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The current landscape of multi-chain blockchain applications is highly fragmented, with various blockchains operating independently, each promoting its ecosystem in isolation. While this decentralized growth model has fueled innovation, it poses a significant barrier to mass adoption. A fragmented ecosystem limits user experience, reduces liquidity efficiency, and hinders the potential for truly decentralized applications (dApps) to scale globally. Recognizing these challenges, many protocols and emerging dApps are now transitioning to a multi-chain strategy. However, going multi-chain alone is not enough to address the broader fragmentation.

To fully unlock the potential of blockchain ecosystems, a unified state across chains where data is easily accessible and actionable globally must be realized. Achieving this level of interoperability would enable dApps to tap into seamless liquidity, user experiences, and cross-chain functionalities. But how is this even possible?

What if I told you that accessing on-demand, attested, and verified data from multiple chains in near real-time is not only feasible but also quite simple? This is precisely where Wormhole queries come into play. By leveraging Wormhole’s cross-chain messaging capabilities, developers can access verified data across different chains almost instantly, enabling a unified game state, token economies, and cross-chain interactions. This approach transforms the fragmented Web3 landscape into a cohesive, interconnected system, paving the way for scalable, multi-chain applications.

Queries Overview

The diagram above shows the operational flow for queries. Let’s discuss the above diagram in simple steps below.

1. User Action

The process begins when a user initiates an action on Blockchain A that requires data from a different blockchain, such as retrieving token balances, and game states, or executing a transaction involving multiple chains.

This action triggers the need for a cross-chain query to fetch specific data that resides on other blockchains.

2. Packaging Query

Once the user initiates the action, the web application utilizes the Cross-Chain Query (CCQ) SDK to package the request.

• The query contains data like target chain IDs of blockchains where data resides, contract addresses corresponding to each blockchain, and the response of eth_call from each target blockchain.

3. Query Sent to Guardian Gossip Network

The packaged query is then sent from the application to Wormhole’s Guardian Gossip Network.

• The gossip network consists of 19 independent guardians, each operating full nodes on different chains.

• The query is propagated throughout the network, where it will be independently verified by each node.

• The query circulates within the gossip network until a minimum of 13 out of 19 guardians are ready to respond, ensuring enough consensus is reached before proceeding.

4. Query Verification and Signing by Guardian Nodes

Each guardian node verifies the query independently by performing the required eth_call on the target blockchains to retrieve the requested data.

• After validating the data, each guardian node signs the response to ensure it is authentic and has not been tampered with for each blockchain.

• The nodes then forward their signed responses back to the application. This decentralized process provides security by verifying data through multiple independent sources.

5. Response Received Back at Application

The application receives the response from the guardian nodes which needs to be submitted back to Blockchain A.

• The response includes both the data bytes (the actual data fetched from the blockchain) and the guardian signatures for each target blockchain.

• The signatures play a crucial role in ensuring that the fetched data is trusted and validated by a quorum of independent nodes.

6. Submission of Response Data with Other Parameters

With the response data and signatures now in hand, the user is prompted to approve the action, which includes submitting the query response to a function call on blockchain A.

• The response data from the query, along with other parameters required by the function, are included in the transaction.

• This is typically done via a wallet interaction where the user signs the transaction, completing the interaction.

7. On-Chain Signature Verification and Response Parsing

After the user submits the transaction, the smart contract on Blockchain A verifies the signatures.

• The contract calls the Wormhole Core Bridge to check the authenticity of the guardian signatures.

• If the signatures are valid, the contract uses the QueryResponse library to parse the data.

• Finally, the contract runs its internal logic to verify that the data matches expectations, and the transaction is executed based on the data received from the cross-chain query results.

Where can one utilize Wormhole queries?

Wormhole queries have diverse applications that enhance the functionality of cross-chain and multi-chain decentralized applications (dApps). Here are four key use cases where Wormhole queries can make a significant impact:

1. Cross-Chain/Multi-Chain Liquidity Management

Managing liquidity across multiple chains can be complex, but Wormhole queries simplify the process by fetching real-time liquidity data from various blockchains. This enables protocols to dynamically adjust liquidity pools, lending strategies, or staking mechanisms based on real-time conditions across different networks. Cross-chain liquidity insights help projects avoid fragmentation and optimize returns for users, ensuring smooth and efficient DeFi operations.

2. Unified In-App Assets Across Chains

In multi-chain applications, especially games or marketplaces, ensuring that users have a unified experience with their assets across chains is critical. Wormhole queries can verify the ownership and availability of in-game assets, NFTs, or tokens across different blockchains. This prevents duplicate asset ownership, maintains rarity, and ensures that users can use their assets seamlessly, no matter which chain they are interacting with.

3. Interoperable Governance

Wormhole queries enable decentralized governance systems to operate efficiently across chains. By synchronizing voting results, proposals, or governance tokens, cross-chain DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) can ensure consistency in decision-making across different networks. This cross-chain governance creates a unified experience for users, allowing them to participate seamlessly in governance activities, regardless of the blockchain they are on.

4. Cross-Chain State Sharing in Multi-Chain dApps

For dApps that operate across multiple blockchains, sharing state information between chains is crucial for maintaining a cohesive user experience. Wormhole queries facilitate near real-time cross-chain state sharing, allowing dApps to synchronize important information such as token balances, game states, or user interactions across chains. This allows multi-chain dApps to function as a unified system, enhancing scalability and user engagement.

Benefits

Easy to implement

1. Wormhole provides a developer-friendly SDK that abstracts much of the complexity of handling cross-chain queries.

2. With pre-built libraries and comprehensive documentation, developers can quickly integrate Wormhole into their dApps without needing to master the underlying cryptographic principles or cross-chain communication protocols.

Fast execution time [nearly real-time]

1. Unlike many traditional cross-chain messaging protocols, Wormhole queries offer near real-time access to data. The Guardian Gossip Network operates efficiently to ensure data is fetched, verified, and signed swiftly, enabling a smooth user experience.

2. In cases where quick decisions or updates are needed, like in cross-chain gaming or DeFi applications, this fast response time is a significant advantage.

Cost-effective

1. Wormhole queries are designed to be efficient not just in terms of speed but also cost. By using a decentralized network of guardians, developers can perform cross-chain queries at a fraction of the cost compared to other cross-chain solutions like state relayers or bridge networks that involve higher operational overhead and gas costs.

Rapid querying

1. Wormhole enables applications to send and process multiple queries simultaneously, fetching data from different blockchains in parallel. This reduces the overall query time by eliminating the need for sequential requests to each chain.

2. In multi-chain applications like Bakeland, where data from multiple chains is needed in real-time, this ability to perform concurrent cross-chain queries ensures faster and more efficient data retrieval, greatly improving the user experience.

Secure

1. The decentralized nature of Wormhole’s guardian nodes adds a strong layer of security. Each query is verified by a minimum threshold of 13 independent nodes, ensuring that the data being accessed is accurate and trustworthy.

2. This multi-signature model prevents single points of failure and adds confidence that the data being used is tamper-proof.

Conclusion

In the current fragmented multi-chain landscape, Wormhole queries offer a powerful solution to the inherent challenges of cross-chain interoperability. By allowing applications to access verified, attested, and nearly real-time data from multiple chains, Wormhole transforms decentralized applications into truly multi-chain platforms.

With its ease of implementation, speed, cost-efficiency, and robust security features, Wormhole queries pave the way for the future of scalable, interconnected blockchain applications. This paradigm shift promises to unlock the full potential of decentralized finance, gaming, and more, bringing us closer to the vision of a unified Web3 ecosystem.