Towards an interoperable future

Connext and Counterfactual will natively interoperate

Version 2.0 of the Connext Network will be based on top of Counterfactual’s generalized state channel framework including its protocols, Node implementation and libraries. Connext will collaborate with the Counterfactual team to develop shared infrastructure for storing and sending state updates.

What this means: The Connext Network, and apps that use it, will by default be compatible with applications built on Counterfactual — and vice versa!

Why work together?

Connext is building an open source payment network using state channels. Counterfactual is an open source framework for generalized state channels that implements the core protocols into simple APIs for app and wallet developers.

While developing the specification for v2.0 of Connext’s protocols, the Connext team discovered that there were huge similarities between our work and the work being done by the Counterfactual team. To deduplicate efforts and benefit from shared network effects, we decided to collaborate to finish building base layer tooling and infrastructure.

Creating standards for contracts, validators, and P2P messaging lets us all ship better code more often.

Scaling Ethereum isn’t a zero-sum game, and it’s critical that teams work together to grow the Layer 2 ecosystem. Therefore, we believe standardization & shared infrastructure is key to ensure that wallets & Web3 browsers will support state channels in the near future.

In our view, it’s a win-win-win:

Development of Connext and Counterfactual can happen faster

Connext will benefit from the development of Counterfactual’s framework and Counterfactual will benefit from the growth of Connext’s network

A single wallet integration will support both Counterfactual & Connext applications

What should we expect to see in the next few months?

Connext will work with the Counterfactual team to ship a production-ready version of their Node.

Connext’s v2 of the Connext Hub and Client will use CF’s libraries.

The Counterfactual team will continue their work on core state channel protocols and wallet integrations.

The Connext team will continue their work on making payment hubs/nodes easy to run and routing payments between them.

Loose ends

If you have any questions for us or would like to discuss integrating instant payments into your dApp, please reach out in our Discord.