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{"id":3392,"date":"2022-04-11T14:52:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T14:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/04\/11\/explaining-cryptos-billion-dollar-bridge-problem\/"},"modified":"2022-04-11T14:52:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T14:52:21","slug":"explaining-cryptos-billion-dollar-bridge-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/04\/11\/explaining-cryptos-billion-dollar-bridge-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining crypto\u2019s billion-dollar bridge problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/23017107\/crypto-billion-dollar-bridge-hack-decentralized-finance<\/a>
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On March 23rd, the Ronin blockchain network underlying the popular NFT-driven game Axie Infinity<\/em> was hit with a hack that saw the attackers walk away with an eye-popping $625 million in cryptocurrency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Ronin hack was the largest amount of money that had ever been stolen from the type of service called a \u201cbridge,\u201d which connects one blockchain to another so that value can be sent between them. Unfortunately, it was far from the only hack to hit a bridge: less than two months previously, another bridge platform called Wormhole was exploited for close to $325 million<\/a>, and about six months before that, more than $600 million was stolen from another cross-chain bridge called Poly. (In a surprising twist, the hacker later returned Poly\u2019s stolen funds<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

In short, bridges are the weak point in a lot of cryptocurrency systems, and hackers are targeting them for more than $1 billion in little over a year<\/a>. So it\u2019s worth laying out exactly what they are, why they\u2019re important, and how crypto companies can try to plug the billion-dollar hole in their pockets.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have time to read further, the short answer to the first part is \u201cyes, they\u2019re vulnerable but maybe less so over time.\u201d For the second part, the story is more complex.<\/p>\n

(We\u2019re assuming you know what a blockchain is already; if not, you can start here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

So what is a \u201cblockchain bridge\u201d?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Essentially, it\u2019s a system for connecting different blockchains, allowing users to exchange one kind of coin or token for another. Every cryptocurrency runs on its own blockchain: there\u2019s Bitcoin, Ethereum, and newer currencies like Tether, Ripple, Solana, and so on. There\u2019s no simple way for these different blockchains to interact \u2014 they might all use the concept of \u201caddresses\u201d to send and receive currency transactions, but you can\u2019t send ETH directly to a Solana address.<\/p>\n

A blockchain bridge is what developers have built to make that crossover a little smoother. If you\u2019re holding ETH and you need Solana\u2019s SOL to sign up for a game, you can send your ETH into a bridge, get SOL in return, and use the same method to convert back when you\u2019re done playing.<\/p>\n

Why are bridges particularly vulnerable to hacks?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The short answer is that they\u2019re handling a lot of complex requests and holding a lot of currency \u2014 and unlike the blockchains themselves, there\u2019s no standard for how they\u2019re supposed to keep everything secure. <\/p>\n

Picture a blockchain bridge as an actual bridge between two islands. Each island has different rules about the type of car you can drive (maybe there\u2019s an EV island and a regular gas island), so they won\u2019t let you drive your car from one side to the other directly. In fact, you drive up to one side of the bridge, leave your vehicle in a parking garage, walk across, and pick up a rental car on the other side. Then, when you\u2019re done driving around the other island, you bring your rental back to the bridge, walk across, and they hand you the keys to your car.<\/p>\n

That means for every rental car driving around the island, there\u2019s another car parked in the garage. Some are stored for hours, others for days, others for months, but they\u2019re all just sitting there, and the company that operates the bridge has to keep them all safe. Meanwhile, other unscrupulous people know exactly how many cars are in the garage and are looking for ways to steal them.<\/p>\n

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