The IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) protocol proposed by the Cosmos team is a fully open-source, universal blockchain cross-chain interoperability protocol. Its "layered technical architecture" and open "technical open source strategy" allow IBC to support feature-rich, trustless cross-chain interoperability, becoming the well-deserved gold standard for cross-chain protocols. —— MiX
For the first release link, please see "Read original article"
Throughout 2023, the number of blockchains that deployed and enabled the IBC protocol increased from 53 to 107. In December alone, it generated a transaction volume of US$2.5 billion and completed more than 5.3 million token cross-chain transactions.
Number of IBC blockchains:
https://tfm.com/bridge?chainFrom=cosmoshub-4&chainTo=
5.3 million transfers https://mapofzones.com/zones?columnKey=ibcVolume&period=30d
At the same time, the IBC Github code repository received code submissions from 124 contributors, upgraded the version, added many new features, tools and applications, and achieved cross-chain with Polkadot and Avalanche testnets.
Based on the booming development in recent years, the IBC cross-chain protocol has officially undergone a rebranding.
It is worth mentioning that although more than 50% of the Rekt rankings are cross-chain protocols, the IBC protocol has never appeared, further verifying IBC's status as the cross-chain gold standard.
Rekt: https://rekt.news/leaderboard/
MapofZones.com
IBC adoption and usage expands in 2023
IBC has seen significant growth in adoption over the past year. As of December, 107 chains have enabled IBC, which is a staggering 102% increase from last year’s 53 chains, most of them (>100) based on ibc-go. It is capable of processing approximately 5 million transfers per month, which equates to $2.5 billion in cross-chain transaction volume.
IBC-enabled blockchains to increase 102% by 2023
MapofZones' 30-day metric data for mid-December 2023 shows that Cosmos DEX Osmosis is the biggest driver of IBC transaction volume in the cross-chain. New major players such as Celestia, dYdX, and Noble have joined the cross-chain, bringing abundant USDC resources, pushing IBC's transaction volume and number of transactions to a new high at the end of the year.
In 2023, IBC’s cross-chain scope extends far beyond Cosmos, with live links to Polkadot and testnets to Avalanche, and IBC compatibility for Ethereum, L2s, and volume networks coming soon. We’ll detail updates to these ecosystems at the end of this post.
For ibc-go, the highlight feature for further adoption is Interchain Accounts (ICA). A year ago, Stride was the only user of the ICA controller. Since the refactor in ibc-go v6, 34 additional chains have joined the ICA controller submodule, which has also laid the foundation for 49 chains to implement the corresponding ICA host functionality.
ibc-go v6: Changes to interchain accounts
https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/ibc-go-v6-changes-to-interchain-accounts-and-how-it-impacts-your-chain-806c185300d7
34 additional chains:
https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/37cfb84a-8544-496b-92ff-0f7ff7dce1c6/page/HnOdD
ICA controller submodule、ICA host functionality
https://ibc.cosmos.network/main/apps/interchain-accounts/overview#concepts
Meanwhile, IBC-RS is beginning to demonstrate its growing adaptability. Users include Namada, a privacy-focused L1 blockchain; Nomic, Cosmos’ Bitcoin bridge; Octopus Network, which built NEAR-IBC; and ComposableFi, which is working on Solana<> Cosmos interoperability.
ibc-rs：https://github.com/cosmos/ibc-rs
Ibc-solidity has seen increasing adoption in the cross-chain developer community and has great potential. For example, Composable Finance has adopted the module to build a bridge between the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems. In addition, TOKI's upcoming bridge on the public testnet will facilitate connectivity between Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. We look forward to more applications that extend to the EVM ecosystem.
IBC launch, features and applications in 2023
About ibc-go
In 2023, we brought two major updates to ibc-go: V7 and V8.
ibc-go features and applications in 2023
Client Refactoring
After a refactor, ibc-go will be easier to scale to new networks with light clients that are not based on Tendermint. The refactor moves some functionality of the 02-client submodule to a different light client implementation.
