AXEL(AXEL)

BlockDAG’s presale has made a resounding impact, amassing $19 million and surpassing other prominent players like Cosmos and Axelar as the top altcoins to consider buying in 2024. This significant financial milestone highlights the growing investor trust in BlockDAG and sets a new benchmark in the altcoin sector. Enhancing the […]

[PRESS RELEASE – New York, USA, February 6th, 2024] Frax Finance is among the 1st to adopt no-code Interchain Tokens Axelar network’s Interchain Token Service (ITS) is now live on mainnet and permissionlessly available, allowing any ERC-20 token issuer to create Interchain Tokens with the click of a button. Interchain Tokens move freely to EVM-compatible […]

LayerZero launched a Lido stETH bridge last October without asking for Lido DAO's permission. The community responded this week by endorsing a pair of its biggest competitors.

Immutable Chooses Axelar for Canonical Bridge to Ethereum, Enhancing Web3 Gaming Interoperability

[PRESS RELEASE – New York, USA, December 12th, 2023] The top derivatives DEXs and spot DEXs are now all using Axelar network for cross-chain connections Vertex Protocol, one of the most innovative and fast-growing DEXs in Web3, is now using Axelar network and Squid to power cross-chain collateral deposits. The integration was announced today on […]

Axelar Powers Vertex's Move Towards Cross-Chain Interoperability

The aim of the project was to allow wealth managers to tokenize funds and to be able to purchase and rebalance positions in tokenized assets across multiple interconnected chains.

[PRESS RELEASE – New York, USA, September 20th, 2023] As dYdX is adopting a standalone app-chain model, a pioneering interoperability solution enables 1-click onboarding from any blockchain environment Decentralized financial derivatives marketplace dYdX has implemented a solution built on cross-chain infrastructure provided by Axelar, the leading Web3 interoperability platform, to support single-click onboarding and offboarding […]

dYdX v4 Enables 1-Click Onboarding With Squid & Axelar

[PRESS RELEASE – New York, USA, September 14th, 2023] The collaboration aims to enhance cross-chain interoperability and support the expansion of wstETH and other assets in the Cosmos ecosystem Neutron, the most secure cross-chain smart-contracting platform for DeFi, and Axelar, the full-stack interoperability layer for Web3, have been selected by Lido, the leading liquid staking […]

[Press Release – Zug, Switzerland, August 4th, 2023] D8X’s pre-seed round features Polygon Ventures, Axelar Network, Swissborg Ventures, and others D8X, an institutional-grade decentralized exchange (DEX) for derivatives on Polygon zkEVM, announced a $1.5 million pre-seed round with support from Polygon Ventures and other notable investors. The capital will help D8X launch a decentralized derivatives […]

Zug, Switzerland, August 4th, 2023, ChainwireD8X's pre-seed round features Polygon Ventures, Axelar Network, Swissborg Ventures and othersD8X, an institutional-grade decentralized exchange (DEX) for derivatives on Polygon zkEVM, announced a $1.5 million pre-seed round with support from Polygon Ventures and other notable investors. The capital will help D8X launch a decentralized derivatives trading platform in the second half of 2023 that provides a white-labeling solution to trading partners seeking access to powerful derivatives products.The pre-seed round for D8X includes additional participation from Axelar Network, Swissborg Ventures, Cogitent Ventures, Veris Ventures, G1 Ventures, Pragma Ventures, CryptoDiscover and others.“DeFi is reshaping the future of finance. Projects like D8X are building the infrastructure that will help legacy finance to leap into web3,” said Polygon Co-Founder Sandeep Nailwal.Bridging CeFi to DeFiD8X's founders bet on centralized players wanting to offer decentralized crypto derivatives to their clients without having to hire experts to develop in-house market-making and trading engines. D8X provides a white-label solution to partners who act as brokers and earn fees by running their own front ends powered by the D8X trade engine and shared liquidity.Financial Engineering On ChainD8X’s sophisticated on-chain solutions curb costs and offer products that are competitive with centralized exchanges, such as cost-efficient hedging, a prerequisite for building a highly functional derivative trading space. Contract trading allows other DeFi protocols to efficiently hedge on-chain. Their perpetuals can be calibrated for a wide range of assets and support—as a first in DeFi—linear, inverse and quanto perpetuals. At launch, a liquidity pool in Lido's staked ETH (stETH) will enable liquidity providers to earn the Lido yield while simultaneously participating in the DEX’s earnings.D8X is the first business-to-business (B2B) DEX built on Polygon’s zkEVM, harnessing the power of zero-knowledge proofs to cut transaction fees, increase security and scale operations across the Polygon and Ethereum networks.“D8X is part of a driving force of innovation and community in Polygon’s 2.0 zero-knowledge space,” said Polygon Director of Growth Hamzah Khan.D8X is a fully decentralized DEX following regulatory guidance from Switzerland’s financial market regulator FINMA.“We thank all our investors for believing in D8X's vision to bring truly decentralized derivatives as white-labeling solutions to institutions. With best-in-class financial engineering and risk management, D8X is changing the way decentralized derivatives are traded,” said D8X co-founder Caspar Sauter.The production codebase of D8X was audited by PeckShield and an earlier version was audited by Hacken.About D8XD8X is a Polygon Ventures-supported institutional-grade perpetual futures DEX with a financial engineering approach that elevates the way perpetual futures can be traded on-chain. Think of a powerful and decentralized trading platform on Polygon zkEVM that offers white-labeling to institutions. D8X’s pricing mechanism adapts to changing market conditions protecting liquidity providers and profitable traders in volatile periods, resulting in superior DeFi trading conditions.D8X | Twitter | GitHub | DocsContactPR DirectorPatrick [email protected]

