Blockchain interoperability developer Union Labs has raised $4 million in seed funding to construct a bridge connecting completely different Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks with zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs.
The funding was led by enterprise corporations together with Galileo, Semantic Ventures, Tioga Capital, and Nascent. Different buyers within the spherical embody Lightshift and Refrain One. The capital raised will probably be used for hiring and growth efforts.
In contrast to modern bridging options, Union doesn’t grant relayers particular authority, making certain personal keys will not be a goal for safety hacks, as they can not take management of the protocol. Messages are verified utilizing ZK proofs as a substitute.
“Probably the most outstanding hacks are bridge hacks, but bridges stay important infrastructure for nearly all tasks, displaying the necessity for higher, extra resilient merchandise. It’s our duty to innovate new methods to guard these belongings and additional the adoption of ZK applied sciences to appreciate a safe and interoperable cross-chain future,” mentioned Karel Kubat, founding father of Union Labs.
Architectural breakdown: Union’s ZK bridge parts
Union’s ZK bridge structure consists of two key parts that allow the mission to facilitate Cosmos’ communication protocol, often called IBC, on Ethereum; CometBLS, the consensus mechanism, and Galois, the zero-knowledge prover system.
Union’s CometBLS consensus permits the switch of any asset natively to any chain with out counting on third events, oracles, or multi-signatures (multi-party computation). CometBLS augments Cosmos’ Tendermint consensus, in line with the workforce.
