Table of Contents
TL;DR,
- Nigerian engineers raised $5.8M to build Hyperbridge, a cross-chain bridge that processed $92.4M in transactions using cryptographic finality proofs instead of vulnerable multisig systems.
- Hyperbridge replaces flawed multisig bridges with mathematical guarantees, eliminating the $600M hack risks that have plagued blockchain interoperability since 2021.
- The Lagos-built protocol now serves as Polkadot’s native bridge, connecting 14 blockchains and providing African developers secure infrastructure to access global crypto liquidity.
Nigeria isn’t just Africa’s leading P2P trading industry; it’s also the continent’s leading home for developers. The proof is vivid, especially from global blockchain ecosystems like Base, Lisk, and Polkadot, which look for developer visionaries and those willing to challenge the status quo.
This particular story zooms in on two young Nigerian engineers, Seun Lanlege and David Salami, who recently went viral after flaunting a Benz after raising $5.8 million for their startup. On the surface, the clip, posted by Abayomi Semudara, portrayed stereotypical founders who were drunk on venture capital success.
However, the real narrative breaks down the vision, interest, and innovation of two Nigerian engineers building a trustless cross-chain bridge that took two years of deep research and hard mathematics. A decentralized bridge protocol designed to carry value across siloed chains without human custodians.
Why blockchain interoperability became the industry’s unfinished business
Blockchain interoperability is among the few hurdles the market still struggles to master. This is what led the World Economic Forum to flag blockchain as “unfit” for enterprise adoption. Lanlege explained it uniquely:
“Think of blockchains as railway tracks. You can send assets freely along a single track, but moving from one track to another isn’t so simple.”
More chains only further the complexity, and along the way the need to switch between chains only grows, raising concerns over scaling and accessing various markets. This is why both these engineers sought to create a bridge layer, which adds the final element of borderless value transfer.
From multisig traps to math: Rethinking blockchain bridge security
Multiple cross-chain bridges exist; the likes of Poly Network, Binance Bridge, and Wormhole have each given their version of enabling blockchain interoperability. According to WiseGuy Reports, the current global blockchain market is valued at $3.75 billion and estimated to reach $25 billion by 2035.
With Bitcoin steadily shifting the entire blockchain ecosystem toward traditional markets, adoption is expected to rapidly increase. However, according to the Lanlege, there is a fundamental problem with most cross-chain bridges: multisig.
“Existing bridges that have launched in a bid to unify blockchains have all been very flawed because they’re powered by a multisig.”
Multi-signature systems require several parties of computers holding private keys to approve transactions and reduce single points of failure. It sounds secure on paper, but reality has a funny way of turning this around. The problem boils down to blockchain bridge security and trusting other people and servers, something the entire ecosystem once paid dearly for.
In 2021, the Poly Network bridge, one of blockchain’s largest heists, saw $600 million vanish after its private keys were compromised. Two years later another attack traced back to a compromised 3-of-4 multisig wallet proved the vulnerability wasn’t an isolated incident.
However, the deeper issue comes in its practicality. Most bridges don’t move crypto across chains; instead, they lock your tokens on one blockchain and issue an IOU on another. It’s more like collecting your funds at Western Union and asking them to notify Absa Bank of the new balance. Even by security standards, a honeypot doesn’t come close to luring hackers from all corners.
So a cross-chain bridge comes in, providing blockchain bridge security where it’s needed.
Inside Hyperbridge: the architecture built in Lagos for the world
During an interview, Lanlege coined his approach as “maths and code.” Instead of additional layers of security, Hyperbridge uses smart contracts as inbox/outbox endpoints across chains and a permissionless network of relayers to carry messages.
The platform takes advantage of blockchain’s finality proofs (cryptographic evidence that a transaction is permanent) by collecting them and verifying them on the Hyperbridge chain. This takes produce a trustless pipeline that generates a singular finality proof, which is often verified externally.
L-R Seun Lanlege and David Salami, Cofounders of Polytope Labs
This bidirectional verification creates a mathematical guarantee that every cross-chain bridge transaction is valid on both ends.
“This is where we cracked the solution to scalable blockchain interoperability,” Lanlege said. “Anyone could have built this, but the reason they didn’t is because we were uniquely enabled by the Polkadot network.”
This creates a crypto-economic cross-processor model where Hyperbridge handles the heavy verification and Polkadot handles the overall check, ensuring they are up to code. Additionally, the global network provides the validators (Polkadot Coretime). Think of it as renting computational power for cheap to distribute massive verification workloads efficiently.
The result is the decentralized bridge protocol processes millions of transactions without trusting a single human operator.
The beauty about this ingenious take is that two African engineers pioneered the entire workflow, and today Hyperbridge operates at the protocol layer, alongside notable infrastructure builders like Zone and cNGN.
Traction, funding, and validation
Ironically, Lanlege initially wanted to become a rapper; however, he ended up diving into Bitcoin after his friend introduced him to the concept. True to his knowledge-seeking nature, he mastered blockchain principles quickly, becoming an open-source contributor to Polkadot. When he asked for a job there, “hiring me was a no-brainer,” he said.
So far its $5.65 million in funding is a modest investment compared to LayerZero’s massive venture backing. The platform also gained a $2.5 million seed round led by the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund, plus $2.8 million in a public token sale.
The protocol has verified 10.2 million finality proofs, saved users 12.2 trillion in gas fees, and processed $92.4 million in transaction volume.
Upon launching its token, the market valued Hyperbridge at $70 million, later peaking at $200 million. Lanlege interprets that valuation as “people’s trust, respect, and expectation for the platform to deliver value.”
In a major validation, Polkadot DAO recently voted to make Hyperbridge the native bridge for the entire Polkadot network. The protocol currently supports 14 blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, and Avalanche, with support for 66 independent relayers participating during testnet.
For users wondering how to transfer assets between Ethereum and Solana securely, Hyperbridge offers a trustless alternative to traditional multisig bridges. The decentralized bridge protocol eliminates the trust assumptions that have cost the industry billions in hacks.
What Hyperbridge can do for users and builders in Africa
Africa’s crypto scene has transformed, shifting from value to utility, with many opting for digital assets for payments and on/off-ramp platforms. The cross-chain bridge brings an infrastructural backbone that lets ecosystems talk to each other. Think of the CNGN stablecoin available on Yellow Card. Through Hyperbridge you can easily transact it to cKES from Swypt, a credible and secure path.
For developers, a credible path to build cross-chain applications with full-node security assumptions rather than trusting custodians. It’s not about splashy marketing—Lanlege insists the protocol “speaks for itself.” And in practice, a robust decentralized bridge protocol can help African projects plug into global liquidity and tooling.
“We don’t need to talk too much. Technical blockchain founders can see the math and understand why it works.”
Building this level of technology demands exceptional engineering talent. Besides Lanlege and Salami, Hyperbridge currently employs one engineer from India. The team has launched a bootcamp to train blockchain engineers, hiring several graduates already.
