Interop Labs Joins Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust
'Open-source approaches will be essential in the next phase of blockchain development, and the Axelar community has shown a strong commitment to building an open-source stack,' said Sergey Gorbunov, CEO of Interop Labs and co-founder of Axelar Protocol. 'We at Interop Labs are proud to support the Linux Foundation and LF Decentralized Trust to advance transparency, reliability, security and efficiency in future iterations of the internet.'
Interop Labs is a systems and product development company dedicated to enabling an open, interconnected Web – and is the initial developer and a core contributor to the Axelar network, a leading blockchain interoperability protocol.
Recently, Interop Labs Head of Legal, Jason Rozovsky, presented to the LF Decentralized Trust community at a workshop meeting hosted by Kinexys by J.P. Morgan. The talk, 'Connection Without Custody: Axelar and Multichain Security,' focused on the security and compliance advantages inherent in open-source and noncustodial blockchain interoperability.
'Decentralization is the key attribute driving institutional interest in blockchain networks. From a business perspective, decentralization provides censorship-resistant asset storage and transfer, strengthening security,' Rozovsky said. 'From a policy perspective, decentralization ensures that infrastructure remains insulated from risks associated with centralized intermediaries. We at Interop Labs are looking forward to contributing to the Linux Foundation and LF Decentralized Trust from the perspective of a decentralized interoperability builder.'
Rozovsky and noted blockchain legal expert Lewis Rinaudo Cohen, partner at Cahill Gordon and co-chair of CahillNXT, co-authored a white paper on how decentralized blockchains can represent not a threat, but an opportunity and a paradigm shift for regulators. Download and read the white paper at axelar.network/new-regulatory-paradigm.
LF Decentralized Trust has gathered a global roster of leaders and major institutions in finance and technology: Mastercard, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Ripple, the Ethereum Foundation and several central banks – to name a few. Interop Labs joins this group at the forefront of defining the resilience and security of critical systems that will reshape markets and transform industries for a digital-first economy.
About Axelar
Axelar is the Web3 interoperability platform, delivering the shortest path to scale: an open stack to connect all blockchains. Adopters include Uniswap, Microsoft and dozens of natively multichain startups with a combined total value locked (TVL) that has crossed $1 billion. Axelar supports a best-in-class developer stack on a cross-chain layer that is open, scalable and secure. Backers include Binance, Coinbase, Dragonfly, Galaxy and Polychain. Learn more: axelar.network.
About Interop Labs
Interop Labs is a systems and product development company dedicated to enabling an open, interconnected Web. The company was founded in 2021 on the belief that open-source, heterogeneous, interconnected systems have the power to nurture innovation and creativity for the betterment of all humankind. Interop Labs builds, invests in and incubates innovative projects pushing the boundaries of blockchain interoperability, cryptography and machine learning – including as a core contributor to the Axelar network, a leading interoperability protocol. Learn more: interoplabs.io.
PR Director, Market Waves
SOURCE: Interop Labs
Copyright Business Wire 2025.
PUB: 03/18/2025 09:33 AM/DISC: 03/18/2025 09:32 AM
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
WordPress veterans launch FAIR project to tackle security and control concerns
The recent travails of WordPress have caused consternation among the web community that relies on the platform, which powers more than four in ten websites online today. Now, a coalition of prominent WordPress contributors and the Linux Foundation is unveiling a federated update and plugin-distribution network aimed at eliminating what they describe as a critical 'supply chain security' vulnerability at the core of the world's most widely used website system. Supersonic air travel gets green light in U.S. after 50-year ban lifted Why you're catching the 'ick' so easily, according to science How to Watch George Clooney's Broadway play 'Good Night, and Good Luck' live for free The FAIR Package Manager project, to be announced at a conference in Switzerland later today, enables web-hosting companies and large organizations to run their own mirrors of WordPress's core update, plugin, theme, and translation servers. This setup would replace reliance on domain controlled by Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg. Supporters say the new system will strengthen security, reduce costs, and open new commercial opportunities for software that millions depend on for web hosting. The project emerged earlier this year in response to controversial moves by Mullenweg. In September, he cut off access to WP Engine—a popular WordPress hosting provider—accusing it of extracting hundreds of millions of dollars in value from the open-source platform without adequate contributions in return. He also alleged that the company breached WordPress trademarks, creating confusion. Amid the fallout, around 150 employees exited Automattic after Mullenweg offered buyouts to those who disagreed with his handling of the situation. 'In October, when Automattic took over the slug of WP Engine's product within the ecosystem, we received phone calls from the chief legal counsels of some of our clients—these are large corporations—saying, 'this is a supply chain security issue,'' says Karim Marucchi, CEO of enterprise agency Crowd Favorite and one of the project's initiators. Around the same time, Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast SEO, was attempting to communicate with Mullenweg. While de Valk shared the view that more equitable contributions to WordPress were needed, he disagreed with Mullenweg's methods. 'We stopped talking pretty much after that, because I didn't agree with him,' de Valk says. One central concern is that every WordPress site depends on for updates and extensions. 'When we started looking at this, we realized there's a lot of things in this whole ecosystem that we don't control,' de Valk says. 'One of the things that everybody's eyes were opened on was that was, in fact, not part of the WordPress Foundation, but owned by Matt privately, and that he used it as his private website in many ways.' WordPress executive director Mary Hubbard notes that users have always had control over how their sites are updated and where updates originate—flexibility that has existed since WordPress's early days. 