Union Labs, the modular interoperability layer, has added support for Arbitrum, the leading L2 ecosystem by TVL, to connect Arbitrum Orbit chains with IBC-enabled blockchains, as well as other networks integrating with Union such as Polygon, Scroll, and Movement. Arbitrum Orbit chains are L2 or L3 chains connecting to other chains such as Arbitrum One and Ethereum, meaning this integration will unlock unprecedented liquidity flow between IBC and the Arbitrum ecosystem.
Beyond promoting greater liquidity and bringing modular interoperability to the Arbitrum ecosystem, the integration will see the reduction of the latency in optimistic cross-chain operations while maintaining the security and integrity of transactions in and out of the Arbitrum ecosystem. Through this integration, assets and their staked derivatives will be bridged more efficiently.
“The integration between Union and the Arbitrum extends beyond a physical integration; it is a testament to both projects’ commitment to addressing the siloed nature of blockchains while upholding sovereignty,” said Karel Kubat, Founder of Union Labs. “A secure link between Orbit chains and the rest of Web3 will greatly benefit developers building DeFi, social, gaming, and privacy applications.”
Access to Union’s zero-knowledge proofs for IBC packets will benefit rollups within the Arbitrum ecosystem by facilitating greater liquidity flow and fast, trustless, and cost-efficient cross-chain interoperability. All chains integrated into Union will also benefit from the technical innovation brewing in the Orbit Rollup ecosystem and more seamlessly access the applications within it.
As part of the Union and Arbitrum communities’ efforts to reduce the inherent latency in optimistic cross-chain operations, the research teams will explore a pre-confirmation mechanism that allows certain operations to proceed under provisional trust before finality is achieved. The integration will utilize rate-limiting and economic guarantees (e.g., slashing conditions for malicious behavior) to balance speed with security.
“The modular era has arrived and with it an increased need for scalable, trustless, and secure interoperability, which Union is leading the charge in,” said Ed Felten, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Offchain Labs. “Thanks to this integration, existing chains in our network and developers looking to build on Orbit chains will benefit from enhanced modular connectivity with many of the largest blockchain ecosystems, in turn having a major impact on the DeFi, NFT, gaming, and other applications in Web3.”
Union recently joined forces with Berachain to enhance liquidity flow across the modular tech stack, supporting the utility of native assets within the Arbitrum Orbit ecosystem and reducing liquidity and user fragmentation throughout the entire rollup ecosystem. This news from Union follows several other notable integrations with large and up-and-coming ecosystems including the Polygon AggLayer, Scroll, Noble, Movement, and Celestia. These integrations represent important milestones in Union’s efforts to usher in the horizontally-scaled future. Relevant updates on the integration, as well as Union’s upcoming mainnet launch, will be shared in Union’s Discord channel.