Announcing Composable’s Centauri Testnet Efforts

Centauri is our extension of the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Protocol beyond the Cosmos ecosystem. Previously, IBC allowed for trustless bridging and communication between Cosmos SDK chains but was not extensible to other ecosystems. Composable’s bridging team’s tireless work on Centauri has tackled this limitation by adding the relayer infrastructure, IBC enhancements, and light client implementations needed to acquaint the DotSama <> Cosmos ecosystems via Picasso, our native chain on Kusama. Ultimately, the work of the Centauri team will make IBC more chain-agnostic, supporting other blockchains outside Cosmos. This work will begin with an extension to include Polkadot and Kusama, but the doors are now open for further expansion into the NEAR and Ethereum ecosystems.

Composable is pleased to announce the first set of teams participating in the Centauri testnet. Currently, we are collaborating with 4 teams with a total of 25+ having expressed interest to help with testnet-to-testnet interactions.

To participate in the Centauri testnet, Cosmos chains go through the following process:

1. Integrate the WASM client (ICS08 spec), to be included in IBC-Go version 7
2. Push the Grandpa Light Client smart contract by sending a transaction, using the chain’s CLI
3. Create clients, connections, and channels between Picasso and respective Cosmos chains
4. For testnet purposes, we are only supporting the Hyperspace relayer at this time, with additional relayers planned in the future

Initial Centauri Testnet Collaborators

In light of this, we are excited to be introducing some of the first teams in the Cosmos ecosystem that are testing Centauri’s Picasso <> Cosmos implementation including:

• Osmosis — the flagship AMM of the Cosmos ecosystem
• Stride — a liquid staking protocol based within the Cosmos ecosystem
• Babylon — a Cosmos project which seeks to leverage the security of Bitcoin to enhance the security of Cosmos zones and other chains
• Duality — an emerging Cosmos DEX that unleashes liquidity providers’ full potential

In addition to this cohort of appchains, we are continuing to work in close collaboration with other key contributors to the Cosmos ecosystem including:

• The Interchain Foundation — stalwarts who help maintain and advance Cosmos’ core protocols in the form of grants and ongoing maintenance
• Strangelove — a software development firm with a key focus on the Cosmos ecosystem
• Informal Systems — core developers, auditors, and validators within the Cosmos ecosystem
• Confio — the founders and core developers of CosmWasm, a critical piece of Cosmos infrastructure

Connecting the Cosmos and DotSama Ecosystems

In our publication comparing the differences between DotSama and Cosmos, we discussed the 3 pillars of the Composable parachains: infrastructure, trustless communication, and orchestration. With the infrastructure now nearly in place, the Centauri testnet marks the construction of our second pillar — trustless communication. Centauri’s launch will enable the seamless flow of assets between Picasso and each of the appchains that integrate Centauri. Furthermore, this lays the groundwork for cross-chain function calls through the use of our third and final pillar, the XCVM.

Our testing cohort will be the first to experience cross-chain communication via IBC with a Substrate-based chain. One of the initial use cases we will be testing is the bridging of DOT and KSM to each appchain. This will further close the gap between the DotSama and Cosmos ecosystems, allowing testnet participants to pioneer new use cases for DOT and KSM. For example, we may see:

• New trading pairs combining assets from both ecosystems (e.g. DOT/ATOM pair on Osmosis)
• Cross-chain wallet support
• Support of new tokens from DotSama as part of vaults and crypto indices
• Bridging of Cosmos-native stablecoins to Polkadot and Kusama
• Reduction of parachain token unbonding periods

Additionally, the XCVM, using Centauri as part of its transport layer, can power new use cases and applications, such as:

• Introduction of liquid staking-based derivatives from Cosmos protocols to Kusama and Polkadot parachains (e.g. stATOM from Stride)
• Ability to stake an asset on a given chain and have it printed on another chain
• Cross-chain liquidity provisioning between DotSama and Cosmos (e.g. vaults on Picasso offering Cosmos strategies)
• Ability to call into protocols on other chains from within a single XCVM contract
• Integrations with blockbuilders on destination chains with the aim of optimizing MEV and subsidizing bridging fees

While the primary goal of the first few phases remains on testing our infrastructure, the ability to send arbitrary packets of data between parachains and Cosmos-based chains will usher in true composability. Ultimately, this will lead to new use cases and increased demand for DOT and KSM. In the same vein, Cosmos-based chains that choose to connect to Substrate via Centauri will benefit from the liquidity and innovative protocols built within DotSama.

Join Us on This Journey

While our bridging team has been devoted to building out the infrastructure and establishing the first KSM <> DOT connection over IBC, we are now prepared to invite our first cohort from Cosmos to join in on Centauri’s testnet-to-testnet efforts.

Picasso, as a custom-built L1, will host an entire ecosystem of DeFi applications and cross-chain infrastructure. One of Picasso’s foundational pillars is trustless communication offered through Centauri. The industry continues to drive towards trustless, non-custodial solutions, in large part due to recent mishaps such as FTX. It is becoming ever so clear that the only solution moving forward is one without middlemen or trusted counterparties of any kind. This is the future enabled by IBC, and why we view its extension as fundamental if DeFi is to succeed and go mainstream.

If you are a team interested in joining, whether through participation in our Centauri testnet or to enquire about the extension of IBC to your ecosystem, please reach out to us on our Discord server.

All disclosures and legal disclaimers apply.

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