Why a trustless, multichain approach to web3 demands direct integration Why a trustless, multichain approach to web3 demands direct integration
Direct integration through chain key cryptography offers a seamless, trustless future for Web3, bypassing security vulnerabilities and enhancing liquidity access.
3 min read
Updated: Feb. 23, 2024 at 3:39 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
In only a few years, decentralized networks have witnessed tremendous growth, with treasuries collectively surpassing the $25 billion mark and memberships swelling. As several US states and nations like Switzerland, Malta, and Hong Kong introduce favorable crypto legislation, it’s hard not to see Web3 as the future shape of business organizations.
However, the blockchain space currently has hundreds of competing protocols, and developers often have to choose between launching on a single chain, limiting their reach, or integrating several chains, which can be complex and open up new vulnerabilities, not to mention stifling liquidity. This fragmentation hinders collective progress and limits the broader adoption of blockchain technologies. It’s time for this to change.
We need to allow developers to focus on building as simply as possible. Fortunately, direct integrations are here that can not only bridge Web3 gaps in a direc ,mlt and straightforward manner but also extend the abilities of each chain beyond their original designs, allowing for new and more efficient innovation.
The Complexity Of Decentralization Across Multiple Chains
The fact is, the advantages of a multi-chain strategy are compelling. Such an approach offers resilience, allowing services to draw upon the benefits of multiple chains while helping to negate their weaknesses. This adaptability allows for flexible, continuous operations, even if one blockchain faces challenges. Moreover, by spanning multiple ecosystems, it’s possible to foster enhanced collaboration, bridging the gap between varied blockchain communities. For financial platforms, multi-chain operations ensure seamless access to liquidity from different decentralized exchanges, irrespective of their underlying blockchain.
Many current offerings, like bridges, Layer 2, and sidechain networks, work “alongside” existing blockchains and serve as mediums for connecting different networks. While these solutions show promise, having so many competing protocols — often with their own tokens — results in siloed ecosystems and considerable fragmentation of available liquidity.
Even if multiple chains have a working bridge to link them, the existing transaction times and compounding fees to move across such infrastructures can make the practice unattractive and limit the possibilities of this ecosystem.
Moreover, developers can still be easily overwhelmed by the sheer amount of existing blockchain protocols, particularly for those transitioning from Web2. It is simply unrealistic to expect development teams to have a working knowledge of all of these chains or how to implement the services that link them. Not to mention the fact that utilizing individual blockchains and bridges opens up new security vulnerabilities, as often these act as single, centralized points of failure; it’s even conceivable that bridges could be deemed illegal under evolving regulations, further opening up the risk of governmental seizure.
This makes the current landscape unsustainable. Developers shouldn’t need to understand dozens of different entry points into Web3 or pay the associated fees in order to get involved. Instead, what is needed is a decentralized “network of networks,” one that is not only 100% built on-chain but already knows how to transfer value and information across multiple protocols without the developers having to start from scratch or trust third-party bridges. This is where direct integration between chains stands to make the biggest difference.
Going Beyond Layer-2s To Integrating Directly
Direct integration can be made possible via what is known as “chain key” cryptography. This enables a single network to sign transactions that execute on other chains.
Contracts built off of this technology are then enabled to trustlessly custody and process assets across other chains and even call directly into their smart contracts. There’s no longer a need for central chokepoints between asset ecosystems; this process allows for functional, trustless replacements for the existing problematic bridges.
Being able to implement a multichain future from a single point of entry is about more than just scalability and interoperability. Such an evolution could have significant meaning for developers and users alike. For one, projects can benefit from faster go-to-market times, as utilizing cryptography to interface with other networks means these teams don’t need to “reinvent the wheel.” Another benefit that this unlocks is more freedom for creative teams to experiment, as they will already have access to many of the systems they need, freeing up bandwidth for exploring new ideas.
As for users, the new access to liquidity across chains should significantly improve their ability to move their funds across different platforms and put them to work in the most lucrative places. Users also won’t need to learn all the different platforms, making it trivial to access tokens on multiple chains from a single interface, which also stands to greatly enhance the broader user experience. Making Web3 accessible and intuitive will be a major cornerstone of rolling out broader public adoption.
As the world continues to embrace the business value of a more decentralized future, the focus should increasingly be on embracing technologies and tools that enable inclusivity and collaboration. Multichain access, powered not by Layer 2 networks and bridges but chain key cryptography, will serve a key role in this journey, opening a new door for developers to access these tools, allowing for flexible and innovative building, and making way for a collaborative and interconnected tomorrow.
Guest Contributor 
Lomesh Dutta
Lomesh Dutta is Vice President of Growth at DFINITY. Lomesh has over 17 years of experience in building and scaling startups.
