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    Emurgo develops Grail protocol to bridge Cardano and Bitcoin, amidst security concerns

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    Emurgo, the team behind Cardano, is creating a bridge between Cardano and Bitcoin, called the Grail protocol, aiming to develop decentralized finance apps supported by Bitcoin. But, not everyone supports this, expressing concerns over the security of the Bitcoin network. On the other hand, the Grail protocol, inspired by BitVM and using zero-knowledge proofs, aims to enable Bitcoin users to deposit and withdraw without relying on network security. The process involves learning Cardano’s Aiken language and cannot be done easily. The Grail system’s withdrawals could be blocked if all verifiers collude with malicious intent.

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    The latest bridge being built between Cardano and Bitcoin, called the Grail protocol, could be the first step to create decentralized finance (DeFi) apps backed up by Bitcoin. This comes from documents about the bridge’s underneath protocol.

    On October 24, Emurgo, the team behind Cardano, shared that they’re developing this bridge with BTCOS, which is Grail’s developer.

    The next day, Charles Hoskinson, the brains behind Cardano, clarified that the goal is to eventually have DeFi apps on the Cardano network that are backed up by Bitcoin. Also, he said that Bitcoin developers will be able to create apps that are a combo of Cardano and Bitcoin, and they can pay for transaction charges with bitcoin.

    This post was deleted on November 16, but similar comments were shared out by a user named Al’O.

    Not everyone’s on board with this though. Some Bitcoin members are doubtful about the idea of DeFi apps being secured by the Bitcoin network. Critics think that, like before with “Bitcoin layer 2s”, people wouldn’t be able to get their Bitcoin back without the approval of the network’s operator. They feel that this new Cardano/Bitcoin combo network would basically be the same.

    However, the documents for Grail show that Bitcoin users can withdraw from Cardano without needing approval from its validators.

    In layman’s terms, Grail was inspired by an earlier idea called BitVM, where a server would commit to either a “0” or “1” for each bit of data stored. With this, simple games like chess, go, or poker could be run on Bitcoin.

    Grail has made some tweaks to make operations smoother and less complicated by using zero-knowledge proofs. The point is to allow users to deposit Bitcoin without having to trust the network’s security. So even if Cardano’s system gets hijacked by a hacker, users can still withdraw their Bitcoin.

    Creating a fusion of Cardano and Bitcoin apps might take a while, even after the bridge is ready. Developers need to learn Cardano’s Aiken language to create these. This means apps can’t simply be copy-pasted from Ethereum. They have to be designed from scratch.

    Even though the whole process is a lot of work, Hoskinson trusts it’s worth it because there’s $1.5 trillion in the Bitcoin space.

    Keep in mind that withdrawing from the bridge isn’t 100% guaranteed. Edan Yago, co-founder of Grail developer BTC OS, mentioned that withdrawals could be blocked if all the verifiers gang up with ill intent. To hack the Grail system, you’d have to control all the nodes.

    There’s also another solution called OP_CAT that’s supposed to help secure DeFi apps using the Bitcoin network. But this would need a soft fork of the Bitcoin node software, which some Bitcoin nodes are hesitant to do. Eli Ben Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, supports the change and predicts it will go live in the next 12 months. However, Yago thinks it’s risky and has its own challenges to solve.

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