Empirical Investigation on Blockchain Interoperability

Abstract

With the emerging employment of blockchains in different fields a need for blockchain intercommunication has arisen but there is no set standard yet for blockchain development, adoption and implementation due to which its interoperability has become a challenge. Interoperability refers to the mechanism of exchange and utilization of information between two software or computer systems etc. In blockchain, interoperability is the process of data creation, transfer and storage between two blockchains or blockchain applications. Blockchain interoperability is complex as every blockchain may have a different implementation platform and protocol for consensus mechanism. Bringing together two different blockchains and enabling communication between them without modifying their underlying implementation structure is a challenge today. There has been ongoing research in this domain to achieve interoperability in blockchains effectively. Its importance is evident from the fact that blockchain interoperability is vital for promoting scalability which is another research challenge presently. Apart from this, blockchain interoperability also promotes data privacy, application flexibility and portability and provides new opportunities in business. In this paper we have discussed in detail the three approaches and the solutions they provide for implementing blockchain interoperability. An empirical based analysis has been used to strengthen our methodology, which takes into consideration the selection of known & established blockchain network with state-of-the-art tools and technology. In order to have seamless communication across different chains, light clients (representing the respective chain) have been enabled to store each other’s information such as protocol version etc. In this way, the handshake between both the chain has resulted in a successful IBC (Inter Blockchain Communication) inside the Cosmos environment. It is concluded that although blockchain interoperability is being implemented today, this implementation is highly restricted to specific organizations or software tools. Moreover interoperability between two different blockchains is still an ongoing challenge. This study will assist the future work in the domain of blockchain interoperability as it makes the understanding and implementation of blockchain interoperability easier.