# Bridges: Essential yet Vulnerable in Blockchain Ecosystems

Bridges facilitate asset transfer across different blockchains, yet they are highly susceptible to security breaches. Orbiter Finance, operational since 2021, has established a reputation for reliability and stability in this critical domain.

# Rapid Growth in the Bridge Market

The bridge market is expanding swiftly, driven by the emergence of new chains and the burgeoning DeFi sector. By 2027, it is projected that the annual volume of assets transferred via bridges will reach $510.7 billion. Key to capturing market share are fast connections, technical stability, and low fees.

Orbiter Finance, with its robust product offering, aims to expand beyond bridges to create an omni-chain infrastructure through its Vizing initiative. This effort seeks to revolutionize the transfer of data and assets across chains.

# The OGs of the Bridge Market: What You Need to Know

In the volatile cryptocurrency market, many projects come and go, and bridges, which connect disparate blockchains, are a fundamental yet challenging infrastructure component. They not only link two blockchains but also enable swift and efficient asset transfers across networks. Despite their importance, bridges are frequent targets for attacks. A notable example is the Wormhole Bridge hack, where hackers exploited a vulnerability in Solana’s smart contract to fraudulently mint and steal 120,000 wETH, which they converted into actual ETH on the Ethereum network. Such breaches spread their impact across all interconnected blockchains, akin to the collapse of a bridge between two cities affecting both.

Bridges are tempting targets for hackers because they manage vast amounts of capital using code-based trust systems. The inherent complexity of reconciling different blockchain protocols increases the potential for vulnerabilities. Furthermore, operating with a few nodes can expose them to significant risks if keys are compromised. Ultimately, trustless environments are still designed by humans, and human errors can lead to security lapses.

In the current ecosystem, it is crucial to identify which projects have maintained stable services. Orbiter Finance stands out, having provided bridge services since 2021 without interruption, securing steady growth and user trust. Supported initially by prominent investors like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and OKX Ventures, Orbiter Finance has distinguished itself in the bridge market.

# Key Factors in a Growing Bridge Market

The blockchain ecosystem continues to grow with the introduction of new chains, benefiting the bridge market in stages.

1. **Incentive Phase**: New chains attract investors’ attention with incentives like airdrops, driving initial asset transfers through bridge protocols.
2. **DeFi Activation**: As DeFi services on chains mature, funds mobilized through bridges find use in lending, staking, and liquidity provision, further increasing bridge transaction volumes.
3. **Diversified Dapp Phase**: New Dapps, such as NFT marketplaces and games, attract additional funds, normalizing bridge usage.

With continued growth, especially in new chain activation and ecosystem maturity, the bridge market is set to expand. DeFiLlama reports that the annual bridge asset volume will reach $256.9 billion by 2024, doubling from 2023 and excluding certain chains, suggesting actual volumes could be higher. Despite qualitative project scarcity, quantitative growth is rampant, predicting a $510.7 billion volume by 2027.

### Essentials for Market Leadership

To secure stable fee income and market share in the growing bridge market, three key elements are critical:

1. **Speed in Connecting to New Chains**: Quickly establishing connections with emerging chains.
2. **Technical Stability**: Providing a reliable and secure environment.
3. **Competitive Speed and Fees**: Offering appealing speeds and low fees to investors.

In this context, Orbiter Finance excels as a decentralized bridge enabling asset transfers across various networks, including Abstract, Story, and Solana, among others. Rapid transaction speeds (10-20 seconds) and low fees are crucial factors driving user adoption.

# Vizing: Orbiter Finance’s Vision

Orbiter Finance envisions extending beyond bridge services to enhance interoperability in an L2-centric environment. Traditional cross-chain solutions focus on asset transfers but find themselves increasingly burdened by the need to facilitate data transfers. Orbiter Finance aims to solve this by building Vizing, an Ethereum Layer 2 network based on ZK technology. Vizing enables efficient on-chain messaging and cross-chain data transfers, with cryptographic proofs ensuring data validity and security.

The Vizing architecture has two principal strengths:

1. **Single Account Management**: Users can manage multiple Layer 2s with one account.
2. **Consistent Execution Environment**: Developers can deploy across multiple chains with single coding efforts.

Orbiter Finance plans to expand its influence by addressing critical interaction challenges among Layer 2 networks, supported by programs like their grant initiative.

# The Stronger Ecosystem of Orbiter Finance

While Ethereum faces scalability issues and limited transaction capacity, Orbiter Finance is pioneering a roadmap for a seamless omni-chain infrastructure. This includes:

1. **Omnichain Wallet System**: Minimizes L1 data access, offering a unified account number across networks.
2. **Relay Protocols**: Facilitates direct asset transfers between rollups without relying on Ethereum L1.
3. **Liquidity Integration Layers**: Enables asset movement and value transfer across chains.
4. **Parallel Execution Contracts**: Ensures that DApps like Vizing automatically deploy across all rollups, negating regional redeployment requirements.

As a result, decentralization and scalability are achieved without compromising security, positioning Orbiter Finance to enhance the overall efficiency of the blockchain ecosystem.

# Sustainable Vision Underpinned by Solid Fundamentals

Orbiter Finance’s foundation in rapid chain connections, technical robustness, and competitive service offers practical benefits to users, securing a solid user base. Concurrently, it articulates a rational future vision, addressing current L2 ecosystem challenges and developing phased solutions.

Unlike competitors merely presenting yet-to-be-implemented visions, Orbiter Finance continues to grow its business systematically, actively developing expansion technologies like Vizing. As the L2 ecosystem matures, bridging and omni-chain infrastructures will become indispensable for complex DeFi strategies across multiple chains. The growing need for cross-chain asset movement and integrated DeFi strategies underlines the crucial role of bridge services.

Continuous monitoring is essential to ensure that services like Vizing operate consistently and effectively. Although still in its initial stages, Orbiter Finance is methodically expanding its capabilities.

*This article is a comprehensive analysis derived from Tiger Research’s report, “Orbiter Finance: The Hub Connecting All Chains,” also available on the official Tiger Research website.*