Blocknet’s XRouter, the world’s first blockchain router, is the final component poised to fill the gap required to create an “Internet of Blockchains.” XRouter enables any and all blockchains and smart contracts to communicate with one another and allows the monetization of inter-chain and multi-chain services. This is all made possible via decentralized access without a single chain download being necessary. XCloud, a decentralized microservice network built on XRouter, also allows decentralized access to off-chain oracle information that can then be made accessible to blockchains and smart contracts. In short, XRouter and XCloud solves blockchain interoperability.
The Internet of Blockchains (IoB)
To understand why blockchain interoperability, and subsequently, an internet of blockchains is so important to the advancement and acceptance of blockchain technology, an analogy is useful: the arrival of Bitcoin and specifically the blockchain is like the creation of the first computers. Early mainframe computers were only able to run a single program at a time, lacked any form of operating system, and couldn’t communicate with other computers. However, this soon began to change and these early computers eventually provided the platform on which operating systems would be built. In this way, the blockchain is similar in that it provided a common base principle that enabled the early blockchain ecosystem to evolve. To continue the analogy to the next logical step, one could liken the development of Ethereum to that of an operating system for blockchains. Just as the early computer operating systems enabled a computer to run software applications, Ethereum allows for smart contracts to function in a similar way because it has a Turing-complete programming language and smart contracts allow for systems and rules to be created so that execution of programs can take place. In the same way that applications could be built on dedicated operating systems on computers, developers could now create their own applications relatively easily on top of Ethereum. The obvious conclusion to this analogy is the creation of the internet. The internet enabled all computers and operating systems to communicate together via the agnostic TCP/IP protocol. However, at this point the analogy falters. There is currently no “Internet of Blockchains”. By the very nature of their design, blockchains cannot communicate with other blockchains. No data between different blockchain services can be transferred, and as a result blockchain technology is at a historical crossroads. It needs to evolve and expand. It needs to achieve the same reach and interconnectivity that the internet achieved.
XRouter: The biggest advancement since Ethereum
The invention of XRouter is like the creation of the internet - XRouter enables any and all blockchains to communicate with each other creating a true Internet of Blockchains. XRouter utilizes the TCP/IP network to connect paths between different blockchains just as the internet does with computers, and all without having to download a single blockchain. Essentially, blockchain routing is similar to general smart contract calls. This allows for interactions between any smart contract platform and any other blockchain, even those that do not have smart contract capabilities. What this means is that if developers want to utilize smart contracts from different chains, they can now do so, mixing and matching any blockchain they choose, to build whatever they want! There is no need to rewrite contracts from scratch. This will save months and possibly years of work, as well as being much more economical. A new blockchain API ecosystem will be born that has the potential to rival the current centralized ecosystem of Apps, but in a completely decentralized way! Users or applications can invoke a decentralized API on their local machine via XRouter. This is the only route to a true internet of blockchains. Had the internet developed in a siloed manner, only allowing developers to build within the confines of a restricted system, the internet would have not evolved into the wonder that it is today. XRouter allows for an internet of blockchains to be infinitely scalable as it does not rely on a single platform or blockchain and thus avoids the perils of things like blockchain bloat and unnecessary complications like wrapped bitcoin, pegged derivatives, colored coins and so on. This provides the flexibility required to build a healthy internet of blockchains where innovation can blossom without limits.
XRouter, XCloud, Business and Enterprise
Developers and business can now orchestrate and leverage contracts from any blockchain, building services that can be deployed to XCloud. XCloud is a decentralized microservice cloud network powered by XRouter that allows for interaction with microservices, blockchains and APIs. A good way to think of XCloud is like a decentralized AWS. There is the capability to create custom microservices in Docker containers that act as plugins for XRouter. This is the foundation for the Blocknet XCloud. Existing containers on Docker Hub (hub.docker.com), including a large number of Enterprise applications, can also be monetized and served through Blocknet’s XRouter interoperability protocol for seamless integrations. Developers and businesses will be able to put both blockchain and non-blockchain microservices on XCould. This can be used to monetize any service with crypto payments without having to re-code or change anything about those existing applications. XRouter is also able to pull and verify any external off-chain Oracle data. Many example XCloud services have already been created including, weather, Twitter, betting and various other services. Check out the current list here. XRouter can deliver this information all without the need for a smart contract to be written. For example, if creating a dApp on Ethereum, you may require storage functionality. Ethereum doesn’t intrinsically handle file storage very efficiently. In this scenario, XRouter can be used to interact with other blockchains. In this video demo example, Siacoin has been chosen. Should developers choose to, they could now use Sia storage as part of an Ethereum dApp. Previously, this was impossible. Check out this list of potential uses case for XRouter to see how it impacts every aspect of the blockchain ecosystem.
To understand why XRouter will have such a huge impact, let’s take a step back in time 25 years to the world of business. Back then, it was much more of a challenge for local startup businesses to find their customers and expand. Adverts were usually posted in local newspapers, local clubs, or networking organizations were joined and perhaps a local display was set up. Expansion opportunities were usually defined by location and thus restricted. However, everything changed with the arrival of the internet. By simply creating a web page, blog, or a social media presence on the internet, businesses greatly expanded and magnified their reach, no longer restricted to their local environment. Finding their competition was easier, responses could be quicker and communication with employees in other locations became smoother. As soon as a business had an internet presence, a whole host of opportunities opened up to them and they gained access to a huge variety of enormously beneficial communication tools.
Currently, blockchain technology occupies the same position of how businesses operated all those years ago. There are now over a thousand types of cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, they are all isolated from each other in much the same way businesses were isolated from one another 25 years ago. As the internet transformed business, the “internet of blockchains” will transform blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency ecosystem in general. Just as when a person or business creates a presence on the web, they become a part of the internet. When a new blockchain utilizes XRouter and XCloud, they become a part of the internet of blockchains. Because XRouter operates on a free market basis and is blockchain agnostic, developers are free to either charge whatever they want for their service, sell their plugin to other parties, or simply give it away for free. Eventually XRouter will allow payments in any cryptocurrency for services provided. This will be a social, economic, and technological revolution.
Developers wanted for the beginning of a new ecosystem
Blocknet enables the creation of a multitude of cross-chain dApps and multichain architectures only limited by developers imaginations. If you want to build for XRouter or have any questions, please join our Discord or check out our Reddit page. You can download the Blocknet wallet with XRouter here. By building on the Blocknet Protocol and joining the “Internet of Blockchains,” developers will help to evolve a decentralized crypto-ecosystem with a trustless security model, which has the ability to monetize tokens native to any blockchain. In addition, the Blocknet Protocol allows over 100 digital assets to be traded on Block DX, a 100% trustless and decentralized exchange dApp built on the protocol where native assets are traded, funds are in your control throughout the entire trade process, the ability to list an asset is open and free, there are no accounts, and no KYC is required. Cloudchains Inc. is currently implementing a fully decentralized lite (thin) multi-wallet utilizing Blocknet’s XRouter protocol.
To learn more about XRouter, Block DX, and Blocknet, check out Blocknet’s website, API, documentation, Discord, and whitepaper.