Web3 Foundation and Scytale Lead $2.5 Million Seed Investment in Hyperbridge to Build the End-Game for Blockchain Interoperability on Polkadot

Boston, Massachusetts, September 11th, 2024, Chainwire

Hyperbridge sets a new benchmark for secure, scalable, and verifiable cross-chain communication, launching with the highest economic security in the market.

The Web3 Foundation, in partnership with Scytale Digital, has led the seed funding round for Hyperbridge, a groundbreaking protocol poised to transform blockchain interoperability. This investment marks a significant milestone as the Web3 Foundation's inaugural funding initiative, highlighting Hyperbridge's critical role in the rapidly expanding Web3 ecosystem.

Hyperbridge is emerging as a leader in the rapidly evolving sector, with its industry-leading cross-chain technology already being used by teams like Succinct, Axelar, Union, and Avail. The protocol has also already secured a parachain slot within the Polkadot ecosystem, reinforcing its deep integration and commitment to leveraging Polkadot’s unique strengths. In addition, Hyperbridge’s crowd loan raised an impressive $2.7 million, making it the most successful parachain crowd loan in the Polkadot ecosystem, a testament to its strong community support and technological promise.

“Hyperbridge represents a significant step towards a cross-chain future, embodying the highest standards of security, scalability, and innovation," said Fabian Gompf, CEO of Web3 Foundation. "By building on Polkadot’s robust framework, Hyperbridge empowers the ecosystem with verifiable, unstoppable interoperability, setting a new benchmark for secure cross-chain solutions.”

Hyperbridge is more than a simple asset bridge, it is a cryptoeconomic co-processor that combines advanced zero-knowledge technology and mechanistic protocols to deliver the most secure and verifiable cross-chain messaging and storage query solution available today. Unlike existing point-to-point bridge models, Hyperbridge introduces a hub model that scales verifiable interoperability across all chains. The platform’s innovative architecture, built on Polkadot, allows it to offer unmatched security and scalability, positioning it at the forefront of cross-chain solutions.

Security is at the core of the Hyperbridge design, with audits conducted by the same team responsible for Polkadot. As the industry grapples with insecure multisig bridges, Hyperbridge’s zk light clients for Polkadot and Ethereum offer a secure, verifiable alternative. By consolidating multiple connections into a unified, reliable network, Hyperbridge aims to be the leader in verifiable, cross-chain communication and interoperability.

"Hyperbridge represents the next evolution in secure cross-chain interoperability.” Said Mark Cachia, CIO of Scytale Digital, “Seun's deep expertise and innovative approach ensure that Hyperbridge addresses the critical security flaws of traditional bridges and sets a new standard for verifiable and unstoppable interoperability. This investment aligns perfectly with our vision of a fully interconnected web3 ecosystem, and we're proud to support a project with such transformative potential." 

Exclusively built on Polkadot, Hyperbridge inherits the network’s unparalleled economic security, giving it the highest level of economic security for any bridge available today. Polkadot’s design, optimized for high interoperability, fast-finality, and affordable compute through agile coretime, provides the perfect foundation for Hyperbridge’s rollup architecture. This close integration allows Hyperbridge to offer cross-chain messaging and storage queries to developers from day one, setting new standards for secure, scalable, and efficient interoperability.

Seun Lanlege, Founder of Polytope Labs, the developers of Hyperbridge, shared, “Bridges are only as secure as their authentication mechanisms. Traditional bridges that rely on multisig committees for authentication have seen over $2B lost to exploits. Hyperbridge disintermediates these middlemen by relying on finality and storage proofs for cross-chain message authentication, providing a level of security equivalent to the blockchains it connects.”

Hyperbridge unlocks a wide array of use cases, including verifiable cross-chain intents, non-custodial native bridges for unified liquidity, and multichain expansion for stablecoins, RWAs, and DAO tokens. It also opens up possibilities for advanced cryptoeconomic coprocessors, such as state coprocessors for TWAPs and on-chain insurance protocols, as well as zk aggregation coprocessors. These innovations set Hyperbridge apart, offering developers the tools to create new financial and decentralized applications that were previously impossible.

About Hyperbridge

Hyperbridge is a cryptoeconomic coprocessor for secure, verifiable interoperability powered by consensus and storage proofs. Hyperbridge is the HTTPS of blockchain interoperability, providing developers with onchain and off-chain SDKs for securely sending cross-chain messages (POST requests) and reading on-chain storage (GET requests).

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About Polytope Labs

Polytope Labs is a collective of researchers and engineers founded by core developers of Ethereum, Polkadot, and IBC. We’re focused on addressing fundamental infrastructure problems that continue to hold back the crypto industry, such as interoperability, scalability, and privacy. They firmly believe that Web3 is the next evolutionary step of the internet, and they are fully committed to advancing truly decentralized technologies.

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About Polkadot

Polkadot is the powerful, secure core of Web3, providing a shared foundation that unites some of the world’s most transformative apps and blockchains. Polkadot offers advanced modular architecture that allows devs to easily design and build their own specialized blockchain projects, pooled security that ensures the same high standard for secure block production across all connected chains and apps connected to it, and robust governance that ensures a transparent system where everyone has say in shaping the blockchain ecosystem for growth and sustainability. With Polkadot, users are not just participants, they're co-creators with the power to shape its future.

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