What is blocking the decentralized internet?
Over the past decade, the proliferation of blockchain technology has resulted in hundreds of networks that are unable to talk to each other. With data siloed and developers‘ options now extremely limited, the sector has been described as being at a “historical crossroads” — and unless this industry evolves and expands, it’s feared that blockchain will struggle to achieve the same reach and interconnectivity that the internet enjoys. Interoperability has been one of the hottest phrases in the blockchain lexicon in recent years. Although this cross-chain mentality is encouraging, it could be argued that many of the solutions being touted are a mere sticking plaster, only providing connectivity between a select number of networks. An everyday consumer would react with incredulity if they were only able to send an email from their Yahoo inbox to someone else with the same domain name. The idea that someone surfing the internet on Google Chrome couldnt access a website found on the Safari browser is equally unimaginable. Yet this is the situation that the blockchain sector has found itself in — to the extent that convoluted processes have needed to be built to ensure that assets can make their way across blockchains. (One example here