Stellar Community Fund

ProofBridge (P2P ZK Cross Chain Bridge)

SCF #43

Description

ProofBridge is a peer-to-peer zero knowledge powered cross-chain bridge. Our objective is to make cross-chain transfers as trust-minimised as the underlying blockchains. Every trade is a direct match between two users: a Maker provides liquidity, a Bridger moves funds, and settlement happens only after a zero-knowledge proof confirms both deposits landed on-chain.

This design produces two architectural advantages. First, the protocol never issues new supply. Every trade settles out of existing on-chain liquidity on each side, which eliminates the attack class behind the largest bridge exploits: unlimited-mint bugs and compromised issuance keys. Second, ProofBridge holds no operator authority over user funds. Deposits enter the AdManager and OrderPortal contracts under the user's own authorization, and can only be released by a counterparty-signed order plus a zero-knowledge proof of the paired deposit. There is no administrative unlock path, so the traditional failure mode where a compromised operator drains the pool has no analog in this protocol.