Packet forward middleware is only compatible with IBC classic, not IBC v2
What is Packet Forward Middleware?
Packet Forward Middleware enables multi-hop token transfers by forwarding IBC packets through intermediate chains, which may not be directly connected. It supports:- Path-Unwinding Functionality: Because the fungibility of tokens transferred between chains is determined by the path the tokens have travelled, i.e. the same token sent from chain A to chain B is not fungible with the same token sent from chain A, to chain C and then to chain B, packet forward middleware also enables routing tokens back through their source, before sending onto the final destination.
- Asynchronous Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements are only written to the origin chain after all forwarding steps succeed or fail, users only need to monitor the source chain for the result.
- Retry and Timeout Handling: The middleware can be configured to retry forwarding in the case that there was a timeout.
- Forwarding across multiple chains with nested memos: Instructions on which route to take to forward a packet across more than one chain can be set within a nested JSON with the memo field
- Configurable Fee Deduction on Recieve: Integrators of PFM can choose to deduct a percentage of tokens forwarded through their chain and distribute these tokens to the community pool.
How it works?
-
User initiates a
MsgTransferwith a memo JSON payload containing forwarding instructions. - Intermediate chains (with PFM enabled) parse the memo and forward the packet to the destination specified.
- Acknowledgements are passed back step-by-step to the origin chain after the final hop succeeds or fails, along the same path used for forwarding.
MsgTransfer to make this easy.