This collaboration with Google Cloud strengthens Wormhole’s defense-in-depth security and expands ZK research for Wormhole
Wormhole Foundation, the team supporting the development of the Wormhole platform, announced Google Cloud as the newest addition to the Guardian Network. Wormhole’s Guardian Network is a decentralized set of highly-reputable validator nodes—including RockawayX, P2P, Figment, Everstake, among others—crucial for transaction verification. The Guardian Network is the backbone of the Wormhole ecosystem’s security and verification technology. As a Guardian Node, Google Cloud’s infrastructure strengthens the decentralized network, ensuring uptime while providing verification redundancy coverage across the entire Guardian set by immediately backfilling any Guardian that experiences downtime.
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“Wormhole contributors are constantly working to improve Wormhole’s defense-in-depth security mechanisms. Our collaboration with Google Cloud will enable a platform-wide security upgrade that strengthens Wormhole’s decentralized Guardian Network,” said Dan Reecer, co-founder and COO of Wormhole Foundation. “Google Cloud brings the latest enhancement to Wormhole’s advanced security system to minimize downtime and unverified messages for thousands of application developers and users across over 30 supported blockchains.”
“Google Cloud’s collaboration with Wormhole demonstrates our investment to help scale the Web3 ecosystem by providing powerful computing systems to help the pioneers of Web3 build more securely and efficiently,” said Rishi Ramchandani, Head of Web3 APAC, Google Cloud. “Wormhole provides a universal, open source, and secure interoperability platform across the blockchain ecosystem making them a valuable partner that can maximize the full potential of our technology’s global scale.”
Wormhole’s defense-in-depth security strategy employs a multi-layered approach to safeguard cross-chain communications. The decentralized Guardian Network is reinforced by two critical components: the Global Accountant, which maintains strict 1:1 parity between native and wrapped assets across blockchains, and the Governor, which monitors and limits asset outflows to prevent cross-chain contagion. Together with rigorous auditing and open-source development practices, these mechanisms form a comprehensive security infrastructure that has established Wormhole as a trusted leader in interoperability and the only interoperability protocol unconditionally approved by the security experts of Uniswap’s Bridge Assessment Committee. The addition of Google Cloud to the Guardian Network will further these efforts, by adding security redundancy built on Google Cloud’s reliable, planet-scale infrastructure.
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In addition to adding Google Cloud to the Guardian Network, this collaboration will further accelerate Wormhole’s ZK roadmap to optimize multichain security through extended research and product development. A key initiative will be strengthening provers for rapid, c****, and trustless message verification that is uninterrupted across chains. With Google Cloud’s support, Wormhole is researching the addition of trustless ZK verification mechanisms in addition to the Wormhole Guardians. Google Cloud will also collaborate with Wormhole on the upcoming Wormhole “Sigma” Hackathon in Fall 2024, reinforcing the commitment of both teams in shaping the ZK ecosystem. This collaboration will bring the hackathon participants access to Google Cloud’s deep AI and Web3 expertise including credits, expert sessions from AI engineers, and access to latest technology & tools.
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