Zug, Switzerland, August 4th, 2023, ChainwireD8X's pre-seed round features Polygon Ventures, Axelar Network, Swissborg Ventures and othersD8X, an institutional-grade decentralized exchange (DEX) for derivatives on Polygon zkEVM, announced a $1.5 million pre-seed round with support from Polygon Ventures and other notable investors. The capital will help D8X launch a decentralized derivatives trading platform in the second half of 2023 that provides a white-labeling solution to trading partners seeking access to powerful derivatives products.The pre-seed round for D8X includes additional participation from Axelar Network, Swissborg Ventures, Cogitent Ventures, Veris Ventures, G1 Ventures, Pragma Ventures, CryptoDiscover and others.“DeFi is reshaping the future of finance. Projects like D8X are building the infrastructure that will help legacy finance to leap into web3,” said Polygon Co-Founder Sandeep Nailwal.Bridging CeFi to DeFiD8X's founders bet on centralized players wanting to offer decentralized crypto derivatives to their clients without having to hire experts to develop in-house market-making and trading engines. D8X provides a white-label solution to partners who act as brokers and earn fees by running their own front ends powered by the D8X trade engine and shared liquidity.Financial Engineering On ChainD8X’s sophisticated on-chain solutions curb costs and offer products that are competitive with centralized exchanges, such as cost-efficient hedging, a prerequisite for building a highly functional derivative trading space. Contract trading allows other DeFi protocols to efficiently hedge on-chain. Their perpetuals can be calibrated for a wide range of assets and support—as a first in DeFi—linear, inverse and quanto perpetuals. At launch, a liquidity pool in Lido's staked ETH (stETH) will enable liquidity providers to earn the Lido yield while simultaneously participating in the DEX’s earnings.D8X is the first business-to-business (B2B) DEX built on Polygon’s zkEVM, harnessing the power of zero-knowledge proofs to cut transaction fees, increase security and scale operations across the Polygon and Ethereum networks.“D8X is part of a driving force of innovation and community in Polygon’s 2.0 zero-knowledge space,” said Polygon Director of Growth Hamzah Khan.D8X is a fully decentralized DEX following regulatory guidance from Switzerland’s financial market regulator FINMA.“We thank all our investors for believing in D8X's vision to bring truly decentralized derivatives as white-labeling solutions to institutions. With best-in-class financial engineering and risk management, D8X is changing the way decentralized derivatives are traded,” said D8X co-founder Caspar Sauter.The production codebase of D8X was audited by PeckShield and an earlier version was audited by Hacken.About D8XD8X is a Polygon Ventures-supported institutional-grade perpetual futures DEX with a financial engineering approach that elevates the way perpetual futures can be traded on-chain. Think of a powerful and decentralized trading platform on Polygon zkEVM that offers white-labeling to institutions. D8X’s pricing mechanism adapts to changing market conditions protecting liquidity providers and profitable traders in volatile periods, resulting in superior DeFi trading conditions.D8X | Twitter | GitHub | DocsContactPR DirectorPatrick [email protected]

