On the Future of ChainBridge
Introducing the chainbridge-core repo
Since its inception, ChainSafe has been passionate about fostering open-source projects, contributing to the web3 ecosystem, and supporting the growth and development of innovative technologies.
Among these projects, one that has left a mark in the space is ChainBridge, a modular and extensible bridging protocol that was one of the first of its kind. Today, we're here to clarify the future of ChainBridge and our new focus on chainbridge-core.
Reflecting on ChainBridge
When we embarked on the ChainBridge journey, we aimed to provide the community with a public good, an open-source protocol allowing seamless interoperability between blockchains. As with all open-source projects, we were thrilled to see unaffiliated forks spring up, taking the foundational design of ChainBridge and creating their unique versions.
However, our excitement was tempered with concern as many of these forks often went unaudited, exposing users to potential risks and vulnerabilities. Despite these challenges, the secure design and functionality of ChainBridge continued (and continues) to inspire other developers and protocols, cementing its legacy within the ecosystem.
Shifting Focus
As our team has grown and evolved, we've realized the need to change our focus. As a result, we will be moving towards supporting ChainBridge in a more limited capacity through the new chainbridge-core repository.
This shift does not signal the end of ChainBridge, but rather a change in how we lend our effort, support, and expertise.
ChainBridge will live on, and we welcome collaborations with new maintainers of the repo. As long as issues continue to get formally submitted on our GitHub, we'll be more than happy to work together to address them.
The Bridge Forward: Chainbridge-core
Chainbridge-core represents an evolution of the original ChainBridge concept, a repository we will continue to maintain and encourage developers to fork and adapt to their needs. As we move forward, we will gladly lend our expertise to other projects that have built their relayer infrastructure based on ChainBridge's open-source software.
Among them is Sygma, an open-source protocol that's taken the code and spun up something entirely new.
The Sygma Collaboration
As Sygma is built using ChainBridge's open-source software, we're incredibly excited about consulting on the project. By doing this, we‘ll ensure that the experience and learnings gleaned from ChainBridge continue to be of value, contributing to Sygma's growth and success.
Above all, we want to emphasize how grateful we are for all the support we've received from our community. The journey with ChainBridge was incredible, and we eagerly look forward to the new challenges ahead. Our commitment to open-source collaboration is as strong as it's ever been, and we look forward to seeing what comes next.
About ChainSafe
ChainSafe is a leading blockchain research and development firm specializing in protocol engineering, cross-chain interoperability, and web3-enabled gaming. Alongside its contributions to major ecosystems such as Ethereum, Polkadot, and Filecoin, ChainSafe creates solutions for developers and teams across the web3 space utilizing expertise in gaming, interoperability, and decentralized storage. As part of its mission to build innovative products for users and improved tooling for developers, ChainSafe embodies an open source and community-oriented ethos to advance the future of the internet.
