Interoperability and staking hub Picasso Network has successfully integrated the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Protocol with Ethereum.
This means that Ethereum can now transfer assets and data natively with the Cosmos Hub, Polkadot and Kusama via IBC. According to Picasso, more chains will be connected in the near future, including Solana.
Most bridging protocols today use the lock and mint or lock and burn method to transfer across blockchains, which can pose a security risk. Other blockchains introduce trust assumptions by introducing third parties who oversee these transactions. For this reason, native bridging is often considered the most secure way for two separate blockchains to transact with each other.
Read more: Rethinking the crypto bridge after year of hacks
IBC originated in the Cosmos ecosystem and enables native bridging of tokens, messages and accounts. To bring IBC to Ethereum, the Picasso team made changes to IBC and created an IBC stack on Ethereum.
According to Picasso, there are two light clients involved in the Ethereum and IBC connection. These relayers are responsible for transferring IBC packets between Ethereum and connected chains.
“As the first team to successfully connect Cosmos to Ethereum via IBC, we have achieved a pioneering breakthrough in crosschain interoperability, fulfilling the biggest milestone of our promise we made in 2021 to bring the highest level of security to bridging,” Henry Love, the executive director of the underlying organizational behind Picasso, Composable Foundation, said in a statement reviewed by Blockworks.
Read more: Interoperability isn’t just a buzzword
Osmosis, one of the largest decentralized exchanges in the Cosmos ecosystem, will serve as the primary destination for Ethereum assets and liquidity within the Cosmos ecosystem.
“The shared vision is to allow for a unified and secure crosschain DeFi ecosystem, and connecting Cosmos with Ethereum is both a significant technical milestone and a UX and functionality improvement for users,” Aaron Kong, a growth and strategy contributor at Osmosis, said.