Polkadot Cross-Consensus Message (XCM) Format

‍Since its inception, interoperability between blockchains has been one of the most complex technical challenges to face the industry. Polkadot has finished one of its much-anticipated milestones: launching XCM on the 4th of May 2022, taking a step closer to becoming a truly cross-chain blockchain ecosystem.

In order to acknowledge the potential of XCM, it’s essential to understand that a major limitation of blockchain networks is interoperability. XCM (Cross-Consensus Message Format) is a messaging format that enables cross-chain exchanges. Such a function is essential in Polkadot, whose architecture is based on parachains, which are custom, project-specific blockchains. XCM format will bridge digital assets, smart contracts, pallets, and other modules across parachains, while providing the security and stability of Polkadot’s Relaychain offers.
Currently, XCM is designed to be generic and flexible, meaning that it is not immediately usable for specific interactions.

‍The objective behind the XBI Standard

‍The Web3 Foundation has commissioned t3rn with a second grant to create XBI, an innovative XCM-based standard for smart contract communication.
The XBI Standard was proposed after an analysis of the current status quo of implementation used in the Polkadot ecosystem, concluding that there is a clear and definitive need for easier interconnection between popular smart contracts. XBI is a high-level interface that when integrated allows for the mentioned functionalities to interact with one another.

With XBI, the standard becomes much more “plug-and-play” and significantly reduces development time for complex cross-chain interactions. It will become easier to have interactions such as cross-chain contract calls, transfer assets between liquidity pools and much more. Furthermore, once parachains adopt the XBI standard, there will be no need for projects to upgrade their on-chain runtime whenever the implementation of an open XCM channel to a target changes.

The XBI extension should be adopted as a Polkadot Standard Proposal (PSP), the Polkadot analog of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP). Much like the Ethereum counterpart, PSPs often define key standards and interaction flows on Polkadot-based blockchains.

What is t3rn?‍

Created with support from the Web3 Foundation and as part of the Substrate Builders Program, t3rn offers the next step in the evolution of blockchain technology.

t3rn is a hosting platform for smart contracts that enables fail-safe, multi-chain execution, and trustless collaboration. Rather than having a smart contract limited to the platform it is deployed on, the protocol can execute the smart contract hosted on the t3rn platform.

t3rn’s smart contract hub is an open-source repository to facilitate trust-free collaborations between blockchains and developers. Smart contracts can be written in familiar languages such as !ink, Webassembly, Solidity, or anything WASM compiled and get paid each time your smart contract is used.

To ensure unique security and stability, t3rn aims to operate as a Polkadot parachain.

If you wish to learn more about t3rn you can find all the necessary information on our whitepaper and lightpaper. We look forward to hearing from anyone willing to support our growth and ensure blockchain interoperability.t3rn is rapidly growing. To get the latest news, join our Discord community and follow our Twitter to hear it first!

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