Recently, I’ve been looking at IBC and the differences between various messaging and bridge protocols. Basically, it’s about who you trust for cross-chain transactions. IBC is more like two chains running light clients for each other—you need to trust that the other chain’s consensus hasn’t collapsed, that validators aren’t colluding in malicious activities, plus the relay relayer shouldn’t steal your package (it usually can’t steal money, but it can make you wait indefinitely). When it comes to many “bridges,” you have to additionally trust multi-signature setups, verification networks, or oracles, and even trust that the custodial contracts aren’t maliciously written. The more you trust, the more I get nervous. Recently, incentives and points on testnets have become popular again, and everyone is guessing whether the mainnet will issue tokens. I’m currently lowering the number of cross-chain transactions; if it can be solved within the same chain, don’t cross. Cheap transaction fees don’t mean lower risk.