Brandon Truong on ZetaChain’s layer 1 protocol with native multichain interoperability

0:01I'm Ashin Edison from BlockQuake Capital, for Investment Pitch Media and the Crypto Coin Show. And today on Blockchain Interviews, we have Brandon Trong, product designer of ZetaChain. Brandon, welcome to the show and thank you for taking the time. Thank you for having me. Great to be here. You're very welcome. So many different protocols coming up with innovative

0:20solutions in the blockchain space right now, and I think one of the most important facets is having that interoperability between blockchains and having the communication so that everyone can grow together. I know that's a core principle of ZetaChain, but there's much more to uncover, and that's why I'd love to start with an overall high-level from you, Brandon, on

0:40what is ZetaChain all about, what are the specific solutions you're driving into the market, and then we'll dive into the details. Yeah. Definitely. So, ZetaChain at its core is a new L1 blockchain that comes with chain-agnostic interoperability built in. So, what that means is it kind of enables omnichain generic smart contracts and messaging between virtually any

1:06blockchain, including non-smart contract chains like Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Mhm. So, it can act as a sort of metal layer for developers to build pretty much any cross-chain app you can imagine easily, and uh in a super simple and secure way. Mhm. Great great intro, and it's nice to know as well about the non-smart contract blockchains that sometimes people forget

1:33about the interoperability between all blockchains, not just the layer ones. Um but with now some of these main layer ones like Ethereum, there is a lot to have in a protocol, you know, different layers and and hosting dApps and and developing on it. Um where to start with ZetaChain and and how do you compete, not just with bringing interoperability, but bringing

1:54a good protocol that people are going to be using regardless of the interoperability? Yeah, so I mean, again, interoperability is kind of at the core of it, and uh sort of the reason why we exist is because the interoperability solution hasn't really been solved yet in a lot of ways. A lot of the current solutions like bridges, uh I'm sure you've seen from

2:20the headlines, are not optimal experiences or solutions. Often times, they're centralized in some ways or have varying trust models that put users at risk, and um as we kind of move into the new phase of uh you know, 2022 and where we have this proliferation of blockchains, Avalanche, Solana, what have you,

2:48um there's just a huge need for that metal layer. Mhm. Uh we support EVM-compatible smart contracts to be deployed on our chain that can read and write data and value to and from connected chains. And again, we're chain-agnostic, so that kind of enables even smart contract logic to be applied to something like Bitcoin. Mhm. Um and yeah, so there's kind of two pieces.

3:16One is just general chain-agnostic interoperability, and then two, doing that in a secure way and a sustainable way. Um yeah, so we think with those two pieces, we're going to really be able to open up a huge portion of the ecosystem and break down a lot of barriers both for institutions and users. Mhm. Definitely, Brandon, and I want to touch on both of

3:41those points, and uh we'll we'll talk about the security issue after, but you're right about uh the bridges being insecure and interoperability, you know, you go to move your funds from one blockchain to another, and all of a sudden, there's a vulnerability um and your funds are gone or something like that. And obviously, that's going to be of utmost importance um moving funds

4:00around to different locations, making sure that they're always secure. Um now, with this interoperability in the way that ZetaChain is designed, how have you what's the secret, you know, how have you done this in a way that makes it efficient and is going to make for a a an amazing user experience for people that are moving assets around? Yeah, so so one piece is we're just a completely

4:28open, decentralized blockchain chain in the same way something like Cosmos and Ethereum are. So, uh all a developer really has to worry about is that they trust that decentralization in the network, and beyond that, all you really have to do is implement send and receive pass messages and value through ZetaChain. Um and one kind of nuance in transferring value through

4:57ZetaChain is the only value that's actually transferred through us is our native coin, Zeta. Um so, when you're transferring value, instead of locking assets in a vault like in the Wormhole or recent Ronin incident, and then having some synthetic asset on the other destination that's backed by that, leaving all of that vault at risk, uh for us, it looks more like a two-sided

5:26swap. So, you would swap X for Zeta that's burned, and then on the destination, that's minted and then traded for your target asset. But to a user, it's really just all that's kind of managed in the background by app developers and ZetaChain. So, to a user, all you're doing is just sending a transaction, and you get the result result, whether that's interacting with

5:50a smart contract, sending data, um transferring value. So, um all of it's super simple from a user standpoint, and then uh yeah, and and then we just have like a really seamless developer experience that does not put much of the security burden or development burden on them. Mhm. While at the same time, we just have kind of the infinite creativity ceiling

6:19of us general smart contract platform. Mhm. That's great to know, and I want to dive into that, but I just wanted to reiterate on that point you talked about uh with the Zeta burn and how it's different. And because I think it's super important to understand, you know, with the Wormhole hack and other smart contract hacks, where normally you're moving assets to another chain, you're

6:41getting uh you know, from Ethereum to wrapped Ethereum or or, you know, wrapped Bitcoin. And from what I understand, your assets originally are put into that car smart contract, and they're sitting in there while they're giving you wrapped Bitcoin, and that's where the vulnerability is is that your original ether is sitting in that smart contract, and then it gets hacked. Now,

7:02from what I understand from ZetaChain, there there is no wrapped coin, you're actually getting the original asset on on the new blockchain if you're swapping. Is that Is that true? Yeah, that is correct. So, there is no like assets at rest are never at risk in our system. Mhm. Uh once you get to the other end and swap into your target asset,

7:28asset, it's just that. And yeah, to your point about wrapped assets, a big reason why we kind of need this today is just the cognitive load all of these different bridges are adding to, especially newcomers in the space. So, when you get to a decentralized exchange and you see 30 prefixes for USDC uh for different bridges and stuff, it's just unapproachable. Mhm. Um but for us,

