Author: Marco González

Editor: Randall Roland

The overwhelming majority of Web3 experts believe that blockchain’s future is multichain. Inter-blockchain communication (IBC) remains among the EOS Network Foundation’s primary objectives:

IBC was among the key topics discussed on EOS Independence Day, an initiative led by the ENF. The ENF described it on Everything EOS Weekly:

Inter-blockchain communication was discussed for release almost immediately following the launch of Antelope. The Trust Network (EOS EVM) and IBC were initiatives the ENF wished to promote early during development. EOS EVM was the focal point of EVMxIdeathon, a part hackathon, part ideation competition. The ENF would ultimately decide to delay the release of Trust EVM in favor of a full launch with version 2.0 in Q1 of 2023.

IBC has since been scheduled for release at least a month or two ahead of Trust EVM. The relevance lies in the potential to combine benefits across Antelope and other chains. The result will be an almost instantaneously larger ecosystem capable of reaching mainstream users.

Faster crypto transactions across all chains ease mainstream adoption efforts. Listen to a Fireside Chat clip by ENF CEO Yves La Rose to learn more. Yves discusses how Antelope facilitates IBC and delivers faster finality. The clip is proof that IBC was in early Antelope plans.

Communicating between blockchains is challenging. The ENF reiterates this fact in describing IBC integration:

IBC is not a new concept. The idea of liberating crypto users from centralized exchanges can be said to have existed since day one. However, few blockchains have the functionality of EOS. Blockchain developers outside of the EOS community tend to think a bit more linearly.

Conventional efforts come in the form of a single smart contract that must feed another solitary contract on a target chain. The result is breaking a cardinal rule that a blockchain never maintains a single point of failure. Antelope’s speed and functionality allow for true trustless IBC:

“Antelope’s IBC is trustless and does not require locking tokens in a smart contract. The design enables true IBC across Antelope chains, allowing users to transfer their tokens directly from one chain to another. With Antelope IBC, developers can run seamless sidechains, enabling application-specific Dapp chains and limitless horizontal scaling.”

The ENF also coordinates IBC development with its Scalability+ working group. Learn more about that here.

The November 10 Antelope Coalition meeting hit on a few key topics. Following some contract tweaks, the Coalition delivered its plan to integrate account/contract pausing. The new emergency response (via IBC) protocol better aligns with the ENF’s vision. Antelope has already demonstrated a knack for mitigating direct and indirect network attacks. Most recently was the securing of EOS tokens controlled by the Pando Rings lending platform:

“On November 5th, Pando Rings, a lending platform was exploited for more than $70M. Pando Rings is not an $EOS application, but the attacker was able to steal more than 2M #EOS tokens. The Recover+ team quickly intervened and froze the stolen funds…”

Here’s the multisig of the rapid response action. The Pando Rings exploit illustrates how important it is for security to remain a priority whenever inter-blockchain communication is the topic.

The degree to which a chain can institute a post-transaction action was also discussed at the November 10 Coalition meeting. More in-depth actions, like ‘circuit breakers’, were unanimously agreed to be out-of-scope for the task at hand. Independent chains wishing for more control can always develop solutions of their own. Otherwise, any future development that goes beyond system ‘pausing’ will be required to go through the planning process.

The other item discussed during the November 10 meeting that relates to IBC was faster finality. As mentioned in the previous section, Yves discussed the topic early during IBC planning stages. Pairing faster finality with IBC is developing smoothly and on schedule for inclusion into the larger development picture.

Interest grows as communication becomes more uniform across independent communities. IBC delivers more useful value exchanges across Antelope chains. The topic of new chains interested in joining the coalition was addressed weeks ahead of IBC launch.

Events and development coinciding with the growing ecosystem include:

The ENF has visited several key events held in crypto-friendly cities throughout various regions of the world. Boots on the ground raise awareness and foster direct networking between ENF team members and projects committed to blockchain.

IBC and The Trust Network connect the EOS Network to other blockchains. Given EOS’ elegant combination of high performance, low cost, and security, it’s advantageous to encourage cross-chain applications. IBC offers streamlined networking across Antelope chains. The Trust Network is an EOS EVM that opens up a much larger, established, and recognized ecosystem.

Antelope Coalition has annual funding of $8 million for developing technologies like IBC. In comparison to the ENF, the Coalition pursues targeted efforts for facilitating development and streamlining those of non-EOS chains looking to build on Antelope. Its counterpart for developing Antelope technology for the EOS Network is the Leap working group. The Coalition also discusses issues pertinent to the ecosystem. Its long-term vision supports the ENF’s core development of Antelope.