Synapse

Synapse is a universal interoperability protocol that enables secure cross-chain communication.

Synapse connects blockchains by offering an extensible cross-chain messaging protocol that supports assets, smart contract calls, and more. By leveraging Synapse, blockchains can easily and securely interoperate with each other and developers can build truly cross-chain applications including cross-chain DEX, lending platforms, margining systems, derivatives markets, yield aggregators, and much more.

How does Synapse work?

The Synapse Protocol is comprised of a messaging framework and an economically secure method to reach consensus on the validity of cross-chain transactions. Synapse provides an extensible set of smart contracts that can be deployed on any blockchain which developers can leverage to build truly native cross-chain applications. Synapse offers interoperability support between every blockchain implementation, be it monolithic base layers, roll-ups, or application-specific chains.

The first application built using the protocol (Synapse bridge) enables users to swap assets across the most widely used EVM and non-EVM compatible blockchains. Synapse currently supports the deepest set of cross-chain liquidity out of any of the other interoperability solutions.

Synapse as a base layer protocol has three main components:

1. Generalized Cross-chain Communication
2. Optimistic Security Model
3. Synapse Bridge

Synapse builds secure cross-chain infrastructure necessary to usher in the multi-chain future. The vision for Synapse was born out of the clear realization that new blockchains were integral to onboarding millions of users into crypto as well as a need for seamless interoperability between them.

The Synapse vision consists of three core principles:

1. Security
2. User Experience
3. Composability

These pillars underpin our view for how multi-chain user experiences should evolve. Not only should data be able to freely and securely move between blockchains, users and developers should be able interact with and build applications without feeling as if they're confined to a specific blockchain.

We envision a vibrant ecosystem of user-facing applications that can share state across any blockchain without having to worry about hacks, convoluted UX, or fractured liquidity.

Security

When it comes to cross-chain applications, security is critical. Building interoperability infrastructure that scales upsets the traditional bridging trilemma. For these reasons, Synapse puts security at the core of the protocol's design decisions. Cross-chain transactions are validated by an optimistic verification system in which off-chain actors coordinate to identify malicious transactions and submit a fraud proof during a specified latency window when a faulty transaction is discovered.

In traditional M of N consensus schemes, the cost to attack the network is the cost to co-opt M number of validators. In the optimistic model, the consensus scheme switches to 1 of N, meaning the cost to attack the network is to co-opt all N actors assuming there is one honest actor. As the number of N actors increases, the cost to attack the network becomes unbounded.

The risks of cross-chain protocols have been documented thoroughly, evident by the number of high-profile bridge hacks, but the future is necessarily cross-chain, and an obsession over security is the path to building such.

We strive to use frontier safety technology to protect users, and create infrastructure the community trusts.

User Experience

We build user-experiences with one core principle in mind: make something people want.

We obsess about user experience because that is how we further the multi-chain future. Our focus on user-experience is evident by the Synapse Bridge, which has quickly become the most widely-used generalized cross-chain token bridge. Early on, we built a number of key features that made it safer and easier for users to swap assets across chains. For example, our bridge watcher feature gave users unparalleled insights into the status of their bridge transactions as they moved from chain to chain, something that was unavailable on other bridge offerings.

User experience doesn't stop at users of the Synapse Bridge, it also extends to the developers wanting to leverage Synapse Protocol to build new cross-chain experiences. To that end, we pride ourselves on creating extensible dev tooling that makes it easy for developers to build on top of the protocol.

Fostering strong relationships with bridge users and builders is where we find lots of insights about what users want. Additionally, the protocol is constantly evolving with new features and tool upgrades including support for new blockchains and assets.

We envision a future where the chain that a user is interacting with is completely abstracted, where transactions happen seamlessly and securely.

Composability

The current state of blockchain interoperability is splintered and complex to use given the multitude of new blockchains that host their own state. If we're going to usher in a multi-chain future, interacting with this state must become seamless.

Synapse is designed with the intent to eliminate today's interoperability roadblocks and to make composability a first class citizen in cross-chain application development. Composability is what enables a vibrant application layer as it makes it much easier for new decentralized applications to spawn.

We envision a future where developers can easily integrate Synapse protocol and build industry leading protocols that can share state across all blockchains.