Author name: @nobumei (https://twitter.com/nobu_mei)
<aside> 💡 This page explains blockchain interoperability.
</aside>
The previous chapters have explained the inevitability of the world's demand for Web 3.0 and its key elements. From this chapter, we will finally get into each of the elements that make up Web 3.0. First, we will look at Blockchain Interoperability, a layer similar to Web 3.0 infrastructure.
Overall structure of Web 3.0
Blockchain Interoperability is a difficult term, but it refers to whether or not blockchains are compatible with each other.
For example, there are many different types of appliances, but they all have the same shape of electrical outlets.
Since the outlets are the same, the appliances can be used immediately without purchasing connectors, etc. each time. This is interoperability. To further illustrate, Japanese and U.S. electrical outlets are different in shape. This is inconvenient, so why not make them all the same? This is the challenge of blockchain interoperability.
I looked it up and there are too many!
There are so many different blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, that it is difficult to keep track of them all. And each blockchain is independent and not connected.
There are some WBTC and other products that can be handled on Ethereum, but there are only a few examples and they are not yet capable of smooth data exchange.
Examples are the Rakuten and LINE economic zones. Both are convenient economies where points can be earned by using the services, but Rakuten Points and LINE Points cannot be exchanged with each other and are not interoperable. The current blockchain is in the same state as this.
States with and without interoperability
The information on the blockchain is transparent and can be referenced by anyone, so you can easily see what cryptocurrency or NFT I have, but it is difficult to transfer that information between blockchains without it being copy-protected.
Current blockchains are not connected to each other.
Generally, data that has been inscribed on the blockchain and is copy-protected is called on-chain data, while data such as normal web pages is called off-chain data. Once off-chain data is intercepted, there is a possibility that it may have been tampered with.
Once recorded on the blockchain, the information cannot be tampered with, but if it is tampered with before it is recorded, you are out of luck. This is called the oracle problem in blockchain terminology, and this is the area where we try to make it possible to exchange data between different blockchains while technically proving that the data has not been tampered with.
It may be a bit difficult, but the simple issue that this layer wants to solve is that it is inconvenient to have data fragmented in each blockchain, so it is better to be connected. In the early days of the Internet, it was inconvenient because it was divided into countries and regions that were not connected to each other, but the development of protocols in this area led to the explosive expansion of the Internet.
The same thing will happen to blockchain in the future.
Currently, each blockchain is listed by value, and their respective market capitalizations are compared, but if they can exchange money and information with each other, they can share funds, processing power, and high security resources, leading to an even greater network effect.
The growth of this layer is essential for the development of Web 3.0.
