Range intends to transform IBC and the interchain into becoming the safest DeFi ecosystem, for which forming connections with Osmosis and Stride are on the anvil. Together, they will develop risk tools like the IBC dashboard and enhance the forthcoming IBC rate limits v2 deliverance. The idea to hone in on this is because it is the greatest decentralized service for improving the safety factors related to the interchain.
Bridges are the most vulnerable in crypto, responsible for over $3 billion in losses. Many bridges take care of big TVL and come with complicated codebases, attracting the interest of fraudsters. Yet, a major amount of hacking incidents are attributed to software bugs.
Sometime in 2022, the BSC bridge experienced a siphoning off of $100 million. This was attributed to a shortcoming within the IAVL Merkle proof authentication mechanism utilizing a not-looked-after Cosmos IBC library. Following that, the Dragonberry weakness surfaced, bringing about proof in IBC for twice spending assets on various chains.
In retaliation, Osmosis brought in IBC rate limits following the BSC and Dragonberry mishap. IBC rate limits are the ceilings during inactive times and calculate the net flow of an asset. This system stops shifting large quantities of funds, lessening the risk factor.
What differentiates rate limits from post-applied safety factors is that they do not provide sufficient centralization points within a protocol and blockchain.
Rate limits are becoming mandatory for blockchains harnessing economic functions and TVLs linked to interchain, similar to the Wormhole Bridge.
IBC rate limits were initially created by Osmosis, being positioned live in 2023. Within the Osmosis execution, the rate limit concept is executed as a CosmWasm smart contract, connecting with an IBC middleware packing that enfolds the average ICS-20 transfer application.
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