Router Launches Mainnet, as More Projects 'Abstract' Away Blockchains

Blockchain developers are pushing toward a new era – where you won't even notice the blockchain.

Router Protocol, a project built using Cosmos blockchain technology, said Tuesday that it launched the main network of a new blockchain designed for "chain abstraction" – a concept embraced by many protocols with the aim of making the user experience of blockchains more seamless, especially when it comes to cross-chain transactions.

By taking the complex technicalities away, users don’t even need to recognize that they are using a specific blockchain. It's been championed by ecosystems like NEAR, which recently released “chain signatures” as part of their roadmap to completely embrace chain abstraction. Other ecosystems that have embraced chain abstraction are Arcana and Socket.

To make the new Router Chain more seamless in cross-chain interactions, it will focus on reducing “the development barriers and streamlining the development of dApps that can seamlessly interact with multiple blockchains and aggregate liquidity from any chain,” according to a press release shared with CoinDesk.

In addition to Router Chain, the team is also launching a token-bridging solution “that will offer increased security to Cosmos chains,” and “chains in the Cosmos ecosystem will be able to leverage the security of Ethereum and Bitcoin networks, reducing the inflation required to maintain security and making them more robust.”

In January, the Router team launched Nitro, the first cross-chain bridge built on the Router Chain.

“Router is transitioning from being just a bridge to overall interoperability ecosystem, and Router Chain part of that,” said Ramani Ramachandran, founder and CEO of Router Protocol, in an interview with CoinDesk. “Router Chain is at the core of that transformation.”