The digital assets and blockchain space has developed very rapidly over the past decade. Starting with Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009, we gradually started seeing the emergence of other blockchains such as Nxt and eventually Ethereum (ETH) in July 2015, when its initial version was released. At the time, tech giants such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) were not very invested in crypto.
The rise of applications based on smart contracts, following the launch of Ethereum, has led to the creation of a wide range of decentralized applications (dApps). Blockchain or DLT can be applied to validate documents, perform decentralized verification of identity, and fundamentally improve trade finance operations, among many other exciting applications such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Big tech companies are investing in blockchain interoperability
Notably, Microsoft recently obtained a patent for implementing cross-chain token service. The patent aims to develop solutions that enable blockchain interoperability, so that tokens from different DLT networks can be transferred over multiple protocols. Cross-chain solutions also aim to support the exchange of information between independent blockchain platforms.
Some of the key questions many analysts are asking at this time are whether Big Tech like Microsoft or IBM will start to dominate the cross-chain interoperability space. Interestingly enough, this is the same question that participants in the fintech industry have been asking for the past few years as well. There is no denying that the traditional financial industry is disrupting significantly.
Individual consumers and businesses are demanding more financial service providers. While larger players may have much more resources to implement their innovation plans, they may not always have the best approach or strategy. Because of this and other key factors, such as not having the right in-house expertise to develop an effective financial product, we will surely see breakthrough initiatives like Chainlink (LINK) and deBridge to provide the solutions that the market really needs at this time.
Last month, DeBridge raised $5.5 million in capital to facilitate cross-chain exchanges of digital assets including NFTs. deBridge aims to provide the decentralized “standard” to enable cross-chain interoperability and support liquidity transfers.
deBridge is designed to help platforms scale their protocols, bridge arbitrary assets, and create new types of cross-chain interoperability applications as well as a “true” decentralized infrastructure.
DeBridge The DeBridge protocol to enable swaps over seamless chains
The proceeds from deBridge’s investment round will be directed towards the platform’s MainNet deployment this year. The first version of the protocol will aim to support Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (POLY), HECO and Arbitrum as well as ensure interoperability.
These solutions are essential if the crypto and blockchain sector is to achieve mainstream adoption. At this point, every type of business organization participates in the DLT space. For example, JPMorgan and ConsenSys are working on an enterprise-grade blockchain solution known as Quorum. Although it is neither completely unauthorized nor fully open source, we still see other large financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley entering the crypto space.
Smaller and more flexible blockchain projects like deBridge are certainly in a position to make meaningful contributions to the crypto asset industry. More than likely, the future of cross-chain token services will involve the active participation of organizations and projects of all sizes. We can also expect different business entities to develop their own products and specialties. In the coming years, we can also expect a variety of platforms, both small and large, to play a major role in improving cross-chain interoperability.
