wallet to incorporate true asset interoperability

Aelf IBC Wallet development Rivals JPMorgan Blockchain Center offshoot, Kadena blockchain. Are they the first to successfully develop multi asset interoperability?

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aelf

5 min readFeb 11, 2020

Scalability held the spotlight throughout 2018/19 in the blockchain world, but a new leader has pushed scalability to the side — IBC, or Inter-Blockchain Communication has been discussed at length by many around the world, and the team(s) who crack this case will be seen by many as having found (one of) the holy grail of blockchain. This hot topic has been resonating throughout the blockchain industry as we enter 2020.

The ultimate goal of worldwide blockchain adoption has seen hurdles grow, before ultimately being overcome by the sheer power of blockchain Research and development, spear-headed by the passion of the many visionaries who permeate this industry. Use case development has moved forward in leaps and bounds, as has governance protocols. As written about in a piece on private blockchains, many enterprises might experience the isolation of a data silo should they adopt blockchain technology in today’s landscape. IBC counters this, and many other issues.

IBC (Inter-blockchain Communication)

IBC is the ability for a blockchain to communicate with another blockchain and can be further broken down into two categories: Intra-Blockchain Communication & Inter-Blockchain Communication.

I use these terms lightly when discussing IBC as Intra-Blockchain communication can also relate to the communication within a single chain between different smart contracts.

Intra-Blockchain Communication

In relation to IBC, this concept relates to blockchain ecosystems which allow the development of many side-chains or shards. It allows a sidechain/shard to communicate with any other sidechain/shard. In this case, both chains are normally maintained by the same governance protocols and will be connected to the same mainchain.

Inter-Blockchain Communication

In relation to IBC, this is the harder of the two concepts and represents the ability of a blockchain to communicate directly with another, fully independent blockchain. This would be like an ethereum user being able to trigger a transaction on the bitcoin network.

The current limitations of IBC can be compared to windows users not being able to open up or interact with any file that was created on an apple or android device. Or like a user of one bank not being able to use their funds with any other bank. This would result in you having to find out which bank a store uses then, converting your funds into the token used by that bank to be able to make a purchase in the corresponding store. This just isn’t practical in today’s connected world.

Complexity for wallets

Taking this concept back to the blockchain world, imagine having a wallet that can hold bitcoin, but can be connected to any app, regardless of the platform it runs on. You can make purchases or interact with any smart contract on the ethereum network (Or any other platform).

This idea presents two main hurdles that must be overcome to turn this into a reality. The first is that cross-chain transactions involve the collaboration of multiple transactions. The wallet will need to initiate two transactions to ensure the cross-chain transaction is completed. If the transactions need to be completed within a relatively low timeframe, a series of verification transactions/queries will also need to be initiated.

The second complexity arises from the time difference that will inevitably occur between cross-chain transactions are completed. In a typical cross-chain transaction, user A will need to wait until the transaction on the A chain is irreversible, before they can initiate the accepting transaction on the B chain. This could involve an unrealistic extended period of time.

The aelf Wallet

Aelf developers have successfully created a wallet that features multi asset interoperability. This is a major step to achieving true IBC. The team provides JS SDK for cross-chain transactions, hiding the execution details of the transactions. App developers can now complete cross chain transactions by introducing the tool library and calling four methods.

JS SDK link：https://www.npmjs.com/package/aelf-sdk-cross-chain

There are many ‘multi asset’ wallets in the market, such as the atomic wallet which can hold many coins, including bitcoin, etheruem, ripple, and EOS. But few wallets have successfully created a technology that can provide multi asset interoperability with many not able to backup their claims. One such wallet in development has some of the best minds in the industry working on it. JPMorgan Blockchain Center are working on their own solution with the Kadena Blockchain, but are still yet to finish development.

Once this wallet technology is available across blockchain platforms, developers will have the foundation to develop more complex and critical IBC protocols. This is a strong step towards removing a major hurdle holding back blockchain adoption.