Wormhole Foundation, the team supporting the development of the Wormhole platform, has announced the addition of Google Cloud as the newest member of its Guardian Network. This collaboration strengthens Wormhole’s depth security and expands research into zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) for the platform.
Strengthening the Guardian Network
Wormhole’s Guardian Network is a decentralized set of highly reliable validating nodes, including RockawayX, P2P, Figment, and Everstake, among others. This network is essential for transaction verification and forms the backbone of Wormhole’s security technology and verification ecosystem.
As a Guardian Node, Google Cloud’s infrastructure reinforces the decentralized network, ensuring uptime and providing redundancy coverage of verification across the Guardian set. This is achieved by immediately replacing any Guardian experiencing downtime.
Improving Security and Efficiency
Dan Reecer, co-founder and COO of Wormhole Foundation, highlighted that the collaboration with Google Cloud will enable a security upgrade across the platform. This enhancement will strengthen Wormhole’s decentralized Guardian Network, minimizing downtime and unverified messages for thousands of app developers and users on over 30 supported blockchains.
Rishi Ramchandani, Web3 APAC Director at Google Cloud, noted that this collaboration demonstrates the company’s commitment to scaling the Web3 ecosystem. Google Cloud provides powerful computing systems to help Web3 pioneers build more securely and efficiently.
Depth Security Strategy
Wormhole’s depth security strategy employs a multi-layered approach to safeguard communications across chains. The decentralized Guardian Network is reinforced with two critical components:
- The Global Counter, which maintains strict 1:1 parity between native and wrapped assets across all blockchains.
- The Governor, which monitors and limits asset outputs to prevent contagion between chains.
These mechanisms, along with rigorous auditing practices and open-source code development, form a comprehensive security infrastructure that has established Wormhole as a trusted leader in interoperability.
Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK) Research and Development
In addition to adding Google Cloud to the Guardian Network, this collaboration will accelerate Wormhole’s roadmap in zero-knowledge proofs to optimize multi-channel security. A key initiative will be enhancing testers for fast, cost-effective, and trustless message verification that doesn’t interrupt between chains.
With the support of Google Cloud, Wormhole is researching the addition of trustless ZK verification mechanisms, in addition to Wormhole’s Guardians.
Wormhole’s “Sigma” Hackathon
Google Cloud will also collaborate with Wormhole on the upcoming “Sigma” Hackathon in fall 2024. This collaboration will provide hackathon participants access to Google Cloud’s deep expertise in AI and Web3, including credits, expert sessions with AI engineers, and access to the latest technologies and tools.
This initiative reinforces both teams’ commitment to shaping the ZK ecosystem and promises to drive innovation in the blockchain interoperability field.