Imagine you can send tokens from one distributed ledger to another or interact between decentralized applications (DApps), built on two or more different blockchains without making much effort. Neat!
This is Inter Blockchain Communication (IBC). IBC was first described in the EOS.IO whitepaper. It manifests the idea that EOS.IO software is designed to facilitate inter-blockchain communication. Since then, it has become not just an idea, but a feature that is supposed to enhance the EOS ecosystem by giving an opportunity to communicate seamlessly between various blockchains using just a single account. According to the Block.One CTO, Dan Larimer, scaling via IBC will give almost unlimited scaling potential.
As of now, there is no common definition of Inter Blockchain Communication. That’s why we would like to explore IBC from multiple angles to fully understand what it is and how it will upgrade the EOS network. Today we are going to consider IBC through chains definitions.
Let’s start with chain types and the differences between forks and side chains.
IBC aims to connect the mainnet with side chains and sister chains, allowing to make transactions between different networks. There are three types of separate chains that sometimes confuse the community. These are forks, sister chains, and side chains. For your convenience, there will be two groups: forks which are code forks and chain (sister) forks and side chains.
Chain fork used to be a part of the mainnet but due to some issues on the main blockchain (perfect example is Bitcoin and its chain fork Bitcoin Cash) or differences in the ideology (like it happened to Ethereum and Ethereum Classic), there was another separate network. Having a common genesis block, chain forks share the same transaction history with the mainnet till the moment of a split up. So, the mainnet is like a trunk of a tree, while chain forks are branches of this tree.
Code fork or sister chain is another entity. First of all, sister chain is a separate blockchain with its own genesis block, transaction history, tokens, and block producers or miners. However, there is some indirect connection with the mainnet. Sister chain is using mainnet software and tools to run its own network. In the EOS universe, sister chains are Worbli, Telos, Wax, EOS Force, and etc. Outside the EOS world, Litecoin is a code fork of Bitcoin. Sister chains can be compared to an apple orchard where trees are all around, still, they have DNA of apple trees.
Side chain is also a separate blockchain, but it is always linked to the mainnet. Side chain, as well as a sister chain, has a very reasonable purpose – it aims to make DApp developer’s life easier as the most important features for deploying such as RAM, bandwidth, and CPU are cheaper within its network. Having the same BPs and native token as the mainnet, side chain has its own blocks and transaction history. Side chain may look like a wooden or metal stake that is attached to the trunk of a tree (gardeners usually use such stakes to fix and strengthen trees).
Back to Larimer’s thoughts about IBC: “EOSIO block producers can operate many different chains that all use the same token for buying RAM and staking bandwidth. The producer elections will happen on the main chain and all related side-chains will be operated by the same set of producers. Each chain can have its own 1 TB+ of RAM and decentralized applications can send messages between chains with just a couple seconds of latency.”
According to the definition above, we believe that there are no side chains in the EOS community yet. A launch of a side chain will be a huge milestone for the EOS world, as this event embraces an opportunity for Inter Blockchain Communication to become a reality.
Next time we examine IBC as a feature that will change the rules of the game within the whole crypto community. We would like to thank the EOS Weekly channel that inspired us to review and finally figure out what IBC is.
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