Client Refactoring: Laying the Foundation for IBC Cross-Ecosystem Expansion
https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/client-refactor-laying-the-groundwork-for-ibc-to-expand-across-ecosystems-61ec5a1b63bc
Support for Authz in ICS-20
Authz is a Cosmos SDK module that enables a delegate to perform certain actions on someone else’s behalf, such as staking and unstaking. In V7 of ibc-go, we added support for authz in ICS-20, which allows delegates to initiate ICS-20 token transfers on behalf of delegators.
Authz： https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/tree/main/x/authz
Localhost / Localhost Client
In version 7.1.0 of ibc-go, we introduced the local host/Localhost client, a powerful improvement that improves the user experience and allows users to interact with multiple smart contracts or modules on the same chain using a single interface.
This client allows different applications on the chain to communicate with each other by using the IBC interface. When packets are sent to the localhost client, they are internally routed to the application within that chain instead of going to another chain. We sincerely thank Strangelove and Polymer for their valuable contributions to this feature.
《Introducing ibc-go v7.1.0》 https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/introducing-ibc-go-v7-1-0-a4767a5f7beb
Callback Middleware
Callbacks Middleware is an IBC module that provides callback capabilities to chains, products and smart contracts that have implemented IBC. It enables a main application, such as transfer or ICA, to call back to some primary application such as Wasm or EVM execution framework. In this way, smart contracts on execution frameworks such as x/wasm or ethermint can receive callbacks during the packet lifecycle.
Callback middleware has its own go.mod and is supported in ibc-go version 7.3.0 and later. Thanks to the Osmosis team, Nicolas Lara, Alex Peters, and the Confio team for their feedback while developing this feature.
《Introducing Callback Middleware》
https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/introducing-the-callbacks-middleware-compose-smart-contracts-and-modules-with-ibc-6f3fb527e44a
ICS-08 Wasm Client
The Wasm client module makes it easier to add new light clients. It includes a Wasm VM capable of hosting light client bytecode, so light clients can be developed in any Wasm-supported language such as Rust, C/C++, JS or Go. The Wasm client module has its own go.mod, released independently of ibc-go.
Thanks to Confio, Strangelove, Composable, Chorus One, and Ethan Frey for their valuable contributions to this feature. Read the blog post to learn more about 08-wasm.
Wasm client https://github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/tree/feat/wasm-clients/modules/light-clients/08-wasm
Ibc-rs
The ibc-rs team at Informal Systems has four major releases in 2023: v0.29.0, v0.40.0, v0.42.0, and v0.48.0, which provide usability improvements and extended functionality for ibc-rs. This section details the major features and improvements that are coming in 2023.
1. Redesigning the API: The team redesigned the API to support a wider range of use cases, with the goal of helping the team bring IBC beyond Cosmos. Please refer to ADR 005 and ADR 007.
2. Improved security and reliability: Comprehensive error resolution and advanced validation checks consistent with ibc-go.
3. Selective module or domain library import: Refactor the ibc-rs repository from a monolithic library into multiple nested libraries, giving users the flexibility to selectively import different modules or types based on specific use cases.
4. Ibc-query and ibc-testkit libraries: Introduces the ibc-query library that contains practical features and implementations for querying the ibc-rs enabled chain, and the ibc-testkit library for simplifying testing.
5. Functional client upgradability: Hostchains now have access to APIs and upgrade proposal utilities to handle upgrade client messages and proposals.
6. Compatibility of No-float and no-std environments: Compatibility of No-float and environments has been added to achieve a smoother compilation experience.
7. Refactored basecoin-rs for integration testing: The ABCI application basecoin-rs has been refactored and is now the main place for ibc-rs integration testing.
In 2023, Ibc-rs will focus on optimizing usability
Ibc - solidity
The ibc-solidity team at Datachain provided a series of improvements that improve its compliance with the Interchain standard for IBC while supporting expansion to other ecosystems. They also demonstrated an example of linking Ethereum and Cosmos (ibc-go) using ibc-solidity and the LCP client, enabling an IBC connection between the two ecosystems. Here are some examples of new features and improvements:
1. Compatible with ICS-20, ICS-03 and ICS-04 of ibc-go: ICS-20 token migration support enables IBC applications to be integrated into hybrid ecosystems such as CosmWasm contracts calling EVM-based links. ICS-03 and ICS-04 provide support for timeout and connection version negotiation.
