Recently, I saw another cross-chain bridge issue, so I looked into IBC and those "message passing" solutions again. To put it simply, a single cross-chain transfer isn't as simple as clicking a button; you're actually trusting a series of things: the source chain won't roll back, the light client/relay won't act up, the validator set won't suddenly change, the target chain's contract won't be written poorly, and finally, you have to trust the oracle not to give you an outrageous quote. Nowadays, everyone casually says "wait for confirmation" and drags it out forever, but that's really just the consensus we've learned from being burned by these pitfalls. Anyway, I've recently set my goals lower: if I can avoid cross-chain, I avoid it; if I must, I split it into small amounts and multiple transactions—slower but more stable—surprisingly, that makes it easier to stick with.