The Multichain bridge, one of the oldest and more established token bridges used in DeFi, has suffered a $126 million loss in July, making it one of the larger bridge hacks in history. But this one is different from previous hacks like the Nomad bridge. No code was really compromised, as reportedly the assets were taken by the CEO’s sister. Multichain’s CEO, known only as Zhaojun, was apparently apprehended by Chinese authorities a few weeks prior. The CEO’s disappearance wreaked havoc on the team’s operations, according to their own report. Zhaojun held several important keys that were important for the operation and maintenance of the protocol. According to the explanation published by the Multichain team, they had asked his sister for access to these keys via cloud backups. Allegedly, she then took the money “for safekeeping” only to be arrested herself shortly after. The incident highlighted what some industry experts and insiders knew all along: Multichain was an extremely centralized bridge, which literally ceased to function as soon as its CEO became unavailable. For a crypto project, this is a damning story — even traditional corporations are more decentralized than that. Why this wasn’t spotted Given these revelations, it seems surprising that people trusted Multichain enough to have hundreds of millions of dollars deposited on the platform. Venket Naga, CEO at blockchain privacy-preserving platform, Serenity Shield, gave a few ideas how this might have happened. “First, the code's complexity may have made it challenging for non-experts to identify potential loopholes. Second, there might have been limited transparency and auditing, allowing crucial issues to go unnoticed,” he explained. Because of their cross-chain nature, bridges are often a black box. Even though Multichain’s core architecture is open-source, the complexity of these systems means that it’s difficult to have a good understanding of how it’s all implemented. “Trust in the code's integrity might have been assumed, neglecting the need for robust security assessments,” added Naga. “Moving forward, conducting comprehensive audits, fostering transparency, and engaging the community are crucial to prevent similar situations.” Bridge Choice 101 Bridge vulnerabilities are a common theme in Web3, and many teams deemed competent and reputable suffered enormous losses. So how can an average user try to avoid these incidents and spot unsafe bridges from further away? There is no perfect standard, but ideally it should be a mix of robust decentralization, simple architecture and good history of operation. For example, for bridges running on some form of trusted validators (which applies to most of them), you would expect that these entities should be well-known, and at least somewhat separate from the bridge’s creators. Architecture-wise, most bridges today are quite simple contracts based on multi-signature cryptography. More decentralized options have emerged from time to time, most notably Nomad. Unfortunately, these solutions are more complex, so this bridge got hacked because of one poorly implemented line of code. A good indicator is time. Poor bridges fail and only the sturdy options remain after some time — though Multichain is a significant exception to this rule. Many existing bridges have already gone through hacks, notably Wormhole. At the time, the project got “bailed out” by Jump Crypto, which allowed it to resume operations and re-establish some level of trust. But this apparent “insurance” shouldn’t be taken for granted. According to Brandon Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of personal wallet theft protection FairSide, “bridges present complex challenges for cover providers due to centralization and the risks associated with smart contracts. Bridges are a crucial aspect of blockchain usage, but their implementation leaves much to be desired. “To rebuild trust in blockchain bridges, a comprehensive approach is crucial,” according to Naga. “Implementing enhanced security measures, transparent bridge design and operations, rigorous audits, and involving the community in governance are essential. For Broen, “innovative solutions are emerging, such as Axelar's Interchain, which offer promising potential in mitigating the inherent risks of interoperability.” Hopefully, these solutions come sooner rather than later. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The UK’s HM Treasury has officially rejected the House of Commons Treasury Committee’s recent recommendation to regulate crypto trading not as financial assets but as gambling instruments. Let’s find out more. Bitcoin Elon Musk’s Tesla has continued to hodl its BTC reserves for the fourth consecutive quarter after being forced to divest 75% of its reserves in 2022 Q2. After hitting the range bottom, BTC looks to be heading higher once more, with the bulls looking to test the $31,000 to $32,000 major resistance again. Ethereum In the midst of a rebounding crypto market, Vitalik Buterin has hinted at a forthcoming upgrade to the Ethereum network, which could potentially reduce costs by a factor of 100. DeFi DeFi protocol Conic Finance revealed that it had suffered an exploit, with the attacker draining over 1700 ETH worth $3.6 million from one of its Omnipools. Uniswap founder Hayden Adam’s Twitter account suffered a breach, with hackers sending out several tweets leading users to scam websites and phishing links. Leading DEX platform Spectrum Finance has revealed its strategic collaboration with Cardano, the innovative smart contract platform. Axelar has launched the Interchain Token Service, a solution designed to enhance the interoperability of ERC-20 tokens across all EVM-compatible chains. Altcoins Solana Labs has announced the rollout of the Solang compiler that will help EVM developers transition to the Solana ecosystem. The crypto world eagerly awaits upcoming Litecoin's third halving event, which is expected to happen on August 2, 2023, once the 2,520,000th block is mined. Technology Crypto experts have raised questions on central bank digital currencies like where are all the mainstream media articles or televised debates on the advantages or disadvantages of implementing CBDCs nationwide. Worldcoin has completed its migration to the Optimism ecosystem, with critical components such as the World ID and World App technology stack already migrated