OpenZeppelin, the most trusted provider of open source standards for building secure blockchain applications, and Interop Labs, the initial developer of Axelar, a leading web3 interoperability platform, announced today the launch of OpenBridge, an open source framework for developers to integrate multiple interoperability protocols in a single message. OpenBridge is built on the ERC-7786 crosschain messaging standard, recently endorsed by the Ethereum Foundation’s Interoperability Working Group.
With OpenBridge, an application can combine multiple interoperability protocols in a single multichain transaction, requiring verification from some or all of them before the transaction is approved. This configuration, sometimes called x of y of n, can be used to enhance security for high-value transactions.
OpenZeppelin and Interop Labs announced OpenBridge ahead of ZuBerlin, an Ethereum developer conference that will gather industry leaders, founders, and researchers working on crosschain interoperability.
“This is about giving developers composability in cross-chain, without putting any proprietary code, externally owned accounts or venture-backed middlemen in between,” said Sergey Gorbunov, CEO of Interop Labs and co-founder of Axelar protocol. “Most importantly, OpenBridge is open source, just like the ERC-7786 standard it is built upon.”
ERC-7786 provides a standard application programming interface (API) for crosschain messaging, eliminating vendor lock-in by allowing developers to switch providers or expand coverage without rewriting application logic. It has been designed to integrate with any protocol or bridge (supporting ERC-7786 natively or through gateway adapters). At present, Axelar and Wormhole connections are enabled using adapters.
Working on a similar concept to a multi-signature wallet, OpenBridge sends messages through multiple ERC-7786-compliant bridges and requires multiple confirmations before delivery. For example, OpenBridge would enable a DeFi protocol to set an added layer of security for high-value loans, requiring 2-out-of-3 interoperability protocols to confirm collateral before issuing a crosschain loan.
“Our goal is to make secure multichain development as intuitive as developing for a single chain. By building OpenBridge on the ERC-7786 standard, we’re giving developers a composable, open source framework that lets them easily utilize multiple bridges at once for maximum security and reliability, while also ensuring that any bridge can be added via an ERC-7786 adapter,” said Jonathan Alexander, CTO of OpenZeppelin.
