Plain English
A bridge is a system that lets you move tokens from one blockchain to another. Lock ETH on Ethereum, get wrapped ETH on Arbitrum. Lock USDC on Solana, get USDC on Ethereum. Bridges are the connective tissue of multi-chain DeFi — and historically the single largest source of hacks.
How it actually works
Two main models: (1) Lock-and-mint — original tokens are locked in a smart contract on chain A, and “wrapped” representations are issued on chain B. (2) Burn-and-mint — native cross-chain tokens like Circle’s CCTP destroy the asset on one chain and issue a new one on the destination. Lock-and-mint is more common and more dangerous: if the lock contract gets hacked, every wrapped token across every chain is unbacked.
What it means for you
Bridge selection matters more than chain selection for safety. Major bridge hacks (Ronin $625M, Wormhole $325M, Nomad $190M) all came from lock-and-mint designs. For serious capital, prefer canonical bridges (Arbitrum/Optimism native bridges) and burn-mint protocols (CCTP for USDC) over third-party wrappers. Never park large balances in wrapped assets longer than necessary.
Will this information be valuable to you?
Already a member? Send this term to your coach inside the community and tell them exactly what you need help with — we will build a plan around it.
New here? Join the membership, become a student, or sit in on the community. Your starting point is one short call.
Educational content only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice.