Domains

A Valence Program is an instance of the Valence Protocol. A Valence program's execution can typically span multiple Blockchains. In the Valence Protocol, we refer to the various Blockchains that are supported as domains.

A Domain is an environment in which the components that form a program (more on these later) can be instantiated (deployed).

Domains are defined by three properties:

1. The Chain: the Blockchain's name e.g. Neutron, Osmosis, Ethereum mainnet.
2. The Execution environment: the environment under which programs (typically smart contracts) can be executed on that particular chain e.g. CosmWasm, EVM, SVM.
3. The type of Bridge used from the Main Domain to other domains e.g. Polytone over IBC, Hyperlane.

Within a particular ecosystem of Blockchains (e.g. Cosmos), the Valence Protocol usually defines one specific domain as the Main Domain, on which some supporting infrastructure components are deployed. Think of it as the home base supporting the execution and operations of a Valence programs. This will be further clarified in the Authorizations & Processors section.

Below is a simplified representation of a program transferring tokens from a given input account on the Neutron domain, a CosmWasm-enabled smart contract platform secured by the Cosmos Hub, to a specified output account on the Osmosis domain, a well-known DeFi platform in the Cosmos ecosystem.

---
title: Valence cross-domain program
---
graph LR
  IA((Input
      Account))
  OA((Output
		  Account))
  subgraph Neutron
  IA
  end
  subgraph Osmosis
  IA -- 4/Transfer tokens --> OA
  end