7:56uh kind of the future we think is all tokens can be have this sort of omnichain property, where you can just transfer them as their base asset, Mhm. no matter what chain you're on. Mhm. Definitely. Yeah, I think that's a great approach. And you mentioned there about uh the EVM compatibility that you have, and also that you're trying to make a developer

8:21experience that makes it really easy to build on ZetaChain. Maybe you can talk about that, and how easy it is it Is it easy for developers that aren't in blockchain at all to come start building, or just those that are working on Ethereum and major protocols to to start moving their apps into ZetaChain? Yeah, so uh at the core of it, any person who's developing

8:48a dApp right now can make their dApp multichain pretty easily. All you really have to do is implement a send function, a receive function, and a cool bit is we support reverts built in. So, even with a cross-chain transaction, a lot of the time, the issue with some of the solutions right now is your transaction gets stuck. There's not really visibility on

9:14what's happening with that transaction, and that confuses users and developers. But for us, if something ends up not being able to be sent on the destination, assets can just be returned to the original address on the source. Um yeah, so very simple. Um and then you once we launch support for our omnichain smart contracts, you can do completely omnichain

9:38interactions from a single contract. So, uh you deploy a contract, and that is managing assets on a connected chain from a single place, rather than the development burden of having to deploy on every single chain and passing messages. So, kind of comes in two layers, and I think there applications that make more sense for the omnichain smart contract system

10:03versus passing between chains, but regardless, it's uh very seamless, and all of the like burden of passing the data and value is built into us, and we're working on some pretty good documentation, I think, that can kind of kickstart anyone, even if you don't have super like crazy experience developing on Ethereum or an existing uh crypto platform.

10:34That's great to know. And you mentioned there that upcoming launch uh to bring more functionality. I feel like with these layer one protocols, you know, there really never is an end. You're always continuing to build and upgrade and and patch vulnerabilities if there are any, or you know, watch the market and see where it's moving. Um can you talk about in this present day uh

10:54what is available at the state that ZetaChain is at for for the end users? Yeah, so um the core of it Sorry. Uh just got a call. Uh yeah, the core of it is available for users, and we're going to release more details on like our path to mainnet, but the core messaging, data, and value between chains is available on a devnet

11:25that we're working with a number of developers already uh on. And then, yeah, as we approach mainnet, that'll be available to users from day one. Mhm. Amazing. And is there any tentative schedule for that, whether it be in the coming months, or um anything planned? Yeah, so uh I can't give out specific dates, but yeah, within the coming months,

11:51uh you can expect some announcements on our Discord and Twitter about uh first testnet launch, and then mainnet, for sure. Amazing. Sounds great. Um and you mentioned uh a little bit about the developer experience, making it easy for developers to come on. Do you think the incentive of having this omnichain assets is enough to just drive developers to start wanting to

12:17build on ZetaChain, or are you also planning any other incentives, grants, marketing, things like that to to drive development into the protocol? Yeah, so first, I think if you talk to a lot of devs nowadays, or people building in crypto, the whole cross-chain problem is still a hair-on-fire problem. Um people trying to roll their own cross-chain solutions. Mhm. Uh

12:46It's very complex right now, and there's not a clear solution to do that, especially in a chain-agnostic way. Uh And so, like I I think that in itself is pretty attractive, because being able to go multi-chain with your application brings you access to unified liquidity, users, um a lot of things. But yeah, on the other side, uh yeah, we

13:15haven't announced anything yet, but yeah, definitely will be providing resources for developers, uh whether that's just technical resources, or grant programs, and things like that. Good to know. Love it. Um and I'm guessing you're also just watching, you know, the overall market and and and, you know, seeing pushes from major protocols to be like, "Hey, we should build omnichain

13:40channels. We should have a holistic experience, cuz obviously this problem is prevalent." How quickly do you see, you know, cryptocurrency as a whole, you know, in maybe in the next year, or maybe it'll take two years, before this problem is a non-issue, and nobody's talking about it, and all assets are able to speak to each other and transfer chains very

14:03easily? Yeah, I mean, I think that is is going to be a huge narrative this year and the following. I mean, we're planning on launching mainnet fairly soon, so uh hopefully once that's launched, a lot of the problems will be solved, and of course, it's going to be an ongoing thing, scaling it with developers, and um yeah, utility.

14:30But yeah, I I think next couple years, hopefully a lot of it will be solved with ZetaChain as kind of a one-stop shop for whatever you need. And then, yeah, I think beyond that, it's kind of like people want to replicate their existing applications on a multi-chain ecosystem. But I think especially with the omnichain smart

14:57contracts, uh and onboarding ambitious developers, we're going to start to see new applications that we haven't honestly haven't thought been able to imagine yet, because it's just not possible with technology right now. Mhm. Very exciting. And for people, not just developers, but also traders and and just speculators in cryptocurrency, they want to find out more about ZetaChain,

15:26follow along uh before the mainnet gets launched here, and and as it launches. What is the best way for them to stay up to date on on the news and information and the communities in ZetaChain? Yeah, so our two core communities are on Twitter and Discord. Um you can follow us at uh and our website is zetachain.com, and find those links. Um yeah, if you want to learn more and

15:51dig deeper, our white paper's on our website right now, and we'll be announcing more details on roadmap, then uh the release of developer docs, and testnet pretty soon on all channels. Awesome. Thank you so much, Brandon. I will leave zetachain.com uh links and the social links all in the description box below. All the best uh with everything ZetaChain and solving this uh

16:15multi-chain problem and cross-chain interoperability. Uh we all need it in the cryptocurrency world, and the world needs it. Um so, thank you for working on this. All the best with everything leading up to the mainnet launch, and let's definitely follow up in the near future. Awesome. Thank you, Ashton.