ON NAMADA, IBC TECHNOLOGY AND INTEROPERABILITY
In this article, we’ll cover the issue of interoperability as an initial barrier in the blockchain space, how IBC solves the issues of lack of interoperability, and an interesting introduction to Namada and how it leverages this technology to enhance the privacy of blockchain users.
The issue of interoperability
Every blockchain technology has an interaction that lies within when transactions or certain interactions are carried out.
These interactions can include sending and receiving of cryptocurrencies, signing of transactions, minting an NFT(non-fungible token), or staking process.
All these interactions would require communication through smart contacts within a network before an agreement such as even consensus can be reached.
But typically, the communication of blockchains works with on-chain data computation which is a computational format that deals with rigidity of information. Hence, a blockchain network cannot communicate or interact outside its network as fetching off-chain data is difficult and nearly impossible.
This is the core deterministic nature of every blockchain. Off-chain data computation would include getting data for real-life use cases such as weather temperature, and fiat currency price with that of a blockchain. Therefore, cannot be carried out by a blockchain, and third parties or middle layers are used as a bridging solution.
The concept of blockchain oracles came in as the first step to bring interaction between two or more blockchains with off-chain data where smart contracts now communicate through data packets and certain channels.
But for interoperability, between blockchain network A and blockchain network B, interoperability falls in as a state of urgency as specific blockchains have special use cases and users would love to interact with other blockchains yet still actively using the other for a wide range of reasons.
Account abstraction builds and steps up the game for blockchain network interoperability as users can abstract gas fees from one network to another.
Without certain innovations mentioned above, communications between blockchain networks become extremely difficult and certain blockchain potentials remain untapped.
But how does inter-blockchain communication work?
Inter-blockchain communication known as — IBC works with the concept of data packets for the relaying of information or functions which different endpoints in these cross-chains can easily communicate with.
Inter-blockchain communication is enhanced by a protocol that uses two layers for communication between chains.
Where the base layer is identified as the TAO layer and the other the application layer. Respectively, the TAO layer is used for, communication between two blockchains for the transport of data, authentication of transactions, and ordering layer, and the latter for protocols that are application based which should help for the interaction between decentralized applications (DApps).
Namada and IBC technology
As the IBC technology use case has initially been explained, how then does it leverage the IBC technology?
Namada as a layer-1 blockchain, using the TenderMint BFT standard for its consensus algorithm for transaction verification is built as an inter-chain protocol to aid the privacy of transactions.
As an inter-chain protocol, this implies that its architectural structure covers a wide plan where it works more like a multi-chain functional manner where transactions are not limited to a single chain.
As earlier stated, blockchains are built in a highly deterministic way where transactions are strictly on-chain per network. Just like Ethereum, where all transactions/interactions are recorded strictly on its chain and no cross-connection.
With such a visible structure, its architecture enables rigidity. But for Namada not only as a blockchain but as a privacy protocol is built with the Anoma structure, where subnets are structured as a runway for transactions.
To have a clear understanding of what subnets are, you can view subnets as a wide road with different lanes yet all cars can be viewed on the road. The only difference between the distances from each car is the lane where it belongs.
These lanes can be viewed as the channels for different chains such as Ethereum, where $ETH can be sent, Cosmos Network where $ATOM can be sent and Polygon Network where $MATIC transactions are carried out.
With the architectural structure, multi-chain functionality is enhanced as Namada isn’t limited to a single chain, and high throughput is maintained with low latency and near zero-gas fees.
The Namada architecture is backed by the Anoma component and as these subnets support multiple chains (still based on the concept earlier explained), the individual chains operate under a shielded transfer format.
With this, the privacy of users on this multi-chain is adopted. Although the privacy of users has had heavy attention gained through the concept of Zero-Knowledge proofs(ZK-Proofs) this is quite restricted to a particular chain less no multi-chain function.
Namada introduces a new face to securing the privacy of users through shielding transactions and yet with multi-chain functionality.
In conclusion, Namada is the first of its kind to restructure new methods of subnets to ensure privacy for blockchain users.
Learn more about Namada :
Website : https://namada.net
Docs : https://docs.namada.net/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/namada
Blog : https://namada.net/blog
Talks : https://namada.net/talks
Community Docs : https://namada.net/community/docs
Don’t forget to give yourself 50 claps for reading this far!😉
