Blockchain and DeFi interoperability; a comparison of the Polkadot, Bifrost and Cosmos solutions

Blockchain interoperability has been one of the major shortcomings for DApp developers in the crypto industry. The fact that most blockchain networks cannot communicate seamlessly proves there is a lot to be done in this upcoming space. In fact, innovations are already underway by better known players who include Polkadot, Bifrost and Cosmos.

The three projects focus on solving the issue of blockchain interoperability – a milestone that might eventually revolutionize developments on Web 3.0. Going by the current crypto market momentum, it is only a matter of time before most industries and organizations adopt a decentralized ecosystem for their daily operations.

If that happens to be the case, blockchain adopters will be better off leveraging the fundamentals of various networks as opposed being limited to one ecosystem. This is where the blockchain interoperability projects come in; they are built to enable developers to integrate their projects on different protocols. Let’s take a look at their value proposition and competitive edge.

Polkadot

The Polkadot blockchain bases its fundamentals on the sharding technology, hence acting as a connection to various chains. This parachain network facilitates scalable computation within different blockchain ecosystems – it enables data exchange and transaction processing across multiple chains. Polkadot’s parallelizable chain can be attached to the relay chain of another network, which guarantees security between the communicating blockchains.

Competitive Advantage

One of the main Polkadot competitive edges is a unique heterogeneous sharding model. Basically, this model allows each connected chain to be optimized for a particular purpose as opposed to adopting a common use case. Such an approach scales innovation opportunities given that more chains can be connected while maintaining their specialization.

Bifrost

This multichain middleware platform is built to facilitate the creation of Decentralized Applications (DApps) on different protocols. With Bifrost, developers can leverage the potential of the best features from various protocols to build their desired DApps. Ideally, Bifrost eliminates the barrier of building on a single blockchain network through its universal language – connecting the split blockchain ecosystem.

Competitive Advantage

Bifrost has gone a notch higher to build a multichain DeFi project dubbed BiFi, which is powered by its fundamental multichain tech. Unlike most DeFi projects which only operate on the Ethereum blockchain, BiFi connects to other blockchain ecosystems including Bitcoin, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Tron and Klaytn. BiFi users can experience the best of these blockchains while operating the underlying DeFi products.

Some of the DeFi services offered by BiFi include lending and borrowing against crypto collateral assets – the platform features ETH, DAI, LINK, USDT, and USDC coins. BiFi users are exposed to better deposit rates compared to other prominent projects such as Compound. The BiFi DeFi ecosystem offers lucrative deposit net APY’s that can go as high as 79%.

BiFi has also partnered with over 35 entities across the globe with the latest being oracle provider Chainlink. This partnership ensures that BiFi’s pricing data is high quality and covers all trading environments. Given such fundamentals, BiFi solves both the fundamental societal challenges in CeFi and DeFi. Other initiatives by the platform include staking and pooling, where users can earn BiFi tokens as rewards.

Cosmos

Like the previous projects, Cosmos is also designed to solve the issue of blockchain interoperability. This project employs an open-source technology based on tools like the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint to facilitate the creation of interoperable, secure and scalable blockchain networks. Ideally, the Cosmos goal is to create an internet of blockchains as part of laying the fundamentals for blockchain 3.0.

Competitive Advantage

Cosmos has simplified building blockchain networks through its Tendermint BFT solution – this innovation combines the consensus and networking layers of a blockchain, leaving developers with application development as the only task. Furthermore, Cosmos Tendermint BFT leverages the Application Blockchain Interface (ABI) socket protocol, which can be wrapped by developers to fit preferred programming language.

Summary

While not most crypto stakeholders see vision in interoperability, it is definitely important for the next stage of adoption to kick in. Solutions that will solve this challenge might open up opportunities for big industries like Financial Services and Commerce to adopt the blockchain ecosystem. At that point, entities will be able to communicate seamlessly despite operating on different networks.

Meanwhile, DeFi interoperability is another potential area that could gain traction even faster. Ecosystems designed with this approach are more likely to make an impact in the reduction of gas fees – a move that would increase DeFi accessibility. Going forward, this crypto niche is set to accommodate more financial products and could grow faster with interoperability solutions.