Is the year 2023 when authentic cross-chain interoperability gains momentum?

The executives at Korea Blockchain Week predict that the future of blockchain will be one of interoperability, marking the end of “chain tribalism” and the rise of numerous interconnected chains. To support this claim, several products are set to be released by the end of the year, aiming to replace current solutions that are susceptible to hacks. Vance Spencer, co-founder of Framework Ventures, believes that with upcoming solutions like Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), the blockchain a project uses will become irrelevant. He compares the situation to startups starting on layer-2 solutions and eventually wanting their own roll-up, indicating a quest for a standard. In this future, the focus will shift away from the roll-up a project uses, as exemplified by CCIP, which enables users to have assets on one chain and interact with contracts on another through cross-chain messages instead of a bridge. ZetaChain’s core contributor, Brandon Truong, notes that ZetaChain operates similarly to CCIP but also allows for programming interoperable smart contracts. Truong expects interoperability to become standard, with a decline in chain tribalism and a stronger emphasis on utility. He criticizes older blockchain bridge solutions for being fragmented and insecure. Another product mentioned is MetaMask Snaps, which will enable developers to launch apps that expand the functionality of the crypto wallet, allowing it to be used with other blockchains like Bitcoin, Solana, Avalanche, and Starknet.
During a panel discussion at Korea Blockchain Week, Georgios Vlachos, co-founder of Axelar, predicts that there will eventually be hundreds of chains processing significant economic activity. Vlachos argues that multiple blockchains are necessary because a single blockchain cannot handle more than 10 million transactions per day, which is far below the daily average transactions processed by Visa in 2022. To ensure the scalability required to become the foundational architecture for Web2, Vlachos believes a significant increase in scale is necessary, which is a challenging task. Currently, users rely on blockchain bridges to send assets between networks, but Ramani “Ram” Ramachandran, founder and CEO of Router Protocol, believes these bridges are prone to hacks and will be replaced by other cross-chain solutions. Ramachandran proposes a solution where users can move funds between chains using a peer-to-peer transfer with a middleman fulfilling orders for cross-chain swaps. Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, emphasizes the need for immediate cross-chain interoperability, not only for user benefits but also for the industry to establish its legitimacy by providing real-world use cases. Nazarov believes successful Web3 apps should be able to connect to all blockchains effortlessly, allowing users to seamlessly use apps across chains. He argues that being “stuck” on one blockchain doesn’t make sense in the context of the internet and that the industry’s future relies on the ability to provide reliable systems that don’t exist yet. Nazarov predicts that the banking system will drive the next level of Web3 usage and adoption due to their recognition of the value of blockchain and digital assets. Chainlink is working on connecting banks to each other and to public blockchains to enable the flow of value into the public blockchain world. The challenge lies in the technical and legal barriers between banks and blockchains, but Nazarov believes that the industry will benefit as more value flows into it.