What is Interlay? Detailed introduction of the Interlay . project

• Overview of what is Interlay project?
• What is Project Interlay?
• Highlights of the Interlay . project
• Guaranteed benefits of investors
• Interlay's products
• How it works, trades and withdraws on Interlay
• Scalability, safety and efficiency
• Vault - mortgage financial intermediary and no confirmation required
• Development roadmap
• Project team and investors
• Plans to integrate with other projects on Polkadot
• INTR . token overview
• What is INTR token?
• Details about INTR
• INTR . token allocation and release schedule
• Where can INTR tokens be bought and sold?
• Evaluate Interlay's potential and should invest in INTR tokens?
• summary

Overview of what is Interlay project?

What is Project Interlay?

The Interlay project is a "bridge" project linking Polkadot with the Bitcoin blockchain and bringing BTC to the Parachains on Polkadot. With the Polkadot network, Parachains can communicate seamlessly through trustless messaging (XCMP). 

To interact with external blockchains like Bitcoin, Polkadot needs to use bridging Parachains that provide two-way compatibility – BTC-Parachain for example. Here, when InterBTC is created on Polkadot, they become BTC-Parachain and inherit the security of the relay chain and the interoperability with other Parachains of DOT. 

The Interlay project helps users transact with their Bitcoin on Polkadot's decentralized platform. After the project is launched, investors can convert Bitcoin to InterBTC (PolkaBTC) at a ratio of 1:1 into Polkadot and use them on various applications and trading networks. 

Interlay also developed XCLAIM as a cross-chain platform for InterBTC with trustless, permissionless and censorship resistant features. It supports the security of InterBTC cryptocurrency and helps investors to use InterBTC like any crypto asset in the Polkadot ecosystem. This means they can be easily transacted and connected to Parachains and other applications.

What is Project Interlay?

Highlights of the Interlay . project

What makes the Interlay project unique is that it provides a highly secure decentralized financial conversion platform with scalability and trustless functionality. 

Extended Features : InterBTC has no central control and is run by a decentralized network of community members, companies, and individuals.

Trustless : Similar to Bitcoin, the Interlay project allows any investor to participate in the operation of this "bridge". Therefore, investors do not need to ask for permission or buy any additional tokens to participate.

Guaranteed benefits of investors 

As owners of InterBTC, investors also have guaranteed interests. In the event of Vault's misbehavior, investors will be refunded from the Vault's collateral. 

Besides, they will also be able to participate in a very profitable transaction between BTC and DOT (DOT is the foundation coin of the Polkadot network). At launch, the collateral for InterBTC holders was the DOT coin. In the medium and long term, this is considered a guaranteed benefit for investors because of the stability of the DOT. 

The bridge linking Polkadot with the Bitcoin blockchain has a high level of security. It requires a minimum of 6 steps of authentication and always encourages users to set even more security steps. Besides, Polkadot is also a long-standing platform with many outstanding projects. Therefore, the bridge of this Interlay project is assessed as safe.

Highlights of the Interlay . project

Interlay's products

Currently, Interlay is building infrastructures based on cross-chain technology and decentralized financial products, specifically:

InterBTC : Is a bridge linking Polkadot with the Bitcoin blockchain. Interlay partnered with Parity Technologies to develop this project. It is also sponsored by the Web3 Foundation. With the goal of being a "bridge" of BTC with the Polkadot ecosystem, InterBTC is considered a very potential project.

XOpts : A platform that allows users to have the option to buy or sell BTC through the XOpts smart contract (BTC value will be guaranteed by DAI). XOpts vision is to be a peer-to-peer project with Uniswap. XOpts also acts as a decentralized exchange, allowing cross-chain stablecoins and DeFi tokens to be traded without BTC. The project launched in Q1 2021 and is expected to expand to Polkadot by the end of 2021.

How it works, trades and withdraws on Interlay

XCLAIM consists of three main protocols, just like the lifecycle of InterBTC:

How it works : Users create InterBTC on a "bridge" that links Polkadot to the Bitcoin blockchain by locking BTC to the Vault and having the Vault's collateral.

Transaction : Investors can easily transfer InterBTC to other users or migrate to other Parachains in the Polkadot ecosystem.

Withdrawal : It is extremely convenient to exchange InterBTC for an equivalent amount of BTC from the Vault. InterBTC can exist on Polkadot indefinitely and can be withdrawn at any time. 

XCLAIM

Scalability, safety and efficiency

XCLAIM ensures users can exchange InterBTC for the corresponding amount of BTC or be refunded to DOT at any time. Overall, the Interlay project is safe and effective:

Financial security: The Interlay project is committed by collateral and through multiple authentication steps. Any fraud is easily detected and automatically prosecuted. Meanwhile, affected investors will be refunded.

No Authorization Required: Any trader can participate without asking for permission, without having to rely on others or use any special hardware.

Fast and efficient: XCLAIM works 95% faster than using classic HTLC when dealing with Bitcoin.

Vault – collateral and non-confirmed financial intermediary

A key component of BTC-Parachain is the Vault. Vaults are collateralized and trustless financial intermediaries that lock and secure BTC while InterBTC is still traded within the Polkadot ecosystem. Any user can become Vault by providing DOT collateral to secure BTC. This means: as a user, you are free to choose any Vault you like or be your own.

The way Vault works is tied to BTC-Parachain. Specifically, the Vault must demonstrate correct behavior with BTC-Relay – a Bitcoin SPV application deployed directly on Polkadot. If the Vault tries to steal BTC, this will be detected by BTC-Parachain: The Vault will lose the collateral and the user will be refunded (at a favorable rate).

Development roadmap

The Interlay project began development in early 2020 after receiving a grant from the Web3 Foundation – a technology management company for the decentralized web. This past July, the Interlay project closed a $3 million seed round and marked an important funding round in the blockchain industry. 

