Dangerous but indispensable: Why the crypto market needs bridges

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Dangerous but indispensable

Why are crypto bridges back in the spotlight?

Cross-chain protocol Allbridge Core recently was forced to pause its bridge after hackers exploited a vulnerability that allowed them to steal about $1.65 million. According to blockchain security firms, the attacker manipulated a stablecoin liquidity pool using a flash loan before moving the stolen funds from Solana to Ethereum. The protocol suspended operations while it investigated the incident.

Compared with some of crypto's largest hacks, the losses were relatively modest. Yet the attack highlighted a familiar dilemma: bridges have become essential infrastructure for the crypto industry, even as they remain one of its biggest security risks.

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What is a crypto bridge?

Imagine Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana as separate islands. Different blockchains are designed for different purposes. Some prioritize security, while others focus on speed, lower fees, or specialized applications. That is why users often want to move assets between them.

A crypto bridge acts like a ferry connecting those islands. It allows users to transfer assets between blockchains without selling them first.

In most cases, the bridge does not literally move a coin from one blockchain to another. Instead, it locks the original asset on one network and creates an equivalent version on another. When the user wants to move back, the new token is destroyed and the original asset is released.

These "wrapped" versions of cryptocurrencies allow users to trade, spend, or invest their assets on another blockchain while preserving the value of the original coin.

For example, someone holding ETH on Ethereum might want to use a decentralized finance application on Solana because transactions are faster or cheaper. A bridge makes that possible without requiring the user to sell their asset first.

Without bridges, users would often have to sell one cryptocurrency, move the money through an exchange, and buy another asset on a different blockchain. That would make decentralized finance, blockchain gaming, and many other crypto applications far less convenient.

In short, bridges solve one of crypto's biggest challenges: getting different blockchain networks to work together.

Why are bridges attractive to hackers?

The same feature that makes bridges useful also makes them difficult to secure.

Unlike a normal blockchain transaction, which takes place on a single network, a bridge has to coordinate activity across two or more blockchains. It often relies on multiple smart contracts, validators, liquidity pools, and messaging systems working together.

That complexity is exactly what attracts attackers. As Brian Pak, Head of APAC Policy at Chainalysis, put it, bridges have become “very notorious” targets because they are “trying to interconnect different chains.” Every additional component creates another opportunity for something to go wrong.

Whether a bridge relies on a small group of validators or a more decentralized verification system, users must trust it to confirm that assets can move safely between blockchains.

Bridges also tend to hold large pools of cryptocurrency because they safeguard the original assets backing tokens issued on other blockchains. As a result, a single vulnerability can potentially expose hundreds of millions of dollars.

Researchers estimate that attacks on cross-chain bridges have caused nearly $4.3 billion in losses since 2021, making them one of the most heavily targeted areas of decentralized finance. Chainalysis also found that bridge hacks accounted for nearly 70% of all cryptocurrency stolen in 2022, highlighting just how frequently attackers targeted the technology.

While the largest attacks occurred in 2021 and 2022, the problem has not disappeared. Major incidents such as the Multichain collapse in 2023, the Orbit Chain hack in 2024, and the recent Allbridge exploit show that bridge security remains an ongoing challenge.

Can bridges ever be completely secure?

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin raised similar concerns after a series of bridge hacks in 2022, arguing that "the future will be multi-chain, but it will not be cross-chain" because there are "fundamental limits to the security of bridges that hop across multiple 'zones of sovereignty.'"

His point was not that blockchains should remain isolated. Rather, he argued that moving assets between independent networks inevitably introduces additional security risks.

Developers have responded by redesigning how bridges work. Newer approaches rely less on trusted intermediaries and more on cryptographic verification, while security firms continue to push for stronger audits, decentralized validation, and continuous monitoring to reduce the risk of attacks.

Why bridges are here to stay

Despite repeated attacks, few people believe crypto can function without bridges.

As more blockchain networks emerge, users increasingly expect to move assets between them as easily as sending money between bank accounts. Without bridges, each blockchain would remain largely isolated, limiting the growth of decentralized finance and other cross-chain applications.

The lesson from incidents like the Allbridge exploit is not that bridges have failed. It is that they have become too important to ignore. Every major attack exposes new weaknesses, but it also pushes developers to build more secure systems.

Every new blockchain increases the need for secure connections between networks. That means the future of crypto is unlikely to involve fewer bridges. Instead, it will depend on making them secure enough that most users rarely have to think about how they work.

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