to the OP mainnet. Starknet has disclosed the initiation of "appchains," a framework designed to enable developers to construct several application-specific blockchains within the Starknet ecosystem. Business The recently uncovered personal diaries of Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison could be used as key evidence in the upcoming trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Venture capital firms Coinfund and Polychain Capital have successfully raised a total of $350 million in their latest fundraising rounds, showcasing returning confidence in the crypto space. American investor Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest sold another $50.5 million worth of Coinbase shares to cash in on the recent crypto market rally. Binance has abruptly ended its five-year partnership with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) after only one year. Regulation A bipartisan group of United States Senators has introduced the CANSEE Act to regulate DeFi platforms in order to curb money laundering and other financial transgressions. The UK government rejected a recent House of Commons Treasury Committee proposal, which suggested that retail crypto trading be regulated like gambling instruments. In the face of legal turbulence surrounding its co-founder, Do Kwon, blockchain firm Terraform Labs has appointed a new CEO. Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government opposing the current military rule, is set to launch a crypto neobank operating on the Polygon blockchain network. Enforcement authorities in China’s northern province of Shanxi have uncovered an alleged USDT money laundering scheme amounting to over $55 million. Third largest French bank, Societe Generale, has become the first bank to procure a licence to provide trading and custody of cryptocurrency assets. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) underscored its views that crypto requires “comprehensive policies to safeguard economies and investors.” The founder and former CEO of the now-defunct Thodex crypto exchange, Faruk Fateh Ozer, has received a seven-month prison sentence after he failed to submit relevant documents requested during the trial. Representative Ritchie Torres becomes the latest US lawmaker to level criticism against the SEC and its Chairman Gary Gensler’s position on crypto. The clock has started ticking for the SEC to approve or reject BlackRock’s application for a spot Bitcoin exchange traded fund. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, is set to hold a private meeting with House Democrats on Wednesday, according to Democratic aides familiar with the agenda. US Judge Sarah Netburn has ordered the SEC and Ripple to agree to possible settlement dates should both parties believe them to be constructive at this stage. On Monday, the Financial Stability Board published its recommendations for a global regulatory framework for crypto-assets to “promote the comprehensiveness and international consistency of regulatory and supervisory approaches.” NFT Proof Collective is trying to rekindle interest in its Moonbirds NFTs with a brand new 20,000-piece Mythics collection, released almost a year after its initial mention in August 2022. Staking protocol EtherFi has called out the OpenSea marketplace for its decision to suspend the trading of the former’s EtherFan NFT collection last week. Web3 Andreessen Horowitz partner Sriram Krishnan expressed confidence that Web3 has the potential to remedy the issues plaguing current Web2-based social media platforms. The developers behind Polygon Labs have proposed changes to their governance system that are integral to their forthcoming Polygon 2.0 roadmap. The potential of AR games has yet to be fully realized, but developers have already created lots of highly original apps to enhance our experiences in the physical world. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Axelar has launched the Interchain Token Service (ITS), a solution designed to enhance the interoperability of ERC-20 tokens across all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible chains. Among the early adopters of this service is Sushi, a decentralized exchange (DEX), aiming to use the ITS to foster seamless interactions of its native SUSHI token across multiple blockchain networks. Driving Cross-Chain Integration with ITS Axelar’s ITS primarily focuses on the interoperability of ERC-20 tokens across all EVM-compatible ecosystems. These tokens are generated on a 1:1 ratio and are managed through Axelar’s native computing environment, the Axelar Virtual Machine. The newly revealed service is set to provide a muchj-needed boost to the ease of token interaction across Ethereum-compatible chains. Decentralized exchange Sushi is set to be one of the first adopters of the “interchain tokens” provided through this service. Sushi's team plans to use the ITS to facilitate seamless interaction of its native SUSHI token across multiple chains. Initial deployment will ensure interoperability of SUSHI across Arbitrum, Ethereum, Optimism, and Polygon. This move will enable SushiSwap, Sushi's decentralized exchange, to manage its multichain deployments more efficiently via the Axelar network. Jared Grey, Sushi’s head chef, emphasized the utility of this service, stating: "Axelar’s Interchain Token Service unlocks a more seamless, interchain experience for Sushi users." Tackling Security and Compatibility Challenges The traditional approach to facilitating cross-chain transfers for Web3 applications generally relied on bridged token versions. These bridged versions could be exposed to inherent security risks and compatibility issues. Axelar’s interoperability solution, according to co-founder Sergey Gorbunov, addresses these challenges. Gorbunov noted that Axelar's innovative approach utilizes specialized smarlt contracts and a software development kit, which enables developers to manage interchain tokens more efficiently. Notably, Gorbunov says that the bridged versions of tokens, similar to SUSHI, currently lack fungibility and carry a bridge risk. In contrast, Interchain Tokens represent a "true" cross-chain interoperability merged with security and simplicity. The news comes after Axelar's announcement following its partnership with Chainlink's cross-chain interoperability protocol. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

