Validators for the bridge that connects Ethereum to the Ronin Network have voted to adopt Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) as the network's canonical cross-chain infrastructure.

The decision aims to improve the security of assets bridged to the Ronin ecosystem, Chainlink said in a press release. After a three-phase selection process involving proposals from Chainlink CCIP, LayerZero, and Axelar, Chainlink won the backing with 10 votes, LayerZero obtained 3 votes, and Axelar received none.

Phuc Thai, Head Researcher at Ronin developer Sky Mavis, explained that "security was the number one most important factor when deciding which cross-chain protocol would secure the future of the Ronin ecosystem.”

The decision to increase Ronin Bridge’s security features comes after it’s fallen victim to hacks multiple times in the past. As Decrypt reported in early August, the Ronin Bridge lost about $12 million worth of assets.

Fortunately, at that time, the assets were quickly returned to the bridge operators by the ethical hackers, who preemptively hacked the system to prevent bad actors from doing so. The August hack pales in comparison to one in March 2022, which resulted in the loss of $622 million from the network.  in an attack that the U.S. Treasury pinned on North Korea's infamous Lazarus hacking group.

The bridge was down for months, but ultimately revived with added decentralization measures and Sky Mavis refunded affected users. In February, the Ronin bridge saw $9.5 million worth of ETH be taken from its wallets, including those of Sky Mavis and Ronin Network co-founder Jeff Zirlin.

The CCIP integration will begin with support for bridge transfers between Ethereum and the Ronin Network, with the full migration expected to occur over the next two to three months.

Users are not required to take any action during this transition. All existing tokens on Ronin will be upgraded to utilize CCIP for native cross-chain transfers without requiring a user-triggered migration process.

Chainlink's CCIP was chosen because it employs multiple decentralized oracle networks, an independent risk management network, node operators, and additional security measures like rate limiting and time-locked upgrades.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.