Question 1

How does Wormhole's guardian network work?

Accepted Answer

Wormhole uses 19 guardian nodes run by reputable entities. When 13 of 19 guardians observe and sign a cross-chain message, they produce a VAA (Verified Action Approval) - a cryptographic proof that any destination chain can verify and act on.

Question 2

What is a VAA in Wormhole?

Accepted Answer

A VAA (Verified Action Approval) is a signed attestation from Wormhole guardians confirming that an event occurred on a source chain. It contains the message payload plus guardian signatures and can be submitted to any destination chain to trigger actions.

Question 3

Is Wormhole safe after the $320M hack?

Accepted Answer

Wormhole was exploited for $320M in February 2022 due to a signature verification bug, which Jump Crypto covered. The protocol has since undergone extensive audits and introduced NTT (Native Token Transfers) for improved security architecture.

Wormhole: Guardian Network & VAAs