As the blockchain ecosystem continues to grow, users looking to swap assets between chains find themselves reliant on bridges that have become increasingly vulnerable to attacks. With a staggering 69% of all cryptocurrency thefts in 2022 being attributed to bridge attacks, it’s clear that users are in need of more secure solutions. Enter storage proofs, a cryptographic method that aims to change the way we move assets across chains.
Currently, users must rely on third parties to facilitate cross-chain transfers, leaving assets vulnerable to malicious actors. In a statement by Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder of Starkware, the company behind the Ethereum layer 2 network Starknet, he compares this process to handing over money to be transported across a bridge, where anyone could be waiting to ambush and steal the funds.
Storage proofs offer a more secure approach, allowing users to “teleport” liquidity from chain to chain through a simple button press. Starknet plans to be the first network to natively integrate storage proofs, pending a security audit later this year. Already present on Starkware’s Goerli testnet, the Herodotus team is aiding project developers in experimenting with the new setup. As demand for cross-chain transfers grows, Starkware believes storage proofs will become an increasingly mainstream solution.
By using cryptography, storage proofs can facilitate “trustless” cross-chain bridges, eliminating the need for third-party “oracles” to track assets between chains. This method could be particularly beneficial for Ethereum and its growing community of layer 2 chains – cheaper, faster networks that communicate with Ethereum and each other through bridges. Ben-Sasson explains that storage proofs rely on the “integrity of math” to prove ownership of assets on Ethereum without intermediaries.
Interestingly, storage proofs may even allow users to avoid transferring assets between chains altogether. For example, users could prove the existence of assets on one chain while participating in governance processes on another chain, bypassing the need for costly transfers and fees.
However, challenges do exist when implementing storage proofs, such as their large and complex nature, which can be difficult for blockchain networks to handle. Kacper Koziol, co-founder of Herodotus, explains that storage proofs were once economically unfeasible due to the required computation occurring on the blockchain. Starkware has addressed this issue by incorporating zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography, resulting in smaller, more efficient calculations.
As blockchain technology evolves, the adoption of innovative solutions like storage proofs demonstrates the industry’s commitment to improving security and user experience. With more networks likely to embrace these cryptographic methods, the future of asset transfers between chains could become far more seamless, secure, and efficient.
Source: Coindesk
