Hyperbridge relaunches with decentralized overhaul after April exploit

Hyperbridge says it has fully redesigned its interoperability architecture following the April exploit that forced the protocol offline and exposed critical centralization risks inside its bridge infrastructure.

In a June 15 announcement, the protocol confirmed that bridging operations have resumed after what it described as a complete architectural overhaul rather than a simple exploit patch.

The relaunch follows Hyperbridge’s April 13 exploit, in which attackers exploited a vulnerability in its token gateway infrastructure. Instead of restoring the old system, the team said it used the downtime to redesign the protocol into what it now calls an “interoperability hyperstructure.”

According to the announcement, the upgrade removes several centralized operational components that previously relied on the Polytope Labs team.

Hyperbridge removes centralized proving system

One of the protocol’s biggest changes involves cross-chain proof generation.

Before the rebuild, only the Polytope Labs team generated and submitted the zero-knowledge proofs used to verify Polkadot consensus on EVM chains.

Hyperbridge now says proof generation is fully permissionless. Any operator can run the open-source prover, submit cryptographic proofs, and earn rewards without requiring approval from the team.

The protocol said submitted proofs are now published on-chain and can be independently verified by relayers, developers, and downstream users.

The relayer system itself has also been redesigned. Hyperbridge merged previously separated consensus and messaging infrastructure into a single relayer binary, reducing operational complexity and lowering barriers for independent operators.

Governance controls shifted away from core team

The protocol also removed several centralized governance mechanisms introduced during earlier development phases.

According to the announcement, Hyperbridge eliminated its sudo governance pallet, which previously allowed the core team to make emergency network changes.

Future network upgrades will now require token-holder voting, while treasury disbursements must pass through public governance authorization.

The protocol further changed how collator slots are assigned.

Instead of being appointed by the team, operators must now earn reputation through network activity such as relaying messages, submitting proofs, and maintaining validator updates.

Hyperbridge described the model as permissionless and resistant to Sybil attacks because reputation must be earned through useful work.

New bridge model gives issuers more control

Another major change involves Hyperbridge’s token architecture.

The protocol said it has deprecated its shared TokenGateway system and replaced it with a “Hyperfungible Token” model.

Hyperbridge said the design allows issuers to customize security policies without requiring protocol-wide coordination.

The relaunch also introduces a subscription-based economic model for cross-chain bandwidth, with applications paying stablecoin-denominated fees for interoperability services.

Hyperbridge targets existing LayerZero applications

The protocol also launched a LayerZero-compatible adapter to attract existing omnichain applications.

According to the announcement, existing OFTs and OApps can integrate Hyperbridge’s ISMP transport layer without requiring migration or redeployment.

The protocol described the adapter as a way for projects to upgrade underlying security assumptions while preserving their existing LayerZero infrastructure.

Final Summary

• Hyperbridge resumed operations after redesigning its bridge infrastructure following the April exploit.
• The protocol removed centralized proving and governance systems while introducing permissionless relayers and modular token security.