The new Avalanche Bridge provides a better user experience than its predecessor, its creator believes. It replaces the Avalanche-Ethereum Bridge that launched in February
The Avalanche Bridge is estimated to be five times cheaper than the Avalanche-Ethereum Bridge. It was built using Intel SGX Enclave technology, a breakthrough in secure computing that facilitates all operations in a closed environment and ensures it is tamper-proof.
The Avalanche Bridge was designed with several factors in mind, including audit capability, security, low costs, rapid transaction speeds, the ability for users to see transaction status at any point, simplicity, supportive of the Avalanche ecosystem, and multi-chain functionality.
“The new Avalanche Bridge is a leap forward in bridging technology, but most importantly, it is a dramatic improvement in experience for users and developers across the Avalanche community,” said Emin Gün Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs. “It will be a growth engine for the next phase of growth on Avalanche, and set a new standard for secure and efficient cross-chain interoperability.”
The Avalanche Bridge is also designed to provide users with seamless integrations to other core Avalanche tools including the Wallet and Explorer. Both applications are currently undergoing undisclosed improvements. The bridge’s SGX Enclave establishes a consortium of trusted partners called wardens, who use remote attestation technology to ensure the bridge is operating securely within the enclave and running an audited version of the code. Wardens also ensure the integrity of each transaction and assist in the secure back-up and recovery of the bridge credentials.
The initial wardens will be Fulgur Lab, BWareLabs, Halborn, and Ava Labs. Any operation requires verification and agreement from three of them, and no warden can act on the bridge without the other parties.
As part of launching the new bridge, existing assets that came across the Avalanche-Ethereum Bridge will be migrated to the new Avalanche Bridge as it shows stability and performance in live production. Post-launch, all assets that cross over the Avalanche-Ethereum Bridge will be able to use the Avalanche Bridge to bridge back to Ethereum, benefiting from the performance and economic improvements noted above.