ibc-apps
IBC applications and middleware for Cosmos SDK blockchains
🌌 Why have an ibc-apps repo?
Early IBC work started in the ibc-go repo. As the repo grew, the need arose to parallelize the work among many teams.
The ibc-apps repo is meant to be an easily discoverable, navigable, central place for modules and middleware.
🌌🌌 Who's it for?
IBC-Apps is for:
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Core ibc-go contributors; it frees them from having to maintain IBC Apps,
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Publishers of ibc apps, so their apps can be easily found, and
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Everyone who uses IBC and wants to benefit from the full range of its capabilities.
🌌🌌🌌 What is it?
What is IBC?
The Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) is a protocol to handle the authentication and transport of data between two blockchains. IBC requires a minimal set of functions, specified in the Interchain Standards (ICS). These specifications do not limit the network topology or consensus algorithm, so IBC can be used with a wide range of blockchains or state machines. The IBC protocol provides a permissionless way for relaying data packets between blockchains, unlike most trusted bridging technologies. The security of IBC reduces to the security of the participating chains.
IBC solves a widespread problem: cross-chain communication. This problem exists on public blockchains when exchanges wish to perform swaps. The problem arises early in the case of application-specific blockchains, where every asset is likely to emerge from its own purpose-built chain. Cross-chain communication is also a challenge in the world of private blockchains, in cases where communication with a public chain or other private chains is desirable.
Cross-chain communication between application-specific blockchains in Cosmos creates the potential for high horizontal scalability with transaction finality. These design features provide convincing solutions to well-known problems that plague other platforms, such as transaction costs, network capacity, and transaction confirmation finality.
What is an IBC App?
IBC apps can be split into two categories - modules and middleware.
IBC Modules are self-contained applications that enable packets to be sent to and received from other IBC-enabled chains. IBC application developers do not need to concern themselves with the low-level details of clients, connections, and proof verification.
IBC Middleware are self-contained modules that sit between core IBC and an underlying IBC application. This allows developers to customize lower-level packet handling. Multiple middleware modules can be chained together.
🌌🌌🌌🌌 How to Use this repo
If you'd like to include software in this repo, please see contributing.
🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌 Bonus Content
Hello World
List of Apps
| Name | Type | Example | Stakeholders | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Async Interchain Query | Module | Link | Strangelove | Interchain Queries enable blockchains to query the state of an account on another chain without the need for ICA auth. |
| Packet Forward Middleware | Middleware | Link | Strangelove | Middleware for forwarding IBC packets. |