IEEE Standards for Blockchain Interoperability

Industry Initiatives

Overview

Initiative Name	C/BDL - Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers
Organization	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Type	Standard
Description	The goal is the development of standards within the area of blockchains and distributed ledgers interoperability, including crosschain transaction consistency, data authentication and communication etc.
Ecosystem	Agnostic
Public Participants	Ant Group/Ant Finance China Electronics Standardization Institute Wanxiang Blockchain Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., Ltd. Shanghai Development Center of Computer Software Technology Australian Trade and Investment Commission Singapore FinTech Association/Singapore Blockchain Association Webank co., ltd. Huawei Technologies Co. ,LTDi And others
Date Started
Status	Published
Link	https://sagroups.ieee.org/bdlsc/ and https://sagroups.ieee.org/3205/

The IEEE Standard for Blockchain Interoperability Data Authentication and Communication Protocol (IEEE 3205) was developed by the Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers Committee of the IEEE Computer Society and approved in 2023. It establishes common interfaces and protocols to enable secure and seamless exchange of assets, data, and smart contract messages across diverse blockchain networks.

In its current state, IEEE 3205 provides a broad conceptual framework spanning identity, proof and data protocols, communication mechanisms, and addressing schemes for blockchain interoperability. It provides core foundational implementable technical requirements. As such, it serves as an architectural blueprint and as a technical framework.

It is important to note that IEEE 3205 is a recent standard, and its adoption and real-world implementation experiences are yet to be fully realized. Ant Group is currently working on its open-source implementation of this standard.

Still, the standard's comprehensive scope and backing by the well-established IEEE community make it a valuable starting point for any organization exploring blockchain interoperability. As IEEE 3205 evolves to incorporate implementation experience and greater technical depth, it holds the potential to become the authoritative open standard in the domain.

Analysis

Scope and Purpose
Target Audience	Technologists, Researchers, Developers, Product Managers, and Regulatory Authorities,
Coverage	Functional architecture, and framework, identity protocol, proof transformation protocol, data protocol, communication protocol, addressing protocol for homogeneous and heterogeneous blockchain interoperability.
Technical Aspects
Architecture	Suggests a 5-layer architecture for handling various interoperability challenges.
Interoperability	Provides standards for message formats, trust anchors, and cryptographic proofs that abstract underlying blockchain differences.
Security Measures	This standard addresses the requirements for a secure authentication layer. It also specifies a set of 5 key security requirements.
Adoption and Implementation
Vendor-agnostic Reference Implementation	None
Current Adopters/Vendor Implementations	Ant Group: https://github.com/AntChainOpenLabs/AntChainBridgePluginSDK
Case Studies	None
Ease of Implementation	Provides architecture and protocols but lacks implementation specifics. Extensibility allows some customization.
Governance and Update Mechanism
Oversight Body	IEEE Blockchain Standards Committee
Update Mechanism	-
Strengths and Weaknesses
Advantages	Comprehensive nature, provides a good primer for understanding different facets of interoperability between homogeneous and heterogeneous blockchains.
Challenges	Might be seen as not detailed enough for practical implementation without supplemental guidance.
Compatibility and Integration
Inter-standard Compatibility	References other IEEE blockchain standards.
Extensibility	Modular architecture allows extensions.
Community and Support
Community Engagement	It seems that there are currently no active community engagement efforts. IEEE has a broad international community of experts and stakeholders. IEEE Standards are documents developed by volunteers with scientific, academic, and industry-based expertise in technical working groups. Volunteers are not necessarily members of IEEE or IEEE SA.
Support Channels	IEEE offers documentation, workshops, and seminars.
Future Roadmap
Next Step	Antg Group is currently developing AntChainBridge according to IEEE P3205 standard. The code will be open source in 2024 to expand the adoption of this standard.
Long-term Vision	Expand adoption in enterprise/consortium blockchain projects and integrate with mainstream systems.
Comparative Analysis
Comparative Analysis	Similar to the ISO Interoperability Framework, the IEEE 3205 provides a solid foundation and reference architecture to advance standardized blockchain interoperability. However, it requires real-world implementation, greater technical specificity, and community involvement.

Reviewer

Proposed reviewer: Shenglong Chen ([e-mail])

Review status: Reviewed. Approved.