An interoperable NFT standard has landed on Cosmos
The Swiss non-profit organization Interchain Foundation (ICF) has partnered with Bianjie, a blockchain development company, to launch a new NFT standard. Users using the new standard, called ICS-721, will now be able to track and transfer NFTs across different blockchains.
ICS-721 – an homage to the ERC 721 NFT standard on Ethereum – is an application-layer inter-blockchain communication (IBC) protocol, meaning it enables blockchains to communicate with each other without the need for a bridge.
This new standard can make it possible to integrate NFTs in different sectors in Web3. These include gaming, socializing, identity management and many others, Maria Gomez, CEO of the Interchain Foundation told Blockworks.
“The surge in profile picture (PFP) projects highlighted an earlier trend in NFT technology, but this also led to questions about their long-term value and sustainability. As the industry evolves, the focus is expected to shift toward utility and real-world applications, Gomez said.
Here, Interchain NFTs are expected to have a clear advantage, as the standard offers improved functionality and capabilities through cross-chain interoperability, she notes.
Harriet Cao, the founder of Bianjie and a prominent technical contributor to Cosmos, told Blockworks that ICS-721 will initially be available on all IBC-enabled Ethereum, Substrate, CosmWasm and Cosmos SDK chains. There are plans to expand availability to more ecosystems in the future.
The Game of NFTs
A two-phase developer competition called Game of NFTs, designed to test out ICS-721, launched earlier in March this year. The name is a continuation of previous Cosmos feature testing, Game of Stakes and Game of Zones.
The first phase of the competition drew the attention of 198 teams worldwide, Cao said. Each team had to go through different tasks and challenges with the ultimate goal of testing the protocol’s capabilities before mainnet deployment.
The competition was proposed by Bianjie in collaboration with several validator and developer teams, including those from IRISnet, Stargaze, Juno, Uptick and OmniFlix.
“The Cosmos ecosystem is benefiting from increased growth as it attracts a more diverse range of creators, users and developers,” said Cao. “This in turn fuels creativity and drives innovation, positioning the Cosmos ecosystem as the Interchain of Blockchain for breakthrough development in the NFT world.”
Following the completion of Phase 1 of the Game of NFTs, Phase 2 – an interchain hackathon, is now underway.
Teams will have until June 19 to submit their projects for the hackathon, and over $300,000 worth of tokens and credits will be awarded to the winners.
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