After what seemed like an eternity, Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, and Vitalik Buterin, ethereum developer, surprisingly picked up the bridge security discussion where they left off.
Yakovenko Bridge claims to have pondered the issue for a year before he could have come up with the answer.
A social layer of the bridge could be the solution
In late May 2022, blockchain activists were in dialogue about detecting and preventing efforts to cheat a system that allows funds to move between multiple networks by illegally using the same money multiple times. This system allows funds to move between networks to facilitate transactions.
The conversation between Yakovenko and Buterin stopped at that moment. However, all parties concluded that, in principle, a social bridge management layer could address any difficulties.
On the other hand, both people admitted that they did not know how secure such a system would be, particularly when subjected to a 51% attack.
Yakovenko proposed a trust-minimized bridge between independent layer 1 blockchains to solve this problem. The design of this bridge ensures that local users can put their bridged assets back on the local chain, even if the small chain has an unfair majority, withholds data, or performs a 51% attack. The community welcomed Yakovenko’s solution.
You can get a full explanation of the Yakovenko bridge in a tweet the Solana co-founder posted. There should be an auction to choose who can address issues as they develop. This is the central idea behind the proposed solution.
Also, system clients must wait until they get confirmation before accessing their funds. People can file a challenge to gain access to your data if something goes wrong. Vitalik Buterin has yet to respond to his colleague’s proposal.