Popular blockchain protocol Polkadot (DOT) hits its most anticipated milestone with the release of cross-consensus messaging format XCM, becoming a fully interoperable multi-chain ecosystem.
As mentioned in its blog, the cross-consensus messaging format is not a regular “cross-chain” upgrade. It is designed for communicating the kind of ideas sent not just between chains but also smart contracts, pallets, over bridges and sharded enclaves like Polkadot’s Spree.
The new messaging system enables communication of its various parachains and allows assets like NFTs to be transferred from one chain to another.
With this upgrade, the messages across XCM channels won’t suffer from a weakest-link problem as it is secured at the same level as the Polkadot’s central hub Relay Chain.
Hoon Kim, CTO of Astar which connects Polkadot to Ethereum (ETH), said in a statement that XCM offers a stable and reliable inter-chain messaging channel that is far superior to the fragmented bridges.
Parachains, individual blockchains running in parallel within the Polkadot ecosystem can now use the XCM format to transport any token, asset, or data among themselves. This will expand its capability to support a wide range of use cases and projects.
Moreover, Polkadot has added NFT functionality by upgrading Statemint which is its first “common good” parachain. This parachain enables users to mint NFTs, transfer them from one chain to another, and track them across chains.
Polkadot also claimed that XCM will allow communication between smart contracts and Substrate runtime modules, along with messages to be sent between parachains without the need to be stored on the Relay Chain.
In December last year, Polkadot released its first set of parachains, which included Acala, Moonbeam, Parallel Finance, Clover, and Astar, after five years of research and development. Moreover, an additional 28 parachains are scheduled to go live by the end of February 2023, bringing the total to 41.
