Behind the scenes of Wormhole: Guardian Network and the magic of VAA confirmations! ✨🛡️
The foundation of Wormhole's operation by July 2025 consists of a decentralized network of 19 validators, known as Guardians. Here’s how cross-chain transfer occurs:
Sending a message: A user or dApp on the source blockchain sends data (e.g., locked tokens) to the Wormhole smart contract.
Guardians observation: Each Guardian independently observes this event.
Confirmation (VAA): When a supermajority of Guardians (at least 13 out of 19) confirm the event, they sign the message, creating a Verifiable Action Approval (VAA) — a cryptographic proof of legitimacy.
Relaying (Relayers): Special nodes (relayers) take this VAA and send it to the Wormhole smart contract on the target blockchain.
Execution: The target smart contract verifies the VAA and executes the corresponding action (e.g., minting wrapped tokens). This architecture ensures the security and reliability of cross-chain communication.
