Bitlayer Series (Twenty-Five): Security Challenges and Solutions of Cross-Chain Bridging
Bitlayer's cross-chain bridging allows Bitcoin assets to flow to other chains, but there are significant security challenges. For instance, hacker attacks or validation failures could lead to asset loss. The solution is to deeply integrate the BitVM bridge, using a recursive protocol to ensure transfers are rooted in Bitcoin consensus.
Challenge One: Trust Minimization. Traditional bridges rely on multi-signatures, which are vulnerable to attacks; Bitlayer employs the BitVM paradigm, where any fraud can be challenged, and operators are penalized. Hash signatures allow Bitcoin scripts to validate any message, avoiding the need for soft forks.
Challenge Two: Interoperability. Different chains have inconsistent consensus, and Bitlayer uses zero-knowledge proofs to bridge states, ensuring seamlessness. YBTC acts as an intermediary, locking BTC and then releasing equivalent tokens on the target chain, with the process being automated.
The solution also includes modular design: the bridge and rollup share a unified trust model, reducing vulnerabilities. In practical tests, bridging times are short, and security is high. In the future, Bitlayer will increase multi-chain support, addressing security issues similar to those of the Ethereum bridge. Cross-chain bridges enable Bitcoin to break barriers and become a DeFi hub.
