LIVELive Market
7.0
Solid
Best Cross-Chain Bridges · Review

Wormhole

Rebuilt itself after a $325m signature-verification failure and has run cleanly since — on a nineteen-signer guardian model you must trust.

Best For
Solana-to-EVM transfers at scale
Headline Cost
Gas plus relayer cost
Founded
2021
Rank in category
15 of 15
Last Checked
August 2026
The short answer

Wormhole's February 2022 exploit — a bypassed signature check that minted 120,000 unbacked wETH — was covered by Jump Crypta, which is why the bridge still exists. It has run cleanly since with substantial security investment, and its security still rests on a fixed set of nineteen guardian entities.

Score breakdown

Category rubric →
Trust assumptions · 30%
6.0
Exploit history · 25%
5.0
Settlement speed · 15%
8.5
Chain coverage · 15%
9.5
Cost · 15%
8.0

Works well for a specific use case, weaker outside it. The headline 7.0 is the weighted mean of these marks — see our methodology. Not financial advice.

What we liked

  • Widest non-EVM coverage, especially Solana and Sui
  • Losses were fully covered by its backers in 2022
  • Substantial security investment and bug bounty since

Where it falls short

  • The February 2022 exploit remains one of the largest in crypto history
  • Security rests on a guardian set of nineteen known entities

Wormhole is the main route between Solana, Sui, Aptos and the EVM world, and its coverage of non-EVM chains is the broadest available. It is also the site of one of the largest exploits in crypto history.

What happened in 2022

A flaw in signature verification allowed an attacker to mint 120,000 wETH on Solana without depositing anything, worth around $325m at the time. Jump Crypto, a major backer, replaced the funds within days to prevent a cascade through Solana DeFi. Users were made whole because a well-capitalised backer chose to cover it, not because the protocol had a mechanism to.

The guardian model

Nineteen entities observe events on connected chains and sign attestations; a supermajority is required for a message to be accepted. These are known, reputable organisations, which makes collusion unlikely and makes the model a permissioned committee rather than cryptographic verification. Compromising a supermajority of guardian keys remains the theoretical attack.

Since then

Substantial investment in audits, formal verification and a large bug bounty, with no comparable incident in four years. The protocol has expanded into governance messaging, native token transfers and queries.

Who should use it

Users needing routes between non-EVM chains that nothing else covers, at sizes proportionate to a guardian-set trust assumption. For EVM-to-EVM transfers, Across or CCTP are structurally safer.

FAQ

What happened in the Wormhole hack?
In February 2022 a signature verification flaw let an attacker mint 120,000 wETH on Solana without collateral, worth about $325m. Jump Crypto replaced the funds.
How does Wormhole secure transfers now?
Nineteen guardian entities observe chain events and sign attestations, with a supermajority required. It is a permissioned committee rather than cryptographic verification.
Is Wormhole safe now?
It has run without a comparable incident for four years with heavy security investment. The guardian trust assumption is unchanged in kind.
What is Wormhole best for?
Routes involving non-EVM chains such as Solana, Sui and Aptos, where its coverage is the broadest available.

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15WormholeSolana-to-EVM transfers at scaleGas plus relayer cost7.0