Instars (a blockchain-based data brokerage platform that compensates users with cryptocurrency in return for sharing their data with third-parties) recently announced the launch of its instarbridge cross-chain smart contract to facilitate bi-directional asset transfers amongst the Ethereum, INSTAR, and Partisa Testnet blockchains.
Instarbridge is built to allow holders of non-Ethereum assets, like INSTAR tokens, access to the (Ethereum-based) DeFi marketplaces Uniswap and Balancer so they can trade their tokens on other ecosystems. And since it’s two-way, the intention is also to offer similar services in reverse – i.e. providing Ethereum-based assets with an alternative (potentially cheaper), “second layer blockchain” mechanism for executing token swaps.
The bridge is interesting for a couple of reasons: it widens the ecosystem of interest for INSTAR tokens themselves, increasing the attractiveness of the Instar model for transparent data sharing… but beyond the core Instar model, this also opens up its blockchain for secondary activity (token exchange) from third-party blockchain ecosystems – namely Ethereum and its DeFi marketplaces.
It’s also interesting in the “how” as well as the “what” and “why” stakes. Instarbridge’s cross-chain smart contract is governed by a decentralised network of multi-party computing oracles (developed in partnership with Partisia and Sepior), They’re designed to operate on a model that enhances the privacy protection surrounding a transaction (compared with more traditional forms of cryptography, where the mechanism is technically able to “eavesdrop” on participants in the course of carrying out its job).
Clusters of multi-party computing (MPC) “oracle” nodes hold shared private keys that control the smart contracts on the Instar and Ethrereum blockchains, thereby effectively managing the wallets on these chains in a decentralised manner. Instar also describes how these MPC oracles can additionally be used to keep decentralised synchronising consensus on an external state (i.e. of a third-party blockchain) – potentially setting the scene for robustly private inter-ledger interoperability in more general use cases.
It may not be high up on customer agendas yet (with more pressing survival and re-growth motives top-of-mind, post-COVID), but blockchain-inspired recoveries are already starting to take shape which embrace notions of self-sovereign identity in order to better protect personal data and establish new, more transparent (ecosystem-orientated) trading relationships… enhancing the trust which organisations and individuals alike can place in the outcomes of a new and unfamiliar online activity across the board
And so as organisations encounter an increasing proliferation of blockchains, powering a diverse set of blockchain-enabled applications, then attention will invariably turn to the mechanisms available for joining them up holistically… to facilitate seamless end-to-end service development that’s able to securely navigate a plurality of blockchain networks on the way to delivery.
When that requirement moves more centre-stage, then MPC solutions for token bridges and smart contract integrations that simplify the interchange of digital value (whilst preserving inherent blockchain characteristics - immutability, trust, etc. – and the privacy of the parties involved) will begin to grab more headlines – perhaps providing a natural confluence for the complementary interests of both the InterWork Alliance and the MPC Alliance…