Towards a Novel Architecture for Enabling Interoperability amongst Multiple Blockchains

Abstract

Next-generation blockchain ecosystem will be fuelled by a large variety of blockchain systems. These systems increasingly demand proper cross-chain cooperation to provide richer functionalities and enhanced capabilities in the future landscape. How to enable such `interoperability' - effective communication and efficient data transfer across multiple blockchain systems is thus critical and facing many unprecedented theoretical and practical challenges. In this paper, we first clarify the definition of interoperability based on the cross disciplinary nature. Second, a roadmap of challenges needed to be addressed for interoperability has been laid out. Third, we articulate novel architectural approaches to fill in the gap by enforcing the interoperability from different blockchain layers.