Since Bitcoin emerged in 2009, sparking a wave of innovation, the web3 industry has encountered numerous challenges. These include regulatory hurdles, improving user experience, and combating malicious actors. Blockchain engineers are particularly focused on overcoming two main obstacles: scalability and interoperability.

While various Layer 2 solutions aim to scale Layer 1 blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum by enhancing transaction throughput and reducing fees, protocols such as Union address both scalability and interoperability on a large scale.

The necessity for blockchain interoperability is underscored by the World Economic Forum's 2020 whitepaper, emphasizing that organizations prefer platforms that won't restrict future collaborations. Just as email services like Gmail and Yahoo seamlessly communicate, the internet's growth benefited from early consideration of interoperability, a principle crucial for blockchain evolution.

Cosmos stands out in the interoperability field with its Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, enabling sovereign chains to connect, transact, and swap tokens while maintaining independence. Currently, IBC facilitates transactions exceeding $2.1 billion across 91 interconnected zones over the past month alone, including Ethereum, Polygon, and Avalanche.

Union, supported by Composable Finance, Consensys, Tokensoft, and Polygon Labs, offers a permissionless bridging protocol. Unlike centralized solutions requiring trust in bridging providers, Union uses advanced zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography to connect modular blockchains and rollups securely and without third-party dependency.

Union recently partnered with Polygon Labs to integrate with Polygon's AggLayer, facilitating seamless asset transfers between Polygon and IBC-enabled chains like Cosmos. This collaboration exemplifies Union's role in enabling permissionless connectivity across diverse blockchain ecosystems.

Karel Kubat, Union's founder and former CTO at Composable Finance, highlights that Union's approach eliminates the need for centralized bridge providers, offering direct connections that support sovereignty and scalability. This capability extends to Ethereum and other upcoming ecosystems, democratizing access to blockchain interoperability.

Looking ahead, Union aims to complete its IBC to Polygon bridge by year-end, promising further advancements in decentralized connectivity across blockchain networks. Stay updated on Union's progress by following their latest developments on X.