Cardano and Polkadot Unite to Redefine Blockchain Interoperability with Historic Partnership

By Ben Knight November 08, 2023 In Cardano, DeFi, Polkadot
Source: Adobe Stock
  • Cardano and Polkadot are forming a strategic partnership to improve blockchain interoperability.
  • Interoperability and scalability are perhaps the two biggest roadblocks preventing crypto products from seeing widespread adoption.
  • Substrate, Polkadot’s development kit, will be used to help Cardano provide the framework for building modular blockchains on the protocol.

Blockchain interoperability has been one of the sector’s largest stumbling blocks toward widespread, mainstream adoption. Offering useful financial services is all well and good, but most consumers simply won’t care unless the product is streamlined and easily accessible. Prominent decentralised finance (DeFi) networks Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) have teamed up to create a singular, interoperable Web3 world that even novice users can navigate with ease. 

Scalability and Interoperability is the Name of the Game 

Interoperability is widely considered the cornerstone of a successful Web3 world. But scalability solutions – finding a way for blockchain networks to sort through thousands of concurrent transactions efficiently – might be just as important, too. These are the two issues that Cardano and Polkadot are looking to tackle with their partnership.

The pairing’s vision is based upon launching Cardano’s “partner chain project” atop Polkadot’s Substrate – a modular blockchain framework that allows developers to build interoperable, scalable networks. To put it simply, Cardano wants to be a decentralised hub for hosting new blockchain ecosystems that can all send and receive data from each other. Cardano will operate as the “settlement layer” (where transactions are finalised), while the “partner chains” will perform specific functions. By separating these mechanisms, Cardano and Polkadot ensure each network can handle significant amounts of traffic while still supporting interoperability. 

Substrate Will be the Backbone of Cardano’s Partner Chain Project

For this to become a reality, Charles Hoskinson (founder of Cardano and IOG) is leveraging Polkadot’s pre-existing development toolkit. In a blog post, IOG stated:

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“[Substrate is] a proven open-source modular framework” that the company has “long shared common ground and respect for.”  

The post went on to say “Substrate’s open-source code is highly complementary to Cardano’s stack and aligned with our common vision for a world of interoperable blockchains”. 

Ben Knight
Author

Ben Knight

Ben Knight is a writer and editor from Melbourne with a passion for all things music and finance. He enjoys turning complex topics – especially the technical details of cryptocurrency – into digestible bites that anybody can understand. He acquired his Master’s in Writing, Editing and Publishing from RMIT in 2019 and has run his own creative writing business ever since.

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