⛓️Solving Blockchain Bridge Problem

Back in August 2021, the biggest cryptocurrency heist up to that date saw $600 million worth of digital assets stolen from Poly Network — a DeFi protocol focused on cross-chain asset swaps — only for the hacker to return the stolen assets a short while later.

Less than a year later in March 2022, the largest crypto theft in history resulted in $625 million worth of digital assets stolen from the Ronin Bridge — a cross-chain bridge used by Axie Infinity players to transfer assets from Ethereum to the Ronin network. These persistent attacks proved that DeFi apps are only as robust as their underlying cross-chain bridges.

Born out of necessity to create a safer cross-chain environment, Magpie is aiming to solve blockchain’s billion-dollar bridge problem, by making cross-chain asset swaps more secure and efficient.

To do so, we had to reinvent the fundamental mechanics of blockchain bridges and look at the technology’s biggest vulnerabilities. So how did we manage to do that?

First and foremost, by making cross-chain asset swaps non-custodial — meaning that your digital assets are never held on a blockchain bridge. Instead, Magpie only leverages cross-chain bridges as a messaging service, using the Wormhole Guardian Network to communicate asset swap signals between blockchains.

Once the asset swap has been signalled and verified through 19 Wormhole Guardian Nodes, the Magpie core contract on the target chain receives the confirmation and your requested assets are sent to your wallet.

At press time, the total value-locked (TVL) across all cross-chain bridges exceeds $72 billion, down from an all-time high of over $253 billion back in December, according to data by DefiLama. It’s only natural for such a rapidly growing industry to attract its share of malicious actors.

As cross-chain applications gain more ground in our daily lives, non-custodial blockchain bridges will likely become the industry standard, eradicating bridge exploits and the vulnerabilities of custodial solutions.

Until that day comes, Magpie will be at the forefront of bridge development, making cross-chain asset swaps user-friendly, secure, and more efficient.