Octopus Network's Adaptive IBC Bridges Cosmos and Near for Enhanced Interoperability |

Octopus Network, a Web3 infrastructure built on the Near Protocol, has announced the launch of its Adaptive IBC during NearCon 2023. This innovation aims to bridge the gap between the Cosmos ecosystem and Near, heralding a new era of interoperability in the blockchain world.

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In a significant development, Secret Network, a blockchain platform known for its focus on confidential computing, is set to be the first user of Adaptive IBC in early 2024. This integration marks the first-ever connection between the Cosmos and Near ecosystems, further enhancing the capabilities of the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC).

During NearCon 2023, Louis Liu, the founder of Octopus Network, and Alex Zaidelson, CEO of SCRT Labs, the core development team behind Secret Network, jointly announced this collaboration.
Liu referred to Adaptive IBC as a "groundbreaking development in the space of interoperability."
IBC, or Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol, is recognized as one of the most comprehensive open blockchain interoperability protocol stacks. The NEAR-IBC project is a significant part of Octopus 2.0's roadmap, with the goal of enabling seamless asset transfers between the NEAR and Cosmos ecosystems.

Building on the foundation of IBC, Secret Network, which uses the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint consensus and focuses on confidentiality-preserving smart contracts, is exploring further collaborations with Octopus Network. These efforts aim to enhance confidential computing capabilities between NEAR and Cosmos.

One of the anticipated features is enabling smart contracts on NEAR to leverage Secret Network's confidential computation capabilities. This integration allows NEAR-based smart contracts to perform most of their operations within their native network while using a proxy contract on Secret Network for tasks requiring confidential computation.
"The partnership with Octopus is part of the overall 2024 strategy to make Secret Network’s confidential computing power accessible to developers and users across the Web3 ecosystem, targeting Ethereum, NEAR and other leading blockchains."

Alex Zaidelson, CEO of SCRT Labs
Louis Liu also outlined Octopus Network's broader vision, which includes connecting NEAR with other major blockchain ecosystems in the near future, such as Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana, through the development of the NEAR IBC Port.

With the introduction of the NEAR IBC Port, Octopus Network is poised to play a pivotal role in reshaping the future of blockchain interoperability and unlocking new possibilities for blockchain ecosystems.

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About Secret Network

Secret Network offers scalable permissionless smart contracts with a confidential by default design— bringing novel use cases to blockchain not feasible on public systems. Secret Network was the first protocol to provide confidential smart contracts on mainnet, live since September 2020. Secret Network is built with the Cosmos Software Development Kit (SDK) bringing interoperable confidential computing to the entire Cosmos ecosystem.

Secret Network uses a combination of the Intel SGX (Software Guard Extension) Trusted Execution Environment technology, several encryption schemes, and key management to bring confidentiality by default to blockchain users. Secret Contracts are an implementation of the Rust-based smart contract compiling toolkit CosmWasm, adding confidential metadata possibilities.

Secret Network is powered by the Native public coin SCRT which is used for fees, Proof-of-Stake, security, and Governance. With more than 30+ Dapps on mainnet and 100+ full time builders, Secret Network aims to bring confidential computing to all of Web3.