Introducing Polymer a.k.a IBC Transport Hub.

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8 Jan 2024

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What is Polymer?[1]

Polymer is building the first truly modular interoperability protocol that fully outsources the transport layer and partly outsources the state layer.The IBC transport layer runs on Polymer while the IBC app layer runs on the IBC enabled chain. With this design, enabling IBC on a new chain using Polymer is as easy as deploying a roll up onto Celestia. Polymer partly outsources the state layer by using zk-IBC connections to connect to newly IBC enabled chains while the zk verifier sits on chain.

Breaking down interoperability protocols[1]

A complete interoperability protocol has three well defined layers with clear separation in between.
A simple definition of each interoperability layer:

Application: What do packets of data mean?
Transport: How do we translate the state of the other chain into app <> app conversations and packets of data?
State: How do blockchains become aware of each other’s state?

(Above example is to relate the interoperability stack to existing concepts like Celestia and the well understood OSI model analogy.)

Defining modular interoperability[1]

Celestia defines a modular blockchain as a blockchain that fully outsources at least one functional layer to an external chain.Polymer defines a modular interoperability protocol as one that fully outsources the transport layer.
The key difference between the two is that the defining layer for interoperability protocols is the transport layer.State and application layer logic can be generalized so couldn't define as interoperability.
Interoperability must be fully on-chain when each chain directly runs the light client logic of its counterpart.

Modular IBC for the Modular World[3]

The flexibility in the design of modular blockchains and rollups motivates flexibility in the design of IBC as well. IBC network topology is changing from a homogenous and densely connected network to a heterogenous and sparsely connected network. Modular IBC adapts the IBC protocol to this dynamic environment.
In the monolithic setting, running a full node or verifying a single consensus proof generally suffices to convince a third party of a state transition. In the modular setting, we need to source a variety of proofs to be convinced of a state transition.
Regardless of the type of proof used, a logical light client (LC) wants to be convinced of 3 things:

Data availability (DA)
Sequencing or transaction ordering (TO)
Execution
- Settlement

To demonstrate the flexibility in design we’ll take a look at various designs of rollups on top of a common DA layer.

Execution + Fraud proofs == Optimistic Rollup
Execution + Consensus proofs == Pessimistic Rollup
Execution + ZK proofs == ZK Rollup

There are a few modes of shared security some of which are IBC compatible out of the box and others which require modular IBC to work properly;Cosmos Hub,Ethereum,Celestia, EigenDA,EigenLayer,Babylon,in multi-hop IBC routing,liquid staking, superfluid staking etc.(For how to diagrams:[3])

Polymer: Ethereum’s Interoperability Hub[4]

Secure composability across Layer 2s has emerged as one of the most significant issues plaguing Ethereum since there is no standard native message passing solution across these chains, and these issues will continue to grow as L2s launch and expand. Early interoperability solutions have attempted to solve this problem by building token bridges, but previous bridges have been insecure and subject to enormous hacks (see here, here, and here for just a small sample). All of the existing arbitrary messaging bridges (AMBs) are implemented as smart contracts with diverging implementations causing fragmented composability.

[5]
Polymer is not a third party bridge but a Layer 2 rollup that exclusively serves as the Interoperability Hub for Ethereum by providing IBC (Inter-blockchain Communication) as a feature to Ethereum and establishing connections to integrated Layer 2s. This domain specific interoperability model improves upon the domain non-specific approach taken by predecessors.
Polymer leverages a hybrid approach, incorporating the settlement functionality of the OP stack with the developer experience and native interoperability of the Cosmos SDK. Polymer also utilizes Eigenlayer’s data availability, which expands the data availability throughput of the Ethereum network by 10 mb/s with more optimizations incoming.

Although Layer 2s are recognizing the need for interoperability by building zero knowledge provers and shared sequencing but these efforts are mostly siloed and limited within their own frameworks and only solve parts of the interoperability problem.Polymer establishes IBC as that interoperability standard across the industry to solve each multi-ecosystem stakeholders pain points.
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Polymers Core elements

Polymer establishes IBC as that interoperability standard across the industry.

1-Building with IBC

IBC is a blockchain interoperability solution that allows arbitrary data transfer between blockchains connecting over 100 chains and enabling $30B+ in transfers. It is currently the industry’s most battle-tested interoperability protocol.

IBC was designed with key attributes aligned with the ethos of blockchain at its core:

Credibly neutral: IBC is open-source software
No vendor lock-in: IBC makes it easy for application protocols to switch between security models and interop providers.
Modular Security: IBC was designed to ensure the highest standards of default security while allowing developers the flexibility to lower security for less critical use cases.
‍Offering a robust feature set: IBC offers key functionality that builders need but is not widely used in competing solutions.

2-Building with the OP Stack

Flexibility, Scalability, and Performance:Polymer distinguishes itself from other rollups by focusing on serving the interoperability needs of applications on other rollups rather than executing decentralized applications itself. and the OP Stack also has high capacities and throughput.
Decentralization via a Thriving and Collaborative Ecosystem: The OP stack is building a robust network and combining engineering talent from not only OP Labs diverse open source contributors to accelerate the decentralized development of the Superchain.
Ethereum Security and Alignment: Ethereum has the right combination of technical, cultural, and economic ingredients to continue growing the most robust decentralized ecosystem in crypto.

3-Building with Eigenlayer

Ethereum Security:EigenDA second best option after Ethereum DA which borrows its security from Ethereum staking and a subset of the validator set.
Scalability: EigenDA significantly increases the data availability throughput of the Ethereum network.

Polymer plays a critical role in Ethereum’s scaling story enabling builders to create seamlessly composable applications across Ethereum rollups and other domains with an optimal trust model. The interoperable future we are building is one in which crypto achieves mass adoption - one in which users comfortably store their assets on chain, leverage the best applications regardless of which chain they live on, and navigate crypto without complex UX hurdles.

Merging Ethereum and Cosmos

Polymer establishing a path for advancements made in Cosmos to be directly deployed into the Ethereum ecosystem, including bringing IBC to Ethereum.

Polymer Labs believe IBC is the answer.Polymer is universal IBC routing and rollup protocol and Polymer, will form the backbone of a multi-cluster ecosystem connecting the whole of Web3. In the spirit of decentralization, the infrastructure we build will be governed by the first IBC infrastructure focused DAO, PolymerDAO.[2]