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Refusal file · other

Why Ketju rejected Avalanche Bridge

Memo v1Published by Ketju Research

A registry memo, published verbatim and versioned. Superseded versions are recorded, never edited away. A rejection is a judgment for Ketju's client base and thesis, not a universal safety claim. Not investment, legal, tax, or compliance advice.

The memo

REJECTED ON A FOUR-PARTY COMMITTEE SMALLER THAN EVERY OTHER MULTI-PARTY BRIDGE THIS REGISTRY HAS REVIEWED. The Avalanche Bridge, Avalanche's original Ethereum-to-C-Chain canonical bridge accessed through the Core wallet, secures transfers with only four "Wardens" using an Intel SGX secure-enclave design; three of the four must report identical transaction data before the enclave mints or releases funds. That approval set is smaller than the already-rejected Gnosis Chain xDAI Stake Bridge's 4-of-7 validators, and one of the four Wardens is Ava Labs itself, the same organization that built and operates the underlying network — a related-party concentration point none of this registry's other reviewed bridges carry in the same form. It also adds a distinct hardware-trust dependency, Intel SGX attestation, on top of Warden honesty.

What would reopen the file

  • The Warden committee expands materially, for example to seven or more independent parties, with no single approving party also operating the underlying network
  • An independent, dated security audit of the current SGX enclave configuration and Warden software is published with no unresolved high-severity findings
  • The bridge migrates to a design backed by an Ethereum-native fraud-proof or validity-proof system, removing dependence on Warden honesty and SGX hardware attestation
  • Twelve consecutive months with no Warden-collusion, SGX side-channel, or enclave-compromise incident

Facts on file

Verdict
Rejected
Exposure
other
Chains examined
Ethereum
Memo version
v1
Reviewed
Next review

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