When an asset issuer, new chain, or application wants to expand to new chains, one of the most important decisions to make is around security. With Hyperlane’s modular approach to security, developers have the widest spectrum of security preferences to choose from.
Understanding Interchain Security
When a user needs to send an interchain message, whether its to bridge tokens or call a smart contract on another chain, its critical to ensure their message will be securely delivered.
To understand why this is important, it’s helpful to consider how interchain messaging works in the first place. When a message is passed from one chain to another, such as a basic cross-chain token transfer, two transactions are involved.
- The first transaction on the origin chain (chain A) to send the message (transaction A).
- A second transaction on the destination chain (chain B) to deliver the message to its recipient (transaction B).
The main question is how does chain B know that transaction A actually took place on chain A, and how can they be certain about this?
If blockchains could access and read information from one another natively, the answer would be much simpler. However, because blockchains are isolated environments by design, interoperability protocols are needed to enable secure, reliable communication with other blockchains.
How Interchain Security Works
At a high-level, interoperability protocols ensure that messages sent across chains are valid and secure. Since an interchain message requires two transactions, there are typically two security checkpoints a message must pass in order to be delivered: one on the origin chain and another on the destination chain. The specific mechanism for securing messages depends on the protocol’s design.
Modular Security with Hyperlane
Hyperlane has pioneered a modular approach to security through its flexible, open source framework.
At the core of Hyperlane’s security are Interchain Security Modules (ISMs). ISMs are customizable smart contracts that verify the authenticity of interchain messages on the destination chain. They act as a final line of defense: if verification passes, the message is delivered to its recipient. If verification fails, the message cannot be delivered.
Think of Hyperlane ISMs as security legos to plug and play with. Developers can always swap out their security models for new ones simply by specifying which new ISM they would like to use.
While Hyperlane uses a point-to-point security model, it does not enshrine any specific security mechanism to be used. Instead, Hyperlane’s modular security offers a spectrum of sovereignty for chain and application developers, who can choose from a set of pre-built ISMs to deploy off-the-shelf, or customize to their specific preferences. ISMs can be configured to use anything from multisigs, zk proofs, rollup bridges, economic security, and beyond.
Modular Security In Action
Renzo Protocol
- Renzo is a restaking protocol that manages AVS strategies for liquid restaking tokens across Eigenlayer, Symbiotic, and Jito (Re)staking, with $1.78B in TVL. The Renzo bridge facilitates transfers of Renzo assets like ezETH and pzETH across 12 different chains, and has seen over $1.7B in total lifetime volume.
- Renzo was among the first teams to customize its interchain security with Hyperlane. Any transaction that’s sent through the Renzo bridge is verified by a combination of Hyperlane’s default ISM as well as Renzo’s own specific set of validators.
Superlane
- Superlane is a distinct security zone built by the Velodrome team in collaboration with Hyperlane contributors, which offers shared security and bridging properties for Superchain-member chains. Velodrome Finance is one of the largest DeFi applications on Optimism, seeing $20 billion in lifetime volume.
- Superlane uses a distinct set of validators to secure messages passed between OP Mainnet and other Superchain participants, including Mode and Lisk. Furthermore, when Superchain native interoperability rolls out, Velodrome and other teams using Superlane will be able to seamlessly transition to that security model with the SuperchainISM.
Modular Security is Future Proof Security
Hyperlane doesn’t dictate what the single best solution for interchain message security is. Instead, it provides an open framework with which developers are always in control of their preferences, and never locked in to any single provider.
Permissionless. Modular. Future-proof.
Start building with Hyperlane now.
More about Hyperlane
Hyperlane is the open interoperability framework. It empowers developers to connect anywhere onchain and build applications that can easily and securely communicate between multiple blockchains. Importantly, Hyperlane is fully open-source and always permissionless to build with.
