Solv Protocol Will Dump LayerZero, Migrate $700M Tokenized Bitcoin Tech to Chainlink

Another crypto project is leaving blockchain interoperability protocol LayerZero after the fallout from the $292 million Kelp DAO exploit intensified scrutiny around cross-chain bridge security.

In an announcement Thursday, Solv Protocol said it is migrating the infrastructure that powers more than $700 million in tokenized Bitcoin from LayerZero to Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), following what it described as a broader security review of cross-chain systems.

The protocol said it is deprecating LayerZero bridge support for Corn, Berachain, Rootstock, and TAC while standardizing its infrastructure around Chainlink’s CCIP.

“Security is the foundation of everything we build at Solv, and our migration to Chainlink CCIP reinforces that commitment at the highest level,” Solv Protocol Chief Technology Officer Will Wang said in a statement. “By fully securing SolvBTC and xSolvBTC cross-chain transfers with CCIP, we are providing users the highest assurance that proven, defense-in-depth infrastructure secures all cross-chain transfers.”

According to Wang, the migration positions Solv to scale with “the reliability and institutional-grade security assurance the market demands.”

Launched in 2021 on the Ethereum network, Solv Protocol is a DeFi platform built around SolvBTC—a token tied to the value of Bitcoin—that lets users deploy wrapped BTC and other Bitcoin-based assets across multiple blockchains to earn yield.

The move comes weeks after attackers drained roughly $292 million from infrastructure tied to Kelp DAO, a DeFi protocol that used LayerZero’s bridge technology. Solv did not directly mention Kelp DAO in its announcement, instead referring broadly to “recent cross-chain hacks observed in the industry” alongside an extensive security review.

“In accordance with this strategic migration, we are reducing our risk exposure on our existing bridging stack by deprecating SolvBTC and xSolvBTC LayerZero bridging support for Corn, Berachain, Rootstock, and TAC to instead standardize on Chainlink CCIP, the most battle-hardened and time-tested interoperability infrastructure across all blockchains,” the company wrote.

While cross-chain bridges let users move assets between blockchains, they have also become one of crypto’s most frequently attacked pieces of infrastructure because they often depend on complicated verification systems and hold large amounts of locked funds.

Previous prominent attacks on blockchain network bridges include the $622 million exploit of Axie Infinity’s Ronin network bridge in 2022, and the $230 hack of Indian crypto exchange WazirX in 2024. Both attacks were ultimately linked by investigators to North Korean state-sponsored hacking groups.

In April, LayerZero blamed the Kelp DAO attack on North Korea’s Lazarus Group, and said the project relied on a single-verifier setup despite recommendations to use multiple validators.

This week, Kelp DAO disputed that account and accused LayerZero of approving the configuration tied to the exploit. Kelp then announced plans to redesign its cross-chain system around Chainlink CCIP, where transactions are verified through multiple independent validators instead of a single verifier.

“We are proud to work with the Solv team and support their migration to Chainlink CCIP as the standardized way that their wrapped Bitcoin assets are securely transferred cross-chain,” Chainlink Labs Chief Business Officer Johann Eid said, in a statement. “Solv’s migration to CCIP reflects a broader shift across the DeFi industry of leading protocols adopting Chainlink to deliver the highest level of security required to bring the next billion users on-chain.”