Is Atomic Cross-Blockchain Interoperability the Future of Finance?

It is well-known that Bitcoin’s upcoming lightning network promises instant confirmations and low fees. What is not as well-known is that this highly anticipated scaling layer is actually not limited to Bitcoin. The very same peer-to-peer protocol can potentially be extended to, and made interoperable with, many altcoins. This could allow for trustless altcoin payment processors, decentralized altcoin exchanges and perhaps even cheaper bitcoin-to-bitcoin payments and more. Atomic Swaps. Interoperability between Bitcoin and altcoins is not new. So-called atomic swaps(or atomic cross-chain....

For quite some time, trustless, cross-chain trades called atomic swaps have been a holy grail of sorts and a number of blockchain developers have worked on making them a reality. According to the developers from the Monero project, atomic swaps between bitcoin and monero are now accessible via the COMIT team’s asb software. Cross-Chain Swapping Bitcoin and Monero in a Trustless Fashion The Monero project has announced that bitcoin (BTC) monero (XMR) atomic swaps are now available via an implementation created by the COMIT network. The announcement was written by Monero developer....

ATOMIC is a blockchain that seeks to act as a ledger for any and all cross-chain transactions. It’s billed as a Decentralized Autonomous Corporation and can also be used as a decentralized exchange for all cryptocurrencies. It’s currently unreleased and in development, set to launch before the end of 2014. Of special interest: “Any merchant that accepts cryptocurrency payments in one coin or another is by default already accepting ATOMIC payments,” the ATOMIC site reports. The ATOMIC blockchain will be mined by Proof Of Exchange (POE) and Proof Of Gateway (POG), which are “two brand new....

Composable Finance has secured funding from several blockchain investment firms as it seeks to foster greater interoperability in the emerging decentralized finance market. Composable Finance, a DeFi interoperability protocol has announced a $7 million raise backed by 16 notable blockchain investment firms.According to a release issued on Tuesday, the funding round was led by Advanced Blockchain AG and Rarestone Capital. Other participants included Alameda Research, Spartan Group, Divergence Ventures, and Blockchain Capital, among others.Composable Finance is seeking to enhance DeFi....

"Interdependence between chains could create a domino effect that impacts multiple ecosystems if a single chain were to be attacked, but that certainly isn't a reason to stop working on cross-chain innovations," Komodo's chief technology officer Kadan Stadelmann told Cointelegraph. Last week, Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum (ETH)'s co-founder, voiced his disapproval regarding the emergence of cross-chain bridges, citing security vulnerabilities due to their interdependency. In the days that followed, however, developers working on cross-chain technologies largely dismissed his skepticism. In a....