Chainlink updates its crypto bridge tech months after a $292 million hack at a rival exposed risks

LayerZero blamed Kelp for using one verifier instead of several, while Kelp said LayerZero staff had reviewed its setup and never objected. CoinGecko data showed nearly half of active LayerZero apps used the same one-verifier arrangement, and Kelp said it would move rsETH to Chainlink.

CCIP 2.0 offers a similar menu of verifiers, which lets companies run their own or hire outside providers such as Infosys and Nethermind. Chainlink's own network of 16 independent node operators still checks every transfer, regardless of what else a user adds.

Users shouldn't have to be "cross-chain security infrastructure experts," the company told CoinDesk.

"Historically, legacy bridges have lost billions due to insecure infrastructure, while in-house builds are slow and expensive," Johann Eid, Chainlink Labs' chief business officer, said in a statement.

The upgrade also changes a safeguard Chainlink used to promote heavily; its Risk Management Network, a separate set of nodes that double-checked transactions, no longer plays that role. Chainlink said that kind of independent check can now come from the optional verifiers instead, which suggests a user who adds nothing now relies on one verifier network, where previously there were two.

Existing Chainlink users were automatically moved to the new version. Still, the company has not named any institution using the new verifiers yet, saying only that Aave and Maple have started adopting some of the upgrade's other features.