The Wormhole Foundation, the developer of the largest cross-chain bridge, recently unveiled its latest project, the Wormhole Gateway — a blockchain based on Cosmos application-specific blockchain framework.
Wormhole Gateway aims to further enhance the accessibility of the Cosmos ecosystem by connecting it to Wormhole's existing 23 blockchain integrations. It is expected that with Wormhole's industry-leading liquidity, this cooperation has the potential to steer top assets and significant liquidity to the Cosmos ecosystem.
Wormhole's developers also say that Gateway will be used as an additional verification layer for its existing Guardian consensus mechanism and thus enhance the transparency and security of the bridge.
Cross-chain bridges are often considered the weakest link in digital asset infrastructure, as they can be prone to errors and attacks by hackers. Wormhole was attacked in 2022, which resulted in the loss of $140 million worth of users' funds.
The first to sign up for the new service was Osmosis, the largest app chain on Cosmos and a major player in the DeFi space. The Wormhole Foundation recently showcased the Gateway project at Osmocon, a community conference held in Paris by the creators of Osmosis.
Osmosis Labs Co-Founder Sunny Aggarwal claimed that "the Gateway by Wormhole provides a secure bridge between Cosmos and other cryptocurrency networks, streamlining cross-chain liquidity and message routing."
Wormhole Gateway operates on Cosmos's native Inter-blockchain Communication protocol (IBC). In its announcement, Wormhole Foundation referred to this protocol as "a gold standard for security". The Gateway also benefits from IBC Hooks, allowing smooth integration with Cosmos's native smart contracts.
It has also been suggested that Gateway will itself become part of Cosmos's internal interchain transfer protocol, although working in the background and with no separate interface. Wormhole developers stress that the bridge chain is committed to improving the ecosystem rather than profiting from it:
Gateway’s purpose is to drive liquidity to grow the Cosmos ecosystem, not to charge users additional fees for transferring their own assets.
Further specifics about Gateway will be revealed soon. From the outset Gateway will connect with several major Cosmos chains, with the objective to expand its connection network in the near future.