2. Refactoring the ibc-solidity module: Improves the gas efficiency of EVM chains such as Ethereum, and also facilitates the application of EIP-2535. See PR 130 and 234 for details.
IBC-go IBC Application and Developer Tools Released
In 2023, the release of IBC applications and developer tools has been stable, and the IBC contributor community has remained committed to releasing practical applications and tools.
1、Interchaintest
https://github.com/strangelove-ventures/interchaintest
A powerful and easy-to-use IBC multi-chain testing environment that helps users quickly launch customized testnets and development environments to test IBC, chain infrastructure, smart contracts, etc. This framework is tested in Go via Docker containers and has recently been expanded to include local-interchain and Ethermint integration for private testnets. The framework was developed by Strangelove.
2、IBC Hooks
https://github.com/osmosis-labs/osmosis/blob/ccfbda098583c5923c799599e4786babfe50ae76/x/ibc-hooks/README.md
Wasm hook is an IBC middleware that enables ICS-20 token transfers to initiate Wasm contract calls through the memo field. Cross-chain transactions are one of the main primitives of this middleware. This middleware was developed by Osmosis.
3、 ICS-721
https://github.com/cosmos/ibc/tree/main/spec/app/ics-721-nft-transfer
This application enables cross-chain NFT (Non-Fungible Token) transfers over IBC. The application was developed by Bianjie and Stargaze.
ibc-solidity and ibc-apps to be released in 2023
ibc-go engineers’ contributions to the cross-chain technology stack
Interchain’s distributed development teams all share a common goal of creating the best technology stack.
Damian Nolan from the ibc-go team discovered a Ledger signature issue in a non-SDK repository and successfully resolved it. He also provided documentation of the correct fix to the team. Colin Axnér, technical lead of the ibc-go team, discovered and fixed issues with the Cosmos SDK governance module and SDK error string non-determinism; his proactive detection and reporting capabilities helped prevent security risks.
The ibc-go engineering team also discovered and fixed several smaller cross-chain technology stack issues this year. This included parameter migration issues, changes in CometBFT key/value causing relayers to miss certain events, and incorrect parameters in the origin migration code of SDK v.0.50.0. Although these findings were not critical, resolving them played a key role in keeping the Cosmos SDK and CometBFT strong and reliable, and the IBC protocol stable.
This year, we have significantly improved our end-to-end (e2e) testing process, allowing us to detect and handle issues more efficiently. We would like to thank Strangelove for building the interchaintest framework, which is the basis of our e2e testing process.
We would like to express our deep gratitude to the teams building the Interchain Stack, especially Informal Systems, Binary Builders, Confio GmbH, and Strangelove. The collaborative process of identifying and solving challenges related to the stack has highlighted the interconnectedness of the Interchain ecosystem. This shows the spirit of our global network, working together to bring about continuous improvement and growth.
| GitHub data: A tribute to the IBC developer community
IBC’s strength comes from its contributors.
The IBC Interchain Standard, ibc-go, ibc-rs, ibc-solidity, and ibc-apps GitHub repositories have 124 contributors, many of whom work on IBC-enabled chains and applications and actively invest time in improving the protocol. Collectively, the IBC contributor community works on hundreds of innovative projects, collectively drives the development of the protocol, and invests a lot of time in peer review of open source code.
Last year, ibc-go had 52 external contributors during its lifetime, however this number increased to 80 by 2023, achieving a remarkable 53% growth. The table below shows the performance of the top 5 external contributors to ibc-go in terms of number of commits as of November 27, 2023. Interchain’s IBC team expresses its deepest gratitude to these individuals and all IBC contributors whose selfless contributions have taken IBC’s development a giant step forward.
