Research summary
This review rejects the Avalanche Bridge because a four-party committee, smaller than every other multi-party bridge this registry has reviewed, controls it. The Avalanche Bridge is Avalanche's original Ethereum-to-C-Chain canonical bridge, accessed through the Core wallet. It secures transfers with only four "Wardens" through an Intel SGX secure enclave; three of the four must report identical transaction data before the enclave mints or releases funds. That group is smaller than the already-rejected Gnosis Chain xDAI Stake Bridge's 4-of-7 validators. One of the four Wardens is Ava Labs itself, the same organization that built and operates the underlying network. None of this registry's other reviewed bridges has the same form of related-party concentration. The bridge also depends on Intel SGX attestation, a separate hardware risk on top of Warden honesty.
Observable review triggers
- The Warden committee expands materially, for example to seven or more independent parties, with no single approving party also operating the underlying network
- An independent, dated security audit of the current SGX enclave configuration and Warden software is published with no unresolved high-severity findings
- The bridge migrates to a design backed by an Ethereum-native fraud-proof or validity-proof system, removing dependence on Warden honesty and SGX hardware attestation
- Twelve consecutive months with no Warden-collusion, SGX side-channel, or enclave-compromise incident
Facts on file
- Verdict
- Rejected
- Type
- Other
- Chains examined
- Ethereum
- Reviewed
- Last confirmed