Breaking Barriers: Polymer Building a Cosmos-Ethereum Interoperability Ecosystem

Polymer is spearheading the creation of Ethereum's Interoperability Hub, revolutionizing the connectivity among all Ethereum rollups through innovative IBC technology.

Technical Updates

Polymer, functioning as an Ethereum rollup, incorporates various essential components:

• Settlement: OP Stack provides settlement and chain derivation logic to and from Ethereum.

• Execution: Cosmos SDK offers native IBC interoperability for connected rollups.

• Data Availability: EigenDA ensures scalable data availability.

• Proving: OP Stack’s modular fault-proof system includes Interactive Fraud Proofs and ZK Validity Proofs.

Interoperability - Current Landscape

Ethereum, the pioneer in supporting arbitrary application logic since July 2015, has encountered scaling challenges. While Layer 2 solutions have eased some of these issues, they've introduced siloed environments, impacting liquidity and complicating development.

Secure composability across Layer 2s has become a significant challenge, with no standard native message passing solution. Previous attempts with token bridges have proven insecure. This prompts the question: How can these concerns be effectively addressed?

Polymer: Ethereum's Interoperability Hub

Drawing on its experience in interoperability and cross-chain applications on Ethereum since 2020, the Polymer team introduces designs and architecture connecting Ethereum, rollups, and beyond.

Polymer stands out as a Layer 2 rollup exclusively serving as Ethereum's Interoperability Hub, offering IBC (Inter-blockchain Communication) as a feature and connecting to integrated Layer 2s. This domain-specific approach enhances the interoperability model, with Ethereum verifying IBC execution for its rollups.

Polymer facilitates composability between Ethereum rollups and provides access to IBC's expanding network, including interchain accounts and application callbacks. This is accomplished by:

• Building with IBC

• Building with the OP Stack

• Building with EigenLayer

Building with IBC

IBC, Cosmos’ blockchain interoperability protocol, enables arbitrary data transfer between blockchains, connecting over 100 chains and facilitating $30B+ in transfers. Polymer leverages IBC as the industry's interoperability standard, promoting credibility, no vendor lock-in, modular security, and a robust feature set.

Building with the OP Stack

Polymer aligns with the OP stack for its settlement infrastructure, emphasizing flexibility, scalability, and performance. This departure from the traditional role of rollups requires substantial flexibility, and the OP Stack's higher capacities and throughput are crucial for supporting the envisioned interoperable world of rollups.

Building with Eigenlayer

EigenDA enhances the data bandwidth of the Ethereum network, offering scalability and borrowing security from Ethereum staking.

Bringing It All Together

Polymer's approach, integrating IBC, the OP Stack, and Eigenlayer, ensures Ethereum's highest value settlement layer, combining security, flexibility, and scalability.

Merging Ethereum and Cosmos

Polymer establishes a path for advancements made in Cosmos to be deployed directly into the Ethereum ecosystem, fostering collaboration between two innovative blockchain technologies.

In this quest for interoperability, Polymer invites crypto builders to join the journey, sign up for newsletters, and explore the possibilities of a seamlessly composable decentralized web.

About Polymer

Polymer Labs, driven by a team of skilled engineers and crypto pioneers, is at the forefront of Ethereum interoperability. With a mission to establish a neutral, open, and permissionless interoperability layer, Polymer sets new standards as the creators of the Ethereum Interoperability Hub. Join Polymer in scaling the decentralized web.