Read About the First Interchain NFT Transfer Between 4 Blockchains

IRISnet is a long-time supporter of the Cosmos ecosystem.

We were founded in 2016 and have made major contributions to the Cosmos tech stack, launching our mainnet in 2019 at the same time as the Cosmos Hub.

In Q4 2020, Bianjie, the team behind IRISnet received funds from the ICF for successfully driving Cosmos enterprise adoption on IRITA OPB, an open permissioned blockchain initiated by BSN and developed by Bianjie. Now, we are busy fulfilling our mission driving enterprise adoption and hitting major milestones for Cosmos and the blockchain ecosystem at large.

On November 16, 2021, for the FIRST time, NFTs as digital twins to fine art Chinese paintings, were successfully transferred from BSN OPB (Open Permissioned Blockchain) WenChang Chain to Ethereum through Cosmos TIBC (Terser Inter-Blockchain Communication) protocol.

Each of these NFTs is pegged to a fine replica of a famous traditional Chinese painting by Rongbaozhai (Studio of Glorious Treasures), a historic and world-renowned Chinese national brand dating back almost 350 years, that has hosted many culture exchange events to the most respected state guests when visiting China.

Now, these NFTs that originated at the China WenChang chain, are available on OpenSea EASTIP for global markets, with one of the main features specifying the right to take delivery of these prestigious Chinese paintings.

Backed by the Interchain Foundation (ICF), the steward of the Cosmos network, TIBC protocol has been developed as a subset of the IBC protocol with some modifications to simplify interchain connections and expand interchain capabilities so that digital assets with complicated real-world data can be transferred frictionlessly and trustlessly across blockchains.

Additionally, users that engage with this advanced interchain NFT technology can satisfy their core business needs, using blockchain technology that upholds strong quality and compliance standards and supports the trustworthy communication of information within cross-country business.

The First Interchain NFT Transfer Between 4 Blockchains

Developed by Bianjie and powered by Cosmos’ decentralized network of independent, scalable, sustainable, and interoperable blockchains, WenChang Chain launched in February 2021 as one of the first chains comprising BSN Open Permissioned Blockchains.

This landmark interchain NFT transfer process involved four blockchain networks in both the permissioned environment BSN as well as public chain domain: WenChang Chain and IRITA Hub in BSN, IRIS Hub (a.k.a IRISnet) and Ethereum. Such a collaboration illustrates how interchain technology can be used to support global commerce that involves different jurisdiction requirements.

For example, BSN OPB supports Chinese artworks’ registration and domestic commerce, and, for global commerce, interchain technology allows these artworks to circulate to public chain-based global markets with trustworthy data. Following are the screenshots for the NFT transfer blockchain transaction and you can click the embedded IRIS Hub and Ethereum block explorer links.

<https://irishub.iobscan.io/#/tx?txHash=4B9B7211EDF7851B6CD00736D18B16A9BB1DE645FC8E0E24FA38EF79663C00C0; https://etherscan.io/tx/0x32ea67e5662722798d90db9e568a9a18ef43fb8d4e8ab62685cd58936e87c8fc>

If you’re interested in what’s going on under the hood, below is a chart to illustrate the process of going through different blockchains:

1. Authentication and Registration: The registration of these artwork NFTs can be done through IP.PUB which is a Digital Artwork Registration Platform that serves as part of the Chinese National Culture Digital Library initiative, which is led by the China Promoting Minority Culture & Art Association. IP.PUB provides enterprise services to authenticate the origin of the artworks (Step 1 in the above chart).

   
   

2. Digitization of Artworks through NFTs: Through the NFT technology provided by IRITA OPB, the artwork’s rich information including various official certificates and the right of taking delivery, etc., can be digitized on the WenChang chain (Step 2). WenChang Chain supports KYC which makes regulation compliance possible. IP.PUB also supports the sales of these artworks domestically in China using E-CNY or other legitimate token-less payment methods (Step 3).

   
   

3. NFT Cross-chain Transfer: For global commerce, through the TIBC protocol, NFTs can be transferred to IRIS Hub which already supports the TIBC connection to Ethereum. IRIS Hub also plans to support connections to more networks in the first quarter of 2022. The design of two Hubs involved is to better support compliance requirements: IRIS Hub for openness and working with global open networks, and IRITA Hub with KYC only serves legitimate enterprise commerce-related interchain transactions in and out of Chinese markets (Step 4).

   
   

4. Post Cross-chain Transfer: After the cross-chain transfer, these NFTs can be purchased or transferred in the global marketplace on popular platforms such as Opensea (Step 5). Eventually, the owner of the NFT can choose to redeem the physical artwork based on the right of receiving delivery (Step 6).

Driving Enterprise Adoption with Cosmos IBC

The launch of EASTIP marks a milestone for interchain technology in supporting real-world business applications that need to address compliance requirements as well as openness.

This is a perfect demonstration of the Cosmos IBC protocol for its advanced capability in supporting interoperability among heterogeneous networks.

Cosmos has promoted its industry-leading interchain technology to mass business adoption, set a new paradigm for NFTs, and established how interchain technology can be used to support global commerce for different jurisdiction requirements.

This will incubate more interchain NFT implementations in the realms of cultural exchange and trustworthy global trade. It connects exquisite traditional Chinese artworks to the rest of the world in an innovative manner.

With so many authorized organizations involved in this process and an increasing number of traditional Chinese artworks being tokenized, more and more people will start to show interest in exploring this completely new realm.

With the best features inherited from both the public chain and consortium chain, BSN OPB WenChang Chain leverages open consensus engine Tendermint with high-level security, making it one of the best tools for handling different compliance requirements and addressing complicated real-world business needs.

The successful cross-chain transfer of traditional Chinese artwork NFTs unveils diverse possibilities of exploring more business implementations through OPBs and interchain technology. With Bianjie’s commitment to the Internet of Values, watch out for more value-focused innovations to come to the Internet of Blockchains!

About WenChang Chain

WenChang Chain is developed by Bianjie, the technology contributor to Cosmos and IRISnet, and launched in February 2021. It is one of the first batch of BSN Open Permissioned Blockchains. WenChang Chain is backed by Cosmos/IRISnet technology and powered by IRITA, the first enterprise-level permissioned blockchain product in the Cosmos ecosystem developed by Bianjie.

WenChang Chain aims to provide a low-cost user-friendly open blockchain platform that allows developers to develop distributed business applications. WenChang Chain also provides iService with strong interchain capability, and supports the Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

Currently, there are various use cases on WenChang Chain, such as Blockchain Electronic Certificate System for Dujiangyan City, Spider ID Trusted Identity Service Platform, NFT Management Platform Moka, Global Digital Art Trading Market Platform, Asia Digital Bank Digital Banking System, and more.