After years of catastrophic bridge exploits that have drained billions of dollars from the crypto ecosystem, Seun Lanlege, CEO and co-founder of Lagos-based Polytope Labs, says it wants to fix this.
According to him, Polytope Labs is building Hyperbridge, a cryptographic interoperability protocol designed to allow blockchains to verify each other directly without relying on humans, committees, or multisignature custodians.
In a sector defined by fragmentation and repeated security failures, Lanlege wants Hyperbridge to become the interoperability standard for the global blockchain industry.
“A multi-chain world has created fragmentation for everyone,” said Lanlege. “Users have their assets spread across multiple blockchains. We’re thinking about ways of consolidating this experience, kind of like how Google consolidated the internet.”
What You Should Know
Lanlege describes Hyperbridge as a “different kind of trustless bridge”, one built on cryptography rather than human oversight.
He argues that the fundamental flaw of existing bridges is their reliance on multisignature committees. These small groups collectively approve transactions using private keys. If those keys are stolen or compromised, the entire system collapses, as seen repeatedly in 2022 when several high-profile bridges were drained in multimillion-dollar attacks.
Lanlege said the mechanics of a bridge are to detect a transaction on one chain, confirm it, and trigger the equivalent action on another. The real challenge lies in who performs that verification.
Most protocols rely on multisig groups or limited validator sets, rather than allowing chains to verify each other directly. Hyperbridge, he explained, breaks from this convention entirely.
Hyperbridge is built as a full blockchain (parachain) powered by Polkadot’s $2.6 billion crypto-economic security. This architecture allows it to verify other chains cryptographically rather than trusting intermediaries.
How Hyperbridge Works
The startup says Hyperbridge verifies everything. It treats blockchain finality as a mathematical truth, not a human decision.
It stores data on its own Polkadot-secured chain and uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) so that Ethereum-compatible chains can verify Polkadot consensus cheaply.
It does not hold funds, run a multisig, or operate as an escrow. Here is a simplified flow:
- User bridges tokens (e.g., Polygon → Ethereum). Polygon finalises the block and produces a validator-signed certificate proving irreversibility.
- Relayers — “permissionless couriers,” not trusted actors carry the certificate to Hyperbridge. Hyperbridge verifies the certificate using cryptography, not human judgement.
- It stores the finality data on its chain and generates a compact ZKP for Ethereum. Relayers deliver a Merkle proof plus the transaction to Ethereum, enabling safe verification.
Unless the cryptographic libraries themselves fail, Lanlege added, the proofs cannot be forged.
The Hyperbridge Architecture
In October, Hyperbridge launched Intent Gateway, a consumer-facing swap product. The team says it offers:
- Safe path: traditional burn-and-mint bridge.
- Fast path: instant token swaps using liquidity providers, who settle through the trustless bridge later.
If settlement fails, users are automatically refunded via cryptographic enforcement.
“With HyperBridge, your funds are entirely in your control,” said Lanlege. “And it’s either we give you those funds on the other side [of the bridged transaction] or you get your money back. This is what we mean by fully trustless and fully sovereign systems.”
As of November 2025, Hyperbridge has processed over $180 million and delivered 53,000+ cross-chain messages on mainnet.
What This Means
Polytope Labs operates with only 10 team members, split evenly between engineering and business functions.
The startup raised a $5.3 million seed round in April and maintains a low burn rate, giving it nearly four years of runway.
According to Lanlege, Hyperbridge plans to integrate with major crypto wallets, support multi-chain stablecoin and token issuers, strengthen block producer and relayer incentives via BRIDGE token fees.
Security, he emphasises, remains the project’s foremost obsession. Hyperbridge’s audits are handled by Security Research Labs (SR Labs).
Experts say Hyperbridge is an ambitious bet that cryptography, not humans, should serve as the trust layer of the multi-chain world. If its design holds up under scale, Hyperbridge could fundamentally rewrite how blockchains communicate, trade value, and exchange messages.
Talking Points
It is striking that Polytope Labs is tackling one of the crypto industry’s biggest weaknesses with a genuinely trustless solution. Hyperbridge’s design removes reliance on multisignature committees, addressing a core vulnerability that has cost the industry billions.
This single architectural shift positions Hyperbridge as a practical, long-term answer to real interoperability challenges faced by developers, exchanges, and multi-chain platforms that cannot afford repeated security failures.
At Techparley, we see how a protocol like this can significantly strengthen cross-chain infrastructure, especially as the industry moves toward a multi-chain future where secure communication between blockchains becomes non-negotiable.
The way Hyperbridge leverages Polkadot’s cryptographic security, zero-knowledge proofs, and full-chain verification means developers can build cross-chain applications with the same confidence and transparency expected from on-chain transactions. It effectively raises the security baseline for everyone.
As Hyperbridge scales, we see an opportunity where strategic integration with major wallets, stablecoin issuers, and emerging Layer-2 ecosystems could accelerate usage and deepen its reach across the industry.
——————-
Bookmark Techparley.com for the most insightful technology news from the African continent.
Follow us on Twitter @Techparleynews, on Facebook at Techparley Africa, on LinkedIn at Techparley Africa, or on Instagram at Techparleynews.
