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Blockchain & Crypto vocabulary · Networks, Forks & Scaling

Bridge

Meaning in blockchain & crypto, with examples

/brɪdʒ/nounCommon term

In blockchain & crypto, bridge means: A service or set of smart contracts that moves tokens or data from one blockchain to another, usually by locking the asset on one chain and issuing an equivalent on the other.

In Turkish: köprü, zincirler arası köprü

How it is used

Used as a noun (a cross-chain bridge) and a verb (bridge your tokens to the L2). Bridges have been the target of some of the largest hacks in crypto, so security teams treat them as high-risk.

Example sentences

  1. It took about fifteen minutes to bridge the tokens from Ethereum to the layer 2.

  2. The bridge was paused after the team noticed unusual withdrawals.

Common collocations

  • cross-chain bridge
  • bridge tokens
  • bridge hack
  • bridge to a layer 2
  • layer 2A network built on top of a layer 1 blockchain that handles transactions faster and more cheaply, then sends the results back to the main chain for security. Rollups and the Lightning Network are examples.
  • exploitAn attack that takes advantage of a bug or design weakness, often in a smart contract or bridge, to steal funds or make a system behave in a way its creators did not intend.
  • smart contractA program stored on a blockchain that runs automatically when certain conditions are met. Once deployed it usually cannot be changed, and it can hold and move funds without a middleman.
  • layer 1A base blockchain that processes and finalizes transactions on its own network, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Other systems can be built on top of it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Networks, Forks & Scaling

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