Description 

While blockchain technology has developed at a rapid rate, blockchain standard are highly fragmented. Limited interoperability between blockchain networks remains one of the greatest challenges for businesses, specifically financial industries. As a result, cross-chain interoperability standards are critical. While there are interoperability solutions being implemented in recent years, there is no widely accepted standard. The goal of the project is to understand the existing interoperability solutions and to contribute to the Blockchain Integration Framework Group under Hyperledger Labs to develop a universal communication model.

Additional Information

Hyperledger Blockchain Integration Framework ( https://github.com/hyperledger-labs/blockchain-integration-framework )

Blockchain Framework & Permission-less / Permission-based Networks

• Hyperledger Fabric ( https://www.hyperledger.org/projects/fabric )

• Hyperledger Besu ( https://www.hyperledger.org/projects/besu )

• Corda ( https://www.corda.net/ )

• Bitcoin ( https://bitcoin.org/en/ )

Interoperability Solutions

• Hyperledger Quilt / Hyperledger ( https://www.hyperledger.org/projects/quilt )

• Atomic Swap ( https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Atomic_swap )

• Polkadot ( https://polkadot.network/ )

• Cosmos ( https://cosmos.network/ )

Learning Objectives

• Understand interoperability and the importance for the future development of blockchain

• Gain hands-on experience on open source development and collaboration with Hyperledger Community

• Learn about Hyperlegder Frameworks and Libraries (e.g. Hyperledger Fabric and Quilt)

Expected Outcome

• Research and understand the pros and cons of existing interoperability solutions (e.g. open protocols, multi-chain frameworks)

• Participate the Hyperledger Labs Blockchain Integration Framework group to contribute to the blockchain integration framework and data exchange standard development

• Design an abstract layer to allow users writing plug-in for various blockchain networks to do cross-chain transactions

• Develop a Proof of Concept for cross-chain payment or data exchange

Relation to Hyperledger 

• Hyperledger Fabric

• Hyperledger Besu

• Hyperledger Quilt

• Hyperledger Labs Blockchain Integration Framework

Education Level

Masters or Ph.D. level students are preferred

Skills

• Basic Blockchain/DLT Knowledge

• Programming experience in C++ or Java

• Good Communication Skills

Future plans

The goal is to contribute the research result to the Hyperledger Blockchain Integration Framework. In the future, we will continue the development work under Hyperledger Labs and hope this effort will lead to an official Hyperledger framework/library as an independent interoperability solution.

Preferred Hours and Length of Internship

Full-time or Part-time

Mentor(s) Names and Contact Info

Andy Leung, andy@aquanow.io