Blockchain technology is capable of opposing the flow. Its decentralization makes any exchange carried out on the blockchain platform more secure and transparent. But How do blockchain bridges work? and are blockchain bridges safe to work?
Because the working environment of different blockchains is often like a separate island, and all blockchains cannot interrupt each other nor share their data through networks in any convenient way syncolorizing these blocks is necessary for both cryptographic security and smooth communication only if that can be guaranteed.
This is why bridge technology (arbitrarily bridged) plays such a crucial role in connecting disconnected blockchain networks. The Essence of Bridges B Blockchain bridge is a protocol that links two or more blockchain ecologies to one network, and smoothens, and asset transfer, data exchange, and smart contracts between them through the agreement of use.
This technology is a solution to the problem of Blockchain Island. It lets various blockchains work together improving the scalability and utility for blockchains applications.
How Blockchain Bridges Work?
Understanding how blockchain bridges work can be realized by identifying their core components and fundamental mechanisms.
Lock and Mint Mechanism
One of the most critical working processes of blockchain bridges is the lock and mint mechanism. Here is how it looks step by step:
Locking Assets: If the user wants to transfer the assets from Blockchain A to Blockchain B, he shall first stack his assets within a smart contract on Blockchain A. This contract ensures the safe caging of one’s assets; at the same time, those assets become impossible to access for any other operations on the transferring blockchain.
Issue tokens: An equal amount of tokens is issued within the target blockchain while the assets are locked. These tokens are representative of the collateralized assets and can be put to use within the ecosystem of the target blockchain.
Redeem and Burn: If ever a user wants to redeem and get back their original asset, they just have to return those newly issued and burned tokens to the bridge. On this, it releases the locked asset into the user from Blockchain A back through the smart contract.
Validators and Relayers
Validators and relayers are critical agents in the operation of a Blockchain bridge:
Validators: These can be entities or nodes that validate and confirm transactions through the bridge. It guarantees full correctness of the locking, minting, and burning processes of the assets while also keeping the transfer ports of the locked assets secure and sound.
Relayers: They act as a forwarder between the blockchains, relaying back status information related to an asset locked or minting proof to the respective blockchain, enabling the continual free movement of assets and data.
Smart Contracts
These are self-execution contracts where the terms of the agreement are directly written into the code. About blockchain bridges, the intelligent contract automates locking, minting, and burning while ensuring that these happen with pinpoint precision and safety without the need for any middleman.
Understanding Blockchain Working With Example
A practical example is that Sanjoyita has her assets on Ethereum but she wants to try out Solana a lending and borrowing platform on Solana. So Sanjoyita will need to transfer her eath to Solana through a bridge so the bridge may lock the three eths on Ethereum and mint new ones that can run on Solana, so it can be seen the total number of circulating eats remains constant because while the three eats will still be on Ethereum they will be locked.
So the equivalent number of eats will be available for marine on Solana now after some time. If Sanjoyita wants her original eath back through the bridge she will burn her salon compatible each to release her locked ease, so now that you have the full picture of the whole process you’ll notice that the eth isn’t actually moving right rather it gets locked.
And you get access to a similar amount that is compatible with another chain now also while different bridges have similar functions what happens in the background might differ depending on the mechanism they use
Are Blockchain Bridges Safe?
The big question is whether the blockchain bridges are safe. it’s important to know that when it comes to crypto your capital may always be at risk and bridges.
They’re just no exception especially since successful attacks on blockchain bridges have become unfortunately a common occurrence, but let’s talk about the biggest cryptocurrency theft of all time that involves a raid on the Ronin network bridge which is an exchange that allows axey infinity.
Video game players to exchange their in-game tokens for other cryptocurrencies, so what happened was the attackers stole the private keys required to authenticate transactions and transferred assets worth 614 million. At the time to their own wallet, the second biggest heist which occurred in 2021 also involved a blockchain bridge where the attacker stole assets worth 611 million which he later returned.
And you’ll never guess the reason he gave for the successful hack he said that the hack was just for fun and he was just keeping the assets safe in his personal wallet well there are other multiple hacks as well so there is a clear problem here that needs to be addressed unfortunately but apart from the downsides blockchain bridges bring interoperability an important factor in driving blockchain technology forward so allowing different terms and blockchain protocols in the space to work together will fuel innovation.
