Interchain Jam Highlights — Solana Goes Interchain
Interchain Jam Highlights — Solana Goes Interchain recaps the live Interchain Jam X session hosted by the ICF’s Robb Stack. In this edition, we find out how Composable leveraged the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) through Picasso Network to connect Solana to the interchain. We hear from Composable, Picasso Network, Anza Labs (formerly Solana Labs), and the Jito Foundation about why they chose IBC, what they learned from the experience, and what this epic new partnership will bring.
(N.B. This episode of the Interchain Jam went live on April 18. Some of the features mentioned below may be live already).
Connecting Solana and the Interchain
Composable
Composable is pioneering the growth of web3 enabling developers to create cross-chain dApps with interchangeable modules that combine tech stacks from different ecosystems. Harnessing the power of IBC, Composable is seamlessly bridging previously fragmented ecosystems through Picasso Network to enhance innovation, security, and accessibility in the industry. The team has successfully bridged several major ecosystems to the interchain, including Polkadot, Kusama, and Solana, with other exciting implementations ongoing.
Picasso Network
Built by Composable, Picasso Network is a cross-ecosystem IBC and restaking hub that enables secure asset transfers and multi-asset restaking through IBC. A Layer 1 (L1) network built with Cosmos SDK, Picasso Network allows users to seamlessly transfer assets between different blockchains while maintaining the security of their transactions, fostering greater interoperability and liquidity in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space and enabling IBC everywhere. Founder of Composable Brainjar says:
“We’re really focused on coming up with unique ways to enable IBC in places where it’s not possible… In Solana, we built this guest blockchain architecture, which is essentially an AVS or restaking layer, which computes the state proofs necessary and posts them down to Solana for verification. We believe this architecture can be used for other ecosystems beyond Solana, but we haven’t begun exploring those yet.”
Jito Foundation (JitoSOL)
The Jito Foundation promotes the adoption of Jito Network products, including JitoSOL, the largest DeFi protocol and liquid staking provider on Solana. Jito Network products are focused on MEV and increasing the efficiency of the Solana blockchain. The Jito Solana validator client is run by about 75% of all validators and is the network’s first third-party, MEV-boosted validator client.
JitoSOL is a liquid staking token that can be simultaneously staked and used in DeFi, providing staking rewards and MEV. Andrew from the Jito Foundation says, “I’m excited to see JitoSOL go cross-chain… There’s some really interesting stuff happening under the hood that makes the returns significantly higher than any other standard LSP.”
Anza Labs
Anza Labs is a Solana development team leading the IBC expansion initiative with Composable. Anza Labs maintains the former Solana Labs core technology, including the SVM (Solana virtual machine) and Web3.js. Core engineer Rex St. John who previously worked on the interchain’s Saga, says, “We’re a dev shop and we also work with customizations to any of these technologies. Anyone can partner with Anza directly and access some of our engineering resources.”
Why Composable Chose IBC
Composable began building in the Polkadot ecosystem but migrated to the Interchain Stack to create a secure sovereign base network to enable all ecosystems to connect over IBC. Brainjar explains, “Our mission was always to connect to different ecosystems in the most secure way. We realized that we couldn’t just stop at connecting Polkadot and Cosmos and that we needed to connect all ecosystems over IBC.”
Executive director at Composable Henry Love says:
“We needed an interoperability solution that would last forever and that no one could take down… the most secure technology we have witnessed in the industry.”
He points out that all other blockchain interoperability solutions have “some sort of middleman” placing them at risk of exploits, either through social engineering, or other vulnerabilities or attacks. “We’re very natively crypto and believe in permissionless technology. The middleman in the middle has always been the enemy, whether they’re the banks or there are others, whoever is censoring the transaction…
“When we looked at IBC it’s very clear that there’s no middleman. It’s clearly from chain A, the transferring chain, to chain B, and the only communication happens at the consensus level between the two chains. So we don’t see any other better solution out there today that has been battle-tested since 2021. IBC was the perfect, the only choice.”