Currently, InterBTC is in the process of testing on Testnet. After the pilot project is successful, Interlay will auction Parachain on Polkadot at auction number 6 in Batch 2. The auction starts on December 23, 2021 and will end on December 30, 2021. If Interlay wins the Parachain slot, it will launch and officially work on Polkadot from March 11, 2022 to January 12, 2024.

Interlay project development roadmap

Project team and investors

Interlay project team 

Interlay was founded by PhDs from Imperial College London. Interlay team consists of researchers, engineers and lawyers with high expertise in blockchain, cryptocurrency, security, economic finance. 

The CEO & Co-founder of the Interlay project is Alexei Zamyatin – PhD at the Center for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering at Imperial College London (IC3RE). Alexei has 5 years of experience in cryptographic security and interoperability research.

The CTO & Co-founder of the project is Dominik Harz – a researcher at Imperial College London (IC3RE). Dominik also has over 5 years of experience in smart contract, blockchain and cryptocurrency research.

Interlay project team 

Project investors

Interlay project is invested by:

• Investors include: Blockchain.com Ventures, Launchub Ventures, CMS Holdings, KR1 plc, IOSG Ventures, Hypersphere, Zeeprime Capital and Web3 Foundation
• Angel investors include: Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu and Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith

Project investors

Plans to integrate with other projects on Polkadot

The Interlay team has started working with other project development teams on Polkadot to allow them early access to InterBTC, specifically:

• Acala and Interlay are working on different collateral use cases between Acala's aUSD stablecoin and InterBTC.
• Laminar is exploring to partner with the Interlay project which aims to provide liquidity using cross-chain technology to the Polkadot ecosystem.
• Plasm Network is looking to provide InterBTC for highly scalable DApps
• Equilibrium is planning to use InterBTC on decentralized currency markets using its Cross-chain technology.
• Edgeware partners with Interlay project to deliver WASM . smart contracts
• Moonbeam (developed by PureStake) is planning to use InterBTC in the future smart contract.
• Polkaswap is supporting InterBTC trading on its decentralized exchange.
• Chorus One is exploring how to provide InterBTC to the Cosmos SDK ecosystem through the Cosmos-Substrate IBC bridge.

INTR . token overview

What is INTR token?

INTR is the native token of the Interlay ecosystem and has several key functions as follows:

• Governance: INTR holders have the right to participate in voting on governance proposals and elect board members to make operational decisions.
• Utility: In the medium term, Interlay will support payment of transaction fees in INTR and other crypto assets, including DOT.

Details about INTR

• Ticker: INTR
• Blockchain Network: Polkadot
• Total Supply: Unlimited
• Circulating Supply: Updating

As above information, INTR will have unlimited supply and detailed emission schedule is determined as follows:

• 1,000,000,000 INTR issued in the first 4 years.
• After that, each year will inflation 2% and indefinitely.

INTR . token allocation and release schedule

INTR will be controlled by the community, so up to 70% of INTR tokens will be distributed to the community in the form of Airdrops and block rewards.

• 30% of INTR tokens as a reward for users who contribute to the Vault.
• 10% INTR tokens are used as rewards for the Crowdloan event.
• 25% of INTR tokens will be deposited into the on-chain treasury.
• 5% INTR token as a staking reward in the Stake-to-Vote section to participate in governance.

In particular, Interlay will have a vesting mechanism for Crowdloan participants as follows: 30% of INTR will be allocated to investors immediately after the transfer system is activated. The remaining INTR tokens will be allocated linearly throughout the parachain rental period (96 weeks).

For the Interlay team and early backers who funded the development of the protocol will receive 20% INTR tokens. Tokens will be locked for 48 weeks, then distributed linearly for 144 weeks.

The remaining amount of INTR tokens of 10% will be for the Foundation reserve. All of this INTR will be used to fund the development of the ecosystem and future development. Therefore, the token allocation time will not be specified.

Also, starting from year 5, the community will receive 100% of the newly mined INTR as part of the annual inflation (2%).

Allocate INTR tokens

Where can INTR tokens be bought and sold?

INTR will not be for public sale or ICO. It will be distributed to Interlay network participants, contributors and initial supporters in the form of Airdrops and block rewards.

Evaluate Interlay's potential and should invest in INTR tokens?

Parachain projects on Polkadot are now tasked with helping the platform deploy bridges to other blockchains. For example, Interlay will replace Polkadot in implementing a bridge to the Bitcoin blockchain through a product called InterBTC. 

This bridge will help BTC be present on any blockchain platform. Thereby, Interlay will help investors to fully exploit the profit-making potential of the coin with the largest market capitalization in the Crypto market. 

Up to now, Interlay is a rare project to develop a bridge to Bitcoin, while maintaining its decentralization.  

You may be interested : Learn about the types of bridges inside the Polkadot ecosystem .

In addition, InterBTC will be integrated with a simple, easy-to-use user interface. At the same time, InterBTC also has high security from the Interlay protocol. This gives users peace of mind when using this bridge to interact with other blockchains.

However, it is still quite early to give an answer to the question “should I invest in INTR tokens?”. Because Interlay is still a relatively new name for users, it takes time to experience and research thoroughly before making an investment decision.

Some official information channels of the project that investors can follow are:

Website | Telegram | Twitter | Medium | Discord

summary

InterBTC is not only a potential “bridge” between BTC and the Polkadot ecosystem, but also a way to bring BTC to Parachain on Polkadot. It inherits the features and security of DOT as well as the scalability to interact with other parachains on DOT. With the basic information about InterBTC and the above Interlay project, hopefully you have made your own judgment about the potential of the project, thereby making the right decision for future investment opportunities. 

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