[PRESS RELEASE – Paris, France, July 18th, 2023] Sushi to deploy Interchain Tokens, powered by new Axelar product suite delivering cross-chain fungibility and customization.  Axelar, the blockchain interoperability leader, is announcing the launch of Interchain Token Service (ITS), a product suite that extends tokens cross-chain, preserving their native functionality and allowing teams to easily manage […]

Axelar said further plans with Microsoft include connecting private and public blockchains that use OpenAI services to create Web3 products.

Through the collaboration, Axelar will be the first cross-chain protocol to join Microsoft’s Azure marketplace.

The SEC has been facing increasing levels of scrutiny and criticism over its less than ideal approach to regulating the industry. It has come under fire from various industry leaders and a bill to dismiss the chairperson has even garnered support from several lawmakers. Let’s find out more. Bitcoin The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has filed an application for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). However, there are concerns that Blackrock could, in one fail swoop, take control of Bitcoin. Crypto exchange Binance has announced the launch of its new subscription-based Bitcoin cloud mining services. The Federal Reserve did not raise rates for the first time since the inflation-inspired start of its rapid interest rate expansion. However, crypto continues its downward slide. Ethereum The Bank of China (BOCI) has made history by issuing tokenized securities on the Ethereum blockchain in Hong Kong. DeFi Frax Finance has unveiled its plans to roll out an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, aptly named Fraxchain. Uniswap recently disclosed its preferred choice for handling non-Ethereum deployments in its cross-chain bridging operations: Wormhole and Axelar. Uniswap has also unveiled plans for Uniswap v4, the next iteration of the hugely popular crypto platform. An Aave proposal intended to prevent a particular account from accumulating more debt has led to significant controversy, with some stating that it violates the principle of neutrality in DeFi. Altcoins A group of Terra Classic Core developers, the Joint L1 Task Force (L1TF), has announced that it is ready for the Parity Upgrade, set for the 14th of June, 2023. Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution Polygon (MATIC) has unveiled its Version 2.0, the blueprint for which will be revealed over the next few weeks. Technology Polygon recently proposed a new decentralized governance model aimed at enhancing its network's security, upgradeability, and robustness. Business The Banco de la Republica, Colombia’s Central Bank, has announced a partnership with Ripple as it looks to explore the use of blockchain technology in the country. The crypto investment arm of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, a16z, announced it would be opening its first overseas office in London. Korean-based cryptocurrency lending service, Delio, has temporarily suspended customer withdrawals due to financial irregularities involving crypto investment firm Haru. Voyager customers were in for some good news a year after their assets were frozen, with the platform stating that they could withdraw a significant chunk of their crypto assets from June 20. San Francisco-based crypto payments firm Wyre has announced that it has begun the process of winding down its operations, citing challenges arising from the prolonged bear market. Regulation Tether, the issuer of the leading stablecoin USDT, reportedly deactivated around 29 accounts tied to significant players in the cryptocurrency sphere in 2021. Binance is reportedly under scrutiny from French financial regulatory authorities, who have been investigating the exchange's activities since at least the early quarter of 2022. Crypto exchange OKCoin has come under the scrutiny of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) over accusations of making false promises to customers. The Blockchain Association has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the SEC over the regulator's interactions with Prometheum. The Hong Kong government has proactively advocated for major banks to embrace clients engaged in digital currencies. Coinbase has become the latest entity to push back against the SEC’s proposal of changing the definition of an exchange. According to Tim Draper, the SEC Chair Gary Gensler is stifling the crypto sector leading to a potential long-term detrimental effect on technology in the US. Following a Financial Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, a