'The beauty of WordPress and open source is that people have complete control to run it how they please and modify how it works,' she tells Fast Company. The FAIR system offers an alternative that remains fully compatible with WordPress but operates independently from 'It's still all WordPress,' says de Valk. 'It's just a different distribution.' Rather than forking WordPress, FAIR provides server components that anyone can run. Over 100 contributors from more than 10 organizations have been involved in building it over the past six months, according to Marucchi. The group has asked the Linux Foundation to provide neutral oversight. Hubbard pointed out that some large hosts like Newfold/Bluehost have implemented custom mirrors in the past, and emphasized that WordPress's update system has always allowed users to modify where their updates come from. 'The important thing is that users know where their updates are coming from and have a choice to change it, regardless of their host,' she says. 'WordPress is a critical piece of infrastructure for communication and for organizations that rely on it for their website, for content management, for blogs and media,' says Mike Dolan, SVP of legal and strategic programs at the Linux Foundation. 'And in order to sustain something like that, you need to have a reliable backend behind it.' To avoid centralization, the Linux Foundation has created a technical steering committee cochaired by long-time WordPress leaders Carrie Dils, Mika Epstein, and Ryan McCue. McCue, the architect of the WordPress REST API, called FAIR 'a platform to power the next decades of WordPress,' and noted that the community had 'fractured' and needed to be brought back together. Dolan echoed the sentiment. 'I think the interesting part about this is the organic nature of this,' he says. 'This is something that is coming out of the community. It's people who have lifelong and career-long engagement in the WordPress community who are saying we need to go and build this, and they want to work on it together.' Jory Burson, VP of standards at the Linux Foundation and a participant in the project, hopes it will lead to a 'reintroduction and reenergization of the community.' She adds that morale is currently low. 'I think this is going to be very exciting for people, and hopefully move some folks past this negativity and drama. We want to get people focused on the very positive future that we think WordPress still has.' Although FAIR was created out of frustration with Automattic's control over its backers insist it's not a competing fork. 'When we get up on stage on Friday, literally the words that are going to come out of our mouth are: 'We're offering this code to Automattic, WP Engine, GoDaddy, Newfold—everyone,'' says Marucchi. If widely adopted, the network could allow developers to ship both free and premium versions of plugins in a single signed package—something currently prohibited by the official WordPress repository. 'That opens up innovation,' de Valk says, 'making it easier to build businesses around plugins and to provide good user experiences.' Still, Hubbard emphasizes that fragmentation of WordPress's core infrastructure could create more problems than it solves—disrupting update processes, inflating server loads, and breaking plugin telemetry used for ensuring compatibility. 'If this work leads to improvements like signed updates or better fallback systems, we're open to that,' she says. 'But it has to be done with the same long-term care that got us here.' The FAIR repository is already live on GitHub and accepting contributions. Whether Automattic will participate remains uncertain; regardless, the project team plans to move forward. 'You're dealing with a community that has had some trust challenges in the past, and they're looking for stability,' says Dolan. 'They're looking for neutrality. They have business that they want to get done.' This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Fast Company
WordPress veterans launch FAIR project to tackle security and control concerns
The recent travails of WordPress have caused consternation among the web community that relies on the platform, which powers more than four in ten websites online today. Now, a coalition of prominent WordPress contributors and the Linux Foundation is unveiling a federated update and plugin-distribution network aimed at eliminating what they describe as a critical 'supply chain security' vulnerability at the core of the world's most widely used website system. The FAIR Package Manager project, to be announced at a conference in Switzerland later today, enables web-hosting companies and large organizations to run their own mirrors of WordPress's core update, plugin, theme, and translation servers. This setup would replace reliance on domain controlled by Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg. Supporters say the new system will strengthen security, reduce costs, and open new commercial opportunities for software that millions depend on for web hosting. The project emerged earlier this year in response to controversial moves by Mullenweg. In September, he cut off access to WP Engine—a popular WordPress hosting provider—accusing it of extracting hundreds of millions of dollars in value from the open-source platform without adequate contributions in return. He also alleged that the company breached WordPress trademarks, creating confusion. Amid the fallout, around 150 employees exited Automattic after Mullenweg offered buyouts to those who disagreed with his handling of the situation. 'In October, when Automattic took over the slug of WP Engine's product within the ecosystem, we received phone calls from the chief legal counsels of some of our clients—these are large corporations—saying, 'this is a supply chain security issue,'' says Karim Marucchi, CEO of enterprise agency Crowd Favorite and one of the project's initiators. Around the same time, Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast SEO, was attempting to communicate with Mullenweg. While de Valk shared the view that more equitable contributions to WordPress were needed, he disagreed with Mullenweg's methods. 'We stopped talking pretty much after that, because I didn't agree with him,' de Valk says. One central concern is that every WordPress site depends on for updates and extensions. 'When we started looking at this, we realized there's a lot of things in this whole ecosystem that we don't control,' de Valk says. 