- Gnosis has unveiled a tool to secure cross-chain bridges
- Dubbed Hashi, it requires multiple bridges to validate a transaction when moving assets between blockchains
- The tool oversteps the input of governance teams when there’s no issue validating a transaction
Gnosis has unveiled a new tool to increase the security of cross-chain bridges when moving assets across blockchains. Dubbed Hashi, the tool requires multiple bridges to agree on a transaction before it can be marked as valid, only involving the governance team when bridges fail to agree. The tool comes at a time when malicious actors in the crypto space are exploiting weaknesses in inter-blockchain links to steal millions of user funds.
Redundancy is a Reliable Standard
According to Gnosis, the numerous security risks faced by bridges can be reduced significantly by introducing redundancy during the withdrawal process. Gnosis co-founder Martin Köppelmann noted that the new tool will provide “a reliable standard for the inter-Ethereum Protocol.”
Hashi 橋 is out! 🤓🦉
Hashi is an EVM Header Oracle Aggregator, designed to facilitate a principled approach to cross-chain bridge security.
The primary insight being that the vast majority of bridge-related security incidents could have had minimal impact if the systems… https://t.co/yCFIwz17Je
— Gnosis Chain 🦉 (@gnosischain) March 6, 2023
Cross-chain projects such as Succinct Labs, Wormhole, Celer and Axiom have already expressed interest in using Hashi. Some like Wormhole are likely to embrace the new tool with open arms since they have suffered the effects of a cross-chain bridge exploit that saw its users lose roughly $320 million.
Succinct founder commented on the development saying that Hashi perfectly fits into their vision of building “decentralized and secure bridging.” Apart from securing inter-blockchain links, the new tool will also support developers seeking to create end-to-end apps on top of Hashi.
Choosing Security Over Speed
According to details on Github, the tool’s functioning “comes with a higher gas cost” and the transaction confirmation speed depends on the “slowest” bridge on the list. However, trading off speed for security is seen as a worthy move compared to risking millions of dollars of user funds.
With hackers stealing over $2 billion in the last two years from the likes of Ronin Network and Mango Markets, Hashi will bring the much-needed solution to solving the vulnerability of blockchain bridges.
