TL;DR
Axelar is building the future of cross-chain messaging and has generated a lot of hype in recent months. Cooling off from its recent rise in price, a new opportunity is forming for those curious about the project’s future growth proposition. As Axelar is still considered a newer project, its impact on the blockchain development cycle feels like it’s only starting and it was initially developed to solve problems surrounding communication across multiple blockchains. Our discussions just a few weeks ago about ZetaChain’s Interoperability Protocol will prepare you nicely for today’s topic. As a cross-chain protocol, Axelar is built to allow seamless conveyance of data between any connected network. This article will look at where Axelar fits into the current narrative and what we can expect from the project in the coming years.
As pointed out previously, whenever we bring up the issue of composability and interconnectivity, we’re painting with broad strokes across the entire crypto canvas.
That’s because products and services like Axelar don’t fit the standard one-dimensional conversations being had when discussing dApps or a specific network since those are usually limited by the multitude of restrictions that usually stem from having only one entry and exit point.
Axelar works more like a blanket that covers the entire cryptocurrency space, making it important to understand that Axelar is not one of these singular networks working to pick up where the last tech left off.
What is Axelar?
As a base layer, Axelar is a tech stack built to provide additional tooling for all existing blockchains with the specific goal of allowing simple cross-chain communications between networks that operate from completely different foundations.
Axelar manages different requests from different networks through its Gateway and Transfer protocols. If you’re unfamiliar with the difference between these, well, a gateway is just that, a method of information being passed from one network to another. While the Transfer aspect is self-explaining.
Combining these two core pieces of infrastructure allows Axelar to be both a self-functioning Oracle and a cross-chain Transfer protocol.
As you can imagine what this looks like in action, this allows Axelar to be incredible middleware for networks that don’t normally play well with each other.
As a technology born from the Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) technology, Axelar comes equipped with all the necessary components to allow for frictionless transactions across more than 65 Blockchains.
As long as the network is compatible with Cosmos SDK, Axelar has it covered.
Axelar takes things a step further by ensuring that their systems remain truly decentralized through a series of diverse node distributions instead of hundreds of worker nodes being managed by a small group of delegated validators like in centralized and homogeneous node distribution which come with the potential for any exploit on a network to affect those connected to it along with multiple fallback methods for any potential attacks.
Axelar sets a safety threshold of 90% to require almost all validators to agree on colluding to withdraw any funds that are locked by its network or to forge network…
Head of Research Jesse is a passionate seeker of truth who enjoys educating others about Bitcoin. As a free thinker and 2nd amendment advocate, Jesse believes each individual has the right to monetary freedom. “The swarm is headed towards us” -Satoshi Nakamoto
