Union is a modular interoperability layer that is adding support for Arbitrum, bridging its ecosystem with IBC-enabled chains and other networks Union is integrating with including Polygon, Scroll, and Movement. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Union co-founder Emir Beriker to learn more about the company.
Emir Beriker’s Background
What is Emir Beriker’s background? Beriker said:
“I studied engineering at Queen’s University in Canada and obtained my Master’s in Engineering Management at Dartmouth. After graduation, I became a consultant in the Bay Area, advising companies like Stripe, Shopify, and Workday on monetization strategies, specifically on generating revenue from their innovations. This led to my first blockchain role at Consensys in 2019. Joe Lubin and the management team brought me into the strategic finance team to develop sustainable revenue models for Metamask, Infura, Quorum, and Truffle, contributing to Consensys’ $7 billion valuation by 2022. In 2023, I joined Union as a Co-Founder and Head of Strategy, overseeing business development, go-to-market and investor relations.”
Formation Of Union
How did the idea for Union come together? Beriker shared:
“The idea of Union stems from the sovereignty ethos. Throughout our lives, we have all encountered various forms of censorship and risks imposed by governments and centralized entities. The only steadfast promise is a decentralized system built from the ground up, governed by a DAO, and free from reliance on multi-signature controls.”
“To realize this vision, Union has meticulously designed an interoperability protocol that is capable of connecting thousands of chains in a trust-minimized architecture. Our protocol is designed for the decades ahead – it is resilient against hacks and takedowns of any form. By leveraging ZK proofs, we also deliver fast and cost-effective interoperability, providing superior bridging performance compared to traditional interoperability solutions – a benefit that, while not initially our primary focus, has proven to be a significant competitive advantage.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Beriker’s favorite memory working for the company so far? Beriker reflected:
“One aspect of Union that makes every day better than before is its people and culture. Each member of our team is empowered from Day 1 to come up with ideas, challenge each other and have ownership in various different projects. Everybody feels a sense of ownership in Union’s success and helps each other in every way possible. Our collaborative nature became so contagious in the modular ecosystem that all the big L1s, L2s are now reaching out to us to make us their interop partner.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Beriker explained:
“At the core of Union’s technology is our approach to modular interoperability. We leverage ZK proofs, or ZKPs, which are mathematical and indisputable proofs of correctness, for cross-chain state transitions. These proofs are generated by a network of solvers, ensuring a reliable and secure system.”
“With ZKPs, any chain or end user can securely verify a blockchain’s state across ecosystems using Union light clients or other proof aggregators. This verification process adds an extra layer of security and trust. Every new chain that gets a Union light client can verify the ZKPs of all chains integrated to our network. As a result, developers can access protocols on different chains using any standard, offering a flexible and robust solution for cross-chain interoperability.”
“Here are some use cases for Union’s technology:
1.) Message Passing: Securely transmit messages between chains to enable applications like decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and lending protocols to work together.
2.) Asset Transfers: Facilitate the cross-chain transfer of fungible assets, such as native assets or staked derivatives, between any chain integrated with the Union network.
3.) Cross-chain NFTs: Transfer NFTs between chains by ensuring efficient mapping and encoding of NFT data across different standards (e.g., ERC-721, ICS-72)
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Beriker and the team face in building the company? Beriker acknowledged:
“Security concerns have been and continue to be top of mind in the blockchain industry, notably with bridges. Given assets pass through bridges to go from one chain to another, they represent a prime target for hackers, putting projects and users at risk. Union, which functions as a cross-chain bridge, overcame this challenge by leveraging ZKPs, described above, which remove the reliance on third parties for verifying and approving transactions—which are in large part the reasons hacks occur in the first place. In other words, ZKPs enable Union to eliminate additional risk and avoid unnecessary trust assumptions. This approach ensures that data sharing and computations are handled securely, protecting user privacy and safeguarding against potential hacks or vulnerabilities without exposing sensitive information, all while providing seamless transfers.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Beriker cited:
“Since we announced our $4 million in seed funding back in November, we’ve had steady momentum of integrations and collaborations with some of the largest ecosystems, enabling us to do what we set out to do: create a more interoperable Web3 while enabling projects to maintain true sovereignty. Most recently, we announced integrations with Arbitrum, the top Ethereum Layer 2 by TVL (total value locked), and prior to that with Berachain, allowing Union to unlock the potential of BTC and enhance liquidity and DeFi yield opportunities across the modular ecosystem.”
“Additionally, we’re integrating with the AggLayer to facilitate liquidity flow between the Polygon and Cosmos ecosystems, two of the largest in the industry. A couple of additional major milestones include Union’s partnership with Noble and Movement Labs to reinforce native asset transfer on the Celestia ecosystem, and with NFT marketplace Stargaze to enable the transfer of blue-chip Ethereum NFTs to the Cosmos ecosystem.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Beriker about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Since announcing our testnet on June 27th, we’ve experienced overwhelming demand from our community. In the first three weeks after testnet was announced, Union reached 130k users, and enabled 600k packets. We’ve received hundreds of applications for our community ambassador program, a testament to the passionate community we’ve fostered. You can find more information about our metrics and developments here.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Beriker affirmed:
“Union has developed the first ZK-powered consensus mechanism, which is the system that validates the state of transactions on a blockchain. This enables Union to facilitate interchain message passing in a highly secure, reliable, and efficient manner, which is key to the success of the modular era. Further, Union’s technology is designed to be nation-state resistant, meaning it will continue to run even if the team behind it were to disappear, which empowers other projects with true sovereignty. However, while we do differentiate ourselves from others, at Union, we view other ecosystems and projects not as competitors but as collaborators. Together, we’re stronger. We believe in the power of unity and welcome the innovation brought by other companies in the interoperability space. This collaborative approach helps us collectively enhance security and prevent hacks as well.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Beriker concluded:
“Long term, we want Union to be the all-encompassing, standard protocol that other companies can leverage. Similar to how Cloudflare is providing tailored services of open source protocols, we want Union to become the Cloudflare of bridging that provides the transport layer to all protocols. We want users to send assets between any chain without relying on permissioned third parties, at near-instant speeds.”
