Formal Verification of a Fail-Safe Cross-Chain Bridge

Abstract

Cross-chain bridges are financial services that interconnect blockchains. High monetary values flow through these bridges, and their security must be safeguarded. However, designing real-world cross-chain bridges is a difficult endeavor. Due to blockchain’s closed-world nature, tokens cannot be transferred from a sender to a receiver chain; on the contrary, they need complex logic that maintains an equilibrium on both chains, even if either the chains or the bridge fail. This paper formally verifies a model of a novel fail-safe cross-chain bridge to ensure correctness. We define formal requirements and prove the bridge is safe using the Isabelle/HOL proof assistant.