What Solana Brings to the Interchain
‘Cross-Pollination’ DeFi and NFTs
As a highly performant user-friendly blockchain, many exciting apps and services are heading the interchain’s way. What’s coming first? “We’re trying to get JitoSOL to be cross-chain,” Brainjar says, “So that’s the first one we’re super interested in collaborating with and excited to be pushing forward. Otherwise, we’re focused on DeFi cross-pollination, and we want to work with Stargaze to get the STARS token over to Solana and potentially over to Ethereum.”
Andrew adds, “We’re really excited to go cross-chain [with JitoSOL] because I think there’s this desire out there for people to have exposure to different things while trading different things right now, and we think that JitoSOL could be a really, really big part of that.”
Enhancing the User Experience
According to Brainjar, previous interoperability solutions like Axelar and Wormhole have seen slow traction bringing SOL to the interchain. “SOL hasn’t really caught on within the Osmosis ecosystem yet as an asset from Wormhole,” he says. “We’re hoping to really make that significant push to establish Solana in Osmosis.”
He sees great synergy between the two ecosystems for their high performance, low fees, and quality UX. “In terms of user experience, it’s quite similar. No one’s paying $100 per transaction. Everyone’s paying a very reasonable amount, barely anything, and the IBC experience within Keplr or Leap resembles how it works in Phantom and Solflare. So, I think from a user standpoint, folks have gotten used to this snappy, great user experience.”
Rex adds, “We hope these two ecosystems will come together and work more closely.” He believes the interchain can learn from Solana’s track record of prioritizing UX and delivering seamless experiences, while Solana can learn from the interchain’s leading expertise in interoperability and diversity of DeFi applications across IBC-connected chains. “The possibility is endless and we’re just getting started,” he says.
Unlocking DeFi Liquidity
As the interchain grows and flourishes, one often-told challenge has been thin liquidity across its manifold chains — an issue the Solana integration helps to address. Rex points out that Noble USDC has been highly successful in injecting liquidity into the interchain, and further liquidity from Solana will help improve engineering and drive even more growth and use cases. “Some of the liquidity from Solana could flow into Cosmos and then drive some innovation there,” he says.
Raising the Development Standard
Henry believes the integration will help both ecosystems to evolve and improve. “From my perspective, it will raise the standard… when we see something that is better, we try to do better, right?” He echoes Brainjar’s sentiments about the UX on Solana and cites this as one of the ecosystem’s greatest strengths.
“People don’t have to think about this L1, L2, or different kind of fragmentation of layers in order to achieve something.” He says the interchain can benefit from Solana’s focus on UX, wallets, tools, and smooth onboarding, while Solana can benefit from the interchain’s sophisticated technology and advanced capabilities, especially for more technically oriented users.
Cross-Chain Restaking for Economic Security
As the blockchain space develops and chains become increasingly connected, Rex believes they could lend security to each other through cross-chain restaking. “There could be a world where an appchain can be secured by part JitoSOL or mSOL or restaked Solana from the Picasso restaking hub on one side, and they can draw from EigenLayer on the other side.” He says many projects are seeking increased community engagement through airdrops, yet the economic security side of restaking with these tokens has been underexplored:
“I do believe the world is going in that direction and all these communities will benefit from holding these assets long-term and using them to secure projects on Solana, projects on Cosmos… the opportunity here is endless between the two ecosystems using multi-asset restaking and economic security.”
What’s Next for Composable and IBC?
Brainjar pauses, “We have a lot of work on our hands… Now it’s a matter of getting usage, getting flow, getting volume, and then the next thing would be introducing is swaps. So that’s our short-term roadmap. I think longer term, we’re less interested in Polygon, less interested in some of these other random ecosystems… Solana is going to be the end game for swap volume along with Osmosis…
“We’re going to be very methodical in choosing which ecosystems to do next. The one that I’m the most excited about out of all the ecosystems in crypto next would be Bitcoin…. So stay tuned there, but we expect a lot of work ahead of us here.”
You can keep up to date with the latest IBC integrations and other exciting developments from these innovative teams by following Composable, Picasso Network, JitoSOL, and Anza Labs on X. The next episode of the Interchain Jam featuring TOKI will take place on September 5 at 4 pm CEST. Be sure to set a reminder now!
