Flare to develop Bitcoin bridge for Algorand

Flare has received a 7-figure SuperGrant from Algorand to build a Bitcoin bridge that will help support the growth of a robust Algorand ecosystem.

In recent months, blockchain bridges have been making the headlines with the Solana Wormhole bridge hack of $200 million, followed closely by the Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge hack of $615 million.

With ongoing bridge vulnerabilities, security must be a higher priority in the future. 

Flare announced details of the partnership in a tweet disclosing the four main tenants of the partnership: to safely deliver #Bitcoin to Algorand, to engineer a $BTC FAsset, to integrate consensus to enhance bridge security, and receipt of a 7 figure Supagrant from Alogrand.

? Very excited to announce:

We are building a #Bitcoin Bridge for @Algorand!?

✅ Safely delivering #Bitcoin to Algorand
✅ Engineering a $BTC FAsset
✅ Integrating consensus to enhance bridge security
✅ Receiving 7-figure Supagrant #Flare $FLRhttps://t.co/WU24tRe0KV

— Flare ☀️ (@FlareNetworks) April 26, 2022

The Algorand Foundation also expressed its excitement at developing critical Bitcoin infrastructure.

The bridge being built by Flare is an example of the critically needed development for a liquid cross-chain future. It will enable secure trustless interoperability between ALGO and BTC, plus other non-smart contract tokens such as DOGE, LTC, XRP and XLM.

— Algorand Foundation (@AlgoFoundation) April 26, 2022

The bridge being built by Flare for Algorand is one such example. It will enable secure, trustless interoperability between ALGO and BTC, plus other non-smart contract tokens such as DOGE, LTC, XRP, and XLM. 

This new bridging approach will be constructed using Flare’s decentralized interoperability protocols – the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO) and the State Connector. 

Flare co-founder and CTO Sean Rowan said:

“We have a huge amount of respect for the Algorand team and are excited to be developing a secure and trustless bridge for the Algorand ecosystem. The simple fact is that existing approaches to bridging have time and again been proven unsatisfactory. Flare’s new approach is an entirely different way, built from the ground up rather than being based on existing bridging technology — and will bring a breakthrough in secure, decentralized interoperability between any and all chains.” 

The Algorand blockchain, designed by MIT professor and Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali has established itself as a reliable player in the blockchain ecosystem with a positive reputation for its measuring approach towards interoperability. It has established trust with its consensus-level security and protects users with a consistent focus on secure transactions.

Algorand Foundation head of DeFi Daniel Oon said:

“We’re excited to partner with Flare and welcome them to the Algorand ecosystem. Our grant partnership with Flare will develop key DeFi infrastructure with a bridge to Bitcoin, opening up opportunities for further collaboration and innovation.  We look forward to our partnership bringing value to our respective communities.”

Flare Network is currently building a new Layer 1 that aims to connect to all blockchains safely. Using  Flare’s State Connector and the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO) allows them to deliver secure interoperability between any two chains.