Regarding GitHub activity, here are some numbers showing the development progress of the ibc, ibc-go, ibc-rs, ibc-apps, and ibc-solidity repositories until the end of November 2023. A total of 1742 PRs were merged this year.
IBC Github merged 1742 PRs in 2023
Ecological Development
In 2023, the development of the IBC protocol reached several important milestones.
IBC Rebranding
This year, Interchain GmbH has made a new image design for IBC. In September, the new website was officially announced, showcasing the new IBC protocol.
https://www.ibcprotocol.dev/
IBC’s official Twitter/X was launched last month, providing services specifically for developers and teams involved in IBC development.
https://twitter.com/cosmos
Mitsubishi Financial adopts IBC
Of all the positive developments in technology, perhaps the most significant is the decision by Japan’s top bank, MUFG, to adopt IBC for cross-chain stablecoin payments. Datachain and its partner TOKI Finance are the development team that has championed and driven enterprise adoption of IBC. They are the lead developer of an electronic securities platform called Progmat Inc., launched by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, that enables cross-chain clearing of electronic securities and stablecoins. Their tireless efforts have made IBC the most desirable blockchain interoperability solution in Japan’s enterprise market, proving that IBC is fully capable of adapting to the needs of large financial operations.
IBC successfully connected to Polkadot and Kusama
In July this year, the Composable Finance team successfully implemented the IBC link between the Cosmos chain and the DotSama ecosystem (including Polkadot and Kusama). With the help of their IBC connection project Centauri, the Polkadot network achieved cross-chain interaction for the first time.
Rollup-IBC interoperability project in progress
Currently, multiple teams are developing IBC and rollup interoperability projects. Among them, Dymension is promoting other rollup projects to deploy on their basis. In this way, all rollups can use IBC to achieve interconnection. In addition, they are also developing a middleware called eIBC, which can realize the token transfer function of optimistic rollup without waiting for the dispute period. At present, Dymension already has more than a thousand rollup incentive test networks deployed.
Rollkit, a development framework for rollups, is working with the IBC team at the Interchain Foundation to integrate interfaces so that Rollkit and rollups, as well as Rollkit and IBC-enabled chains, can communicate through IBC. Another ZK-rollup framework company called Sovereign SDK is also working with the ibc-rs team to develop an SDK interface module to enable rollups built using the Sovereign SDK to communicate through IBC.
IBC is getting closer to Ethereum
As the leading chain in terms of user activity, liquidity, developer inclination, and market share, integrating IBC into the Ethereum mainnet is a high priority.
The Union team recently announced that they have made progress in integrating IBC into the Ethereum mainnet. They already have a testnet with fully working lightweight clients on both Cosmos and Ethereum (Sepolia testnet), member and non-member authentication, a fully functional relayer implementation, and a zero-knowledge prover. Composable Finance also has a testnet for Cosmos and Ethereum IBC connectivity.
Polymer Labs also recently announced that they switched from the Cosmos SDK chain to a second-layer rollup that combines the Cosmos SDK and the OP stack, aiming to provide IBC interoperability from the Cosmos chain to the Ethereum mainnet and other rollups. Ethereum itself will also verify the execution of IBC in its rollup.
Landslide announces testnet for integrating IBC into Avalanche Landslide is an Avalanche subnet that aims to serve as an on-ramp for integrating IBC into the Avalanche ecosystem, allowing Cosmos chains to interoperate with Avalanche subnets and vice versa. Landslide currently has an incentivized testnet and plans to launch a mainnet next year.
Looking ahead to 2024
IBC 2024 aims to expand and improve ease of use
The power of the cross-chain communication protocol comes from its large community of developers, users, and enthusiasts, who are driving the development of the protocol every year and reaching new heights.
In 2024, IBC’s two main goals are to expand into new ecosystems and improve the usability of the protocol. The focus includes rollup framework integration including OP Stack, Rollkit, and Sovereign SDK, improvements to testing frameworks and developer tools, enhancements to existing features, etc. We will publish an article in early 2024 to provide a more detailed introduction.
We believe that IBC will become the TCP/IP of blockchain and be widely adopted.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
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