digital asset bill will be voted on in July which will give clarity to the crypto industry. The SEC has requested four more months to respond to Coinbase’s call for crypto regulatory clarity. Crypto billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss cautioned the Democratic Party that its “war on crypto” will result in its losing crucial voters. United States Congressman Warren Davidson has filed a new bill called the SEC Stabilization Act, which looks to restructure the regulatory body, including the dismissal of current SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Lawyers for FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried have stated that litigation proceedings against him could be significantly delayed if further charges are added against the founder. NFT Nike has started dropping hints about a potentially massive move - introducing a collection of sneaker NFTs in Fortnite. Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has formed a key alliance with Polygon, one of the industry's key crypto firms building infrastructure around an ecosystem of Web3 products. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Uniswap recently disclosed its preferred choice for handling non-Ethereum deployments in its cross-chain bridging operations: Wormhole and Axelar. These selections are the result of a comprehensive analysis conducted by Uniswap's Bridge Assessment Committee, which evaluated a range of potential protocols. The proposed changes are also aligned to the protocol's recent disclosure of its plans for V4. Diving Deep into the Decision Uniswap's Bridge Assessment Committee scrutinized multiple contenders, namely Wormhole, Celer, DeBridge, LayerZero, Axelar, and Multichain (CRP). Each of these was rigorously assessed for its proficiency in facilitating cross-chain governance. Out of the competition, Wormhole and Axelar emerged victorious, with the committee endorsing these two for utilization across all cross-chain deployments. As the committee puts it, both Wormhole and Axelar have demonstrated their aptness in managing governance messaging for potential cross-chain deployments. They, however, advised the community to persistently review these and other bridge providers, bearing in mind the dynamics of the industry. Cross-Chain Governance and Its Implications The fundamental application for Uniswap DAO's cross-chain bridge lies in its ability to relay governance messages from Ethereum to other chains for execution. All Uniswap deployment proposals undertake a formal voting procedure on Ethereum. Any upgrades for deployments on alternate chains are then communicated via a cross-chain messaging protocol. While Wormhole and Axelar have gained the committee's approval, this doesn't entirely exclude other bridges. The report also pointed out that those deemed unsuitable for Uniswap's present cross-chain governance needs might still satisfy the prerequisites of other protocols and applications. Vulnerabilities and Controversies: The Story of Cross-Chain Bridges The controversy around cross-chain bridges in the Web3 sphere is nothing new. In 2022, these bridging protocols proved to be a weak spot, with hackers successfully exploiting them and causing billions in losses. As per data from Rekt, four out of the top five most expensive DeFi breaches targeted bridges, resulting in an aggregated loss of over $2.1 billion. In response to these vulnerabilities, Uniswap has formed its Cross-Chain Bridge Assessment Committee to aid governance delegates and the Uniswap community in making well-informed decisions regarding cross-chain bridging protocols. The Committee's evaluations covered more than 130 assessment questions for each protocol, taking into account their ability to ensure "safety, liveness, and censorship resistance". Looking ahead, Celer and DeBridge might be reassessed despite their current shortcomings in slashing mechanisms and security assurances. The report was notably critical of Multichain for its lack of transparency and ineffective deterrents to prevent validator collusion. To underscore the context, Uniswap has over $5.9 billion locked in its protocol as of May 2023, with daily transaction volume frequently exceeding $1 billion. Given these figures, Uniswap's choice of Wormhole and Axelar could have significant implications for both the involved protocols and Uniswap's ongoing cross-chain operations. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Wormhole and Axelar take top honors after a months-long assessment process aimed at addressing concerns with Uniswap’s previous bridge selection practices.