What is IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication)?
A protocol for moving assets and data between independent blockchains — using light clients and on-chain proofs instead of a trusted intermediary.
Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) is a protocol for moving assets and data between independent blockchains without a trusted intermediary. Instead of relying on a custodian or a multisig federation, IBC uses light clients and on-chain proofs: each chain verifies the other's state directly, so a transfer is only accepted when it can be cryptographically proven valid.
Why IBC is different from a normal bridge
A typical bridge locks your funds with a third party that mints a wrapped asset on the destination chain. If that third party is hacked or goes rogue, the funds are gone. IBC removes the middleman:
- Light clients let each chain track and verify the other's consensus.
- Proofs confirm that a packet — a transfer or message — really happened on the source chain.
- No custodian ever holds your assets in between.
IBC beyond Cosmos
IBC was pioneered in the Cosmos ecosystem. Composable Finance is building the first cross-ecosystem implementation of IBC, extending trustless communication to chains and ecosystems that were never originally designed to speak to one another.
IBC in the Composable stack
Our Centauri bridge is that cross-ecosystem IBC implementation, working alongside the Cross-Chain Virtual Machine (XCVM) to power trustless, cross-chain applications. Learn more about the mission behind Composable Finance.