'One of the things that everybody's eyes were opened on was that was, in fact, not part of the WordPress Foundation, but owned by Matt privately, and that he used it as his private website in many ways.' WordPress executive director Mary Hubbard notes that users have always had control over how their sites are updated and where updates originate—flexibility that has existed since WordPress's early days. 'The beauty of WordPress and open source is that people have complete control to run it how they please and modify how it works,' she tells Fast Company. The FAIR system offers an alternative that remains fully compatible with WordPress but operates independently from 'It's still all WordPress,' says de Valk. 'It's just a different distribution.' Rather than forking WordPress, FAIR provides server components that anyone can run. Over 100 contributors from more than 10 organizations have been involved in building it over the past six months, according to Marucchi. The group has asked the Linux Foundation to provide neutral oversight. Hubbard pointed out that some large hosts like Newfold/Bluehost have implemented custom mirrors in the past, and emphasized that WordPress's update system has always allowed users to modify where their updates come from. 'The important thing is that users know where their updates are coming from and have a choice to change it, regardless of their host,' she says. 'WordPress is a critical piece of infrastructure for communication and for organizations that rely on it for their website, for content management, for blogs and media,' says Mike Dolan, SVP of legal and strategic programs at the Linux Foundation. 'And in order to sustain something like that, you need to have a reliable backend behind it.' To avoid centralization, the Linux Foundation has created a technical steering committee cochaired by long-time WordPress leaders Carrie Dils, Mika Epstein, and Ryan McCue. McCue, the architect of the WordPress REST API, called FAIR 'a platform to power the next decades of WordPress,' and noted that the community had 'fractured' and needed to be brought back together. Dolan echoed the sentiment. 'I think the interesting part about this is the organic nature of this,' he says. 'This is something that is coming out of the community. It's people who have lifelong and career-long engagement in the WordPress community who are saying we need to go and build this, and they want to work on it together.' Jory Burson, VP of standards at the Linux Foundation and a participant in the project, hopes it will lead to a 'reintroduction and reenergization of the community.' She adds that morale is currently low. 'I think this is going to be very exciting for people, and hopefully move some folks past this negativity and drama. We want to get people focused on the very positive future that we think WordPress still has.' Although FAIR was created out of frustration with Automattic's control over its backers insist it's not a competing fork. 'When we get up on stage on Friday, literally the words that are going to come out of our mouth are: 'We're offering this code to Automattic, WP Engine, GoDaddy, Newfold—everyone,'' says Marucchi. If widely adopted, the network could allow developers to ship both free and premium versions of plugins in a single signed package—something currently prohibited by the official WordPress repository. 'That opens up innovation,' de Valk says, 'making it easier to build businesses around plugins and to provide good user experiences.' Still, Hubbard emphasizes that fragmentation of WordPress's core infrastructure could create more problems than it solves—disrupting update processes, inflating server loads, and breaking plugin telemetry used for ensuring compatibility. 'If this work leads to improvements like signed updates or better fallback systems, we're open to that,' she says. 'But it has to be done with the same long-term care that got us here.' The FAIR repository is already live on GitHub and accepting contributions. Whether Automattic will participate remains uncertain; regardless, the project team plans to move forward. 'You're dealing with a community that has had some trust challenges in the past, and they're looking for stability,' says Dolan. 'They're looking for neutrality. They have business that they want to get done.'
Fast Company
4 days ago
- Fast Company
Is that website actually down? This essential web tool will tell you
Everyone's always talking about new tools, but some of the best tools are the classic ones—incredibly useful things that have been around for ages. These are the tools that have stood the test of time and are just as handy today as they were 20 years ago. They're also the kinds of things you won't hear about from most people or publications. And it's easy to see why: They're not the hot new thing. They're just quietly helpful for anyone in the know. So today, let's take a look at one of those web-wide classics. It's the ideal way to tell, in an instant, whether a website is actually down or not. I've used it for nearly two decades, and I still rely on it regularly. Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You'll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures! Is it down for everyone—or just for me? Sometimes, no matter what you do, a website just won't load. The question is obvious: Wait, is the website actually down for everyone? Or will it just not load for me for some reason? It's an important question to ask. Sometimes, the problem may very well be with your computer, phone, or internet connection. Other times, the website may indeed be completely down for everyone. And these days? It can even be somewhere in between: A website might go down only for people in your region but be accessible elsewhere at the same time. ➜ The way to get to the bottom of whatever's going on is with a simple little site called Down for Everyone or Just Me. To use it, just pull up the site in your browser of choice—on your phone, computer, or any other web-connected contraption. Then, plug in a website address—an address like or a social media service, the name of an app, or anything else that doesn't appear to be working right. You'll learn whether the website appears to be down for everyone—or just for you. And it's not only a one-way interaction, either: You can also report what you're seeing. And you can see what problems other people have reported recently, too. It really is that simple—no accounts, no paid subscriptions, and nothing but a few ads on a single page. It'll help you troubleshoot website connection problems in a snap, exactly as it has since the internet's early era.
