Interchain Track: The Inter-Blockchain Experience 🎸

Background

The Interchain Stack consists of five components: the Cosmos SDK, CometBFT, IBC, CosmWasm, and CosmJS. These tools allow developers to create modular, sovereign, and scalable decentralized applications. What distinguishes the ecosystem as an Internet of Blockchains, or the interchain, is the interoperability component of the Interchain Stack: Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC), which enables seamless cross-communication among web3 applications.

We challenge you to develop novel and exciting implementations of the Interchain Stack, focusing on IBC. Expand the interchain and show what’s possible in both User Experience and the incredible capabilities of the Interchain Stack.

Good luck, and have fun!

Ideas List

Interoperability

  • IBC Expansion with EVM: Leverage and build implementations of the EVM with the Interchain Stack, to aid cross-chain interoperability between the existing interchain and the land of EVM (or other ecosystems, such as Solana and rollups).
  • Zero-Knowledge: Bring privacy to the fore with ZK IBC implementations and circuits, or implementations with the ZK Cosmos SDK module.
  • IBC Circuit Breaker: Construct a mechanism to facilitate incident response by verifying and halting malicious or erroneous transactions.
  • Interchain Accounts, Interchain Queries: Leverage Interchain Accounts and Interchain Queries for novel uses of cross-controlling assets and transactions, think Cross Chain Name Service.
  • Relayer Incentivization / Marketplace: Design innovative mechanisms to incentivize relaying, and consider the tokenomics and experience of relaying for users and relayer operators.

Tooling

  • Interchain Stack Monitoring: Develop tools and interfaces that provide real-time insights into IBC transactions, CometBFT performance, and other critical metrics across the Cosmos SDK.
  • Fuzzer: Build a tool that generates and sends random or malformed transactions to a network to assist in identifying potential vulnerabilities and edge cases.
  • Better UX & UI: Simplify getting started with smart contracts, IBC, relayers, upgrades, and interaction. Further improve user stack debugging with better errors and resources to narrow issue scope.

Applications

  • Social Networks & Moderation: Build decentralized social networks and explore innovative approaches to content moderation using the Interchain Stack - which can be implemented in a gaming format.
  • Censorship Resistant Content: Create resilient web platforms that are immune to censorship, ensuring content availability and user access across networks.
  • Cross-chain NFT Products and Applications: Build platforms that enable seamless transfer and trading of NFTs across different IBC-connected chains - think: novel, non-financial IBC implementations - gaming, digital collectibles, etc.
  • Randomness: Develop a secure randomness service that leverages cross-chain data and operates on a publish/subscribe model for decentralized applications requiring verifiable randomness.
  • Distributed Vote Incentivization: Develop models or tools to increase participation in governance across the ecosystem.
  • CosmWasm: Many of the Applications and Interoperability ideas can be implemented with the dynamic on-chain code of CosmWasm, use it you Rustaceans!

Wild Card

Anything you can dream up with the latest releases of the Interchain Stack and expanding the interchain!

Support

We will have four introductory workshops in the afternoon of Day 1 - these can help you get moving! Mentors will be on hand for the Interchain Stack Hack Track to support you and provide more resources.

Community Resources

Judges [TENTATIVE]

Ainhoa - Zondax, Cosmos SDK Operations

Gjermund - IBC Software Engineer

Dan - Cosmology, CosmJS Head

Simon - Confio, CosmWasm Head

Mentors [TENTATIVE]

  • Ainhoa
  • Dan
  • Carlos
  • Gjermund
  • Juan
  • Julien
  • Lucas
  • Mary
  • Nico
  • Ollie
  • Pinò
  • Reece
  • Simon

Workshops [TENTATIVE]

  • Gjermund - IBC Workshop
  • Dan - Client-side Workshop
  • Reece - Interchain Intro with Spawn
  • Daniel - CometBFT Workshop

Remember

  • Emphasize User and Developer Experience
  • Think IBC, and use the latest versions of the Interchain Stack
  • Keep in mind pain points of your developer experience to give feedback for us to make it better
  • Teams with members from IG, Binary Builders, Confio, Zondax, Amulet, Strangelove, or Cosmology will be ineligible for prizes (you are still welcome to join and hack for fun and be highlighted as successful projects!).