Move over TCP/IP; CCIP is here
Brad Towers
Global Sales Engineering | Solutions Architects | AI Enthusiast | Blockchain Believer | Cryptocurrency Champion | Web 3 Proponent
I first stumbled across Bitcoin towards the end of 2010 early 2011. As I was advancing my career in Information Security, (Yes, this was pre ‘Cyber Security) my free time was dedicated to learning about any technology that could deepen my knowledge and allow me to add more value to the burgeoning field. Cryptography fascinated me—the ability to hide data in plain sight using cryptographic algorithms was a concept that aligned with my professional interests. It was during this period of self-study that I stumbled upon the Bitcoin Whitepaper. The idea of a decentralized digital currency, powered by cryptographic principles, intrigued me. Despite my initial struggles to fully grasp its implications through the Framework of money and networking that I had always known, I recognized its potential to impact society.
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My early days of Bitcoin were both exciting and frustrating. I dabbled in mining, explored various forums, and experimented with transactions, even losing a significant amount of Bitcoin along the way. As I wrote in a previous article, I spent trying to ‘find’ my Bitcoin. I would naively use tools like Nagios, Ethereal, tcpdump, grep, awk, locate, etc…? Trying to ‘locate’ and view my Bitcoin, was an effort in futility, but I was viewing and approaching it through an existing paradigm.
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?Essentially, I was trying to go forward by looking in the rear-view mirror.
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My journey with Bitcoin and Crypto in general was intermittent, driven by personal curiosity and professional interest, but it was the failings of the traditional monetary system during my time living abroad that brought me back to Bitcoin with renewed energy. The inefficiencies and frustrations of international money transfers highlighted the value proposition of Bitcoin—moving value across borders quickly and cheaply.
As I dove deeper into Bitcoin and blockchain technology, I realized that while Bitcoin was revolutionary from a monetary perspective, there was a massive potential of blockchain with its ability to decentralize applications and financial instruments. All underpinned by the trust of Math and the Security of Cryptography. ?This epiphany led me to explore the broader landscape of blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi).
So, how does this relate to TCP/IP and CCIP (Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol)? The current landscape of Blockchain (I am specifically not saying Crypto or Cryptocurrency) is very similar to the early days of Networking and Intranets. We had different systems, communicating with different protocols and in many cases, not able to “talk” to each other… As I think back to the early days of my career and working in different environments, I recall having to know SNA, AppleTalk, IPX/SPX, NetBios/NetBEUI. (Where my old folks at… ? )
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These early protocols formed the backbone of early networks (LANS & WANS). Then in the late 80s, early 90s TCP/IP became standardized and the addition of various application layer protocols such as HTTP, FTP, & SMTP, which gave us the World Wide Web that we know today.
These protocols evolved and were built in layers and over time, we didn’t get them all at once.
As Decentralized computing, powered by Blockchains become more integral and common place in our digital lives, there will be (There is!) a need for a common, reliable, & secure protocol standard that can connect these distinct Blockchains (networks) with existing, some might say legacy financial systems.
Enter CCIP!?
I know when I talk to a lot of friends, family, colleagues, ex-colleagues, I often hear; “Blockchains seem like a cool solution, looking for a problem”. While that sounds logical, I remember a time when there was doubt that anyone would ever need their own Cell phone, that maybe there might be a single computer in more affluent homes, but not everyone, and although I know it’s often taken out of context and I do realize that he’s an Economist and not a Technologist, who could ever forget Paul Krugman’s famous 1998 quote “By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's”.
While no one can predict the future, I think we have to be aware that we can get complacent and think that what ‘we have’ now is the best and will be what we have and use in the future…
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This goes for both our existing financial system and technology!
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I believe that Web3, powered by Blockchains and giving us greater decentralization, is going to be an important part of our future digital lives.
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Back to CCIP
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CCIP is a paradigm shift in cross-chain communications, however it borrows time tested features of traditional Aerospace Systems Engineering. Similar to how TCP/IP revolutionized digital communications, CCIP will revolutionize the concept of value transfer and usher in the era of the internet of contracts. Through enabling secure, seamless communications between different blockchains and between blockchains and legacy financial systems, CCIP allows tokens and messages to move freely across various environments.
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CCIP’s foundation is built on the premise that a Secure infrastructure for cross-chain communication is essential if we want to bring the majority of the world’s assets to the blockchain. If we want to combine traditional asset management and value exchange with the promise of asset tokenization and democratizing value realization and exchange, security is paramount.
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CCIP solves a couple of existing challenges that have persisted in the inability of moving the trillions of dollars of traditional ‘real world assets’ onto the blockchain and tokenizing them.
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Decentralization
With CCIP, there is a level of Decentralization built in, that is far superior other cross-chain systems that rely on multi-signature operations with a few keys or even central hubs where the transactions pass through a single system, introducing a single point of failure, or a juicy target for malicious actors. CCIP introduced the concept of ‘Lanes’.? A lane in CCIP is a distinct route between source and destination blockchains. And EVERY CCIP lane has 3 distinct Decentralized Oracle Networks (DONS), each with its own Risk Management network, which tasked with validating 3 separate aspects of the transaction.
Risk Management Network
As mentioned above and in a previous post, one of the most unique (to me) features of CCIP is the introduction of the Risk Management Network (RMN). The RMN uses a software engineering principle known as N-version programming. RMN is a software engineering technique whose primary focus is to improve the reliability and fault tolerance of software systems.
Chainlink built the Risk Management Network using a completely different development team and in a different programming language than the rest of CCIP. The RMN, which I have written about previously introduces several unique communication capabilities. In my previous CCIP post, I wrote in more detail on Rate Limiting and Anomaly Detection.
However, CCIP and the RMN also introduced the concept of Secondary Approval. As transactions are flowing through the DON and being validated, they are ALSO sent to the DONs Risk Management Network for secondary approval and must receive a secondary confirmation by the Risk Management Network. In order for any message to be executed by the destination contract, it MUST be explicitly approved by both the primary system’s Committing DON and the Risk Management Network…
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Ok, I'll admit, CCIP is not going to replace TCP/IP, that part of my title was a bit provocative, but I sincerely believe that CCIP will be a crucial part of cross-chain communications moving forward. This is my second article on CCIP and if you cannot tell, I am very excited by the promise it brings. As cliched as it sounds, I believe that I am very lucky to be living in and able to participate in such an exciting time and have learned to embrace progress, rather than dismiss it.
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