Why Wanchain Bridge?
This page will contain information on why we picked Wanchain to be the primary bridge partner of KaspaEVM.
Last updated
This page will contain information on why we picked Wanchain to be the primary bridge partner of KaspaEVM.
Last updated
Upon approval and integration of Kaspa to the Wanchain bridge the KaspaEVM will be granted access to add liquidity to the bridge. Adding liquidity simply allows individuals from Kaspa PoW L1 mainnet to the KaspaEVM side chain. The Wanchain bridge uses single-sided liquidity pools that the bridge locks and unlocks (so no slippage, just minor fees). If we understand that the maximum supply of Kaspa is 28.7 Billion KAS then we can mint 28.7B KaspaEVM coins and add that to the Wanchain bridge liquidity with 1 Kaspa PoW Mainnet coin. When a user bridges from Kaspa PoW to KaspaEVM the bridge will add the amount bridged to the mainnet side of the liquidity and subtract from the KaspaEVM side of the liquidity. An example of how the bridge flow and liquidity works is down below.
Start:
Side A (the non -evm): 1 token
Side B (the evm): 2,000,000 tokens
Action:
User bridges 2 tokens from Side A to Side B.
Finish:
Side A (the non -evm): 3 tokens
Side B (the evm): 1,999,998 tokens
The KaspaEVM dev team will initially work on getting the assets onto the bridge. Afterwards we will perform an action equivalent to burning LP tokens on a newly created token. We will effectively perform an action that would make it impossible for us to remove liquidity from the bridge. All transactions will be made publicly available for all users to view.
In order for the KaspaEVM project to work we needed a bridge that allows people to directly bridge their Kaspa mainnet coins to the KaspaEVM sidechain. We also needed to make sure that the bridge met a few criteria's. The bridge needed to be able to actually bridge a non-smart contract coin to an EVM smart contract blockchain, it needed to be decentralized, it needed to be user friendly, and amongst all it needed to be secure from hacks.
Wanchain has been operating their bridge as a service since January 2018 and ever since that time period they have not had a single bridge exploit or hack. Since that time period there has been several bridge and bridge-like services that have been hacked for a combination of hundreds of millions of dollars. The list includes Wormhole ($326 million), Poly Network Hack ($611 million), Ronin Network (Axie Infinity Bridge for $625 million), Horizon Bridge (Harmony for $100 million ), Nomad Bridge ($190 million), Multichain (formerly Anyswap for $125 million) and the list goes on.
One common bridge that majority of blockchains use to utilize was Multichain (formerly known as anyswap). Multichain bridge was not necessarily "hacked" but rather one person had control over the nodes that controlled the assets in the bridge (read this: https://shorturl.at/Z84iA) . This gave that one person ability to withdraw the assets from that bridge and that is exactly what happened. The issue is, most people did not know that one person had control over this bridge. The multichain DCRM technology that makes up the nodes is not 100% publicly transparent. A decentralized bridge should not have users begging to know who are the individuals who manage the bridges assets. It is not necessarily a factor of knowing the identity of these people, but more so how these people were chosen to have the position in the first place. It should have a decentralize process of picking those nodes/individuals who perform transactions and store assets for the bridge. This is not something uniqe to MultiChain. In fact, MultiChain is a fork of Chainge Finance DCRM technology and a lot of bridges have centralize nodes prone to exploits. Anyone who gets enough votes via the decentralized Wanchain storeman node voting process can become a Wanchain bridge node. The community can view the set of nodes (new and old) and the behavior of those nodes through the Wanchain block explorer which makes the information on the node publicly available. Wanchain periodically rotates the storeman nodes through a monthly voting process.
Storeman Nodes: Wanchain uses a decentralized group of nodes called the Storeman Group to manage cross-chain transactions. Unlike centralized bridges, where a single point of failure can be exploited, Wanchain’s decentralized approach distributes risk.
Threshold Sharding: Private keys are never stored in one place. Instead, they are split into shards and distributed across the Storeman nodes. A threshold number of these shards are required to sign transactions, making it nearly impossible for a hacker to compromise enough nodes simultaneously.
Wanchain leverages MPC technology to securely manage keys without exposing them, even to the Storeman nodes themselves. This eliminates the risk of key leakage, a common attack vector in bridge hacks.
Wanchain conducts regular security audits by reputable third-party firms and has a proactive approach to upgrading its security infrastructure. This continuous improvement helps address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
Wanchain’s governance model allows for quick responses to potential threats, with transparent mechanisms to update and secure the protocol. This agility is crucial when mitigating emerging security issues.
The Storeman nodes have financial stakes (collateral) in the network, which incentivizes them to act honestly. This economic security layer reduces the likelihood of collusion or malicious activity from within.
Wanchain’s smart contracts are designed with minimal complexity, reducing potential vulnerabilities. Simple, well-audited code is harder to exploit compared to complex, feature-rich contracts with many potential loopholes.
Source #1 - https://x.com/wanchain_org/status/1678404632459059201
Source #2 - https://medium.com/@99kurisu/ronins-hack-and-why-wanchain-remains-indestructable-f15e89c8b7d4
Source #3 - https://docs.wanchain.org/
Source #4 - https://wandevs.org/
Source #5 - https://wanscan.org/storemangroups
Source #6 - https://medium.com/wanchain-foundation/bridge-node-delegation-guide-6b2d2999dbc
