PROJECT SPOTLIGHT | How 2 Nigerian Engineers Built HyperBridge – The First ‘Truly Decentralized Bridge’ Globally

Polytope Labs, the Nigerian research startup behind Hyperbridge, is redefining blockchain infrastructure from Africa – solving one of the toughest problems in the crypto world: interoperability.

Founded by Seun Lanlege and David Salami, the company has attracted global attention for developing a bridge protocol valued at over $200 million, positioning it as one of the most advanced blockchain innovations to emerge from the continent.

A Deep-Tech Solution Born from Years of Research

Unlike many African blockchain startups that focus on payments or on-ramps, Hyperbridge is an interoperability protocol designed to enable seamless transfer of digital assets across different blockchains.

Lanlege describes the challenge as fundamental:

“As more blockchains are created within silos, the issue gets bigger, even though each chain might be more advanced and solves unique problems.”

In essence, if a user wants to send crypto from Ethereum to Solana, a bridge is required. But existing bridges often rely on multisig setups — a system where a few key holders must sign off on transactions. This dependence on human-controlled keys has been the source of some of the biggest hacks in blockchain history, including the $600 million Poly Network breach.

Hyperbridge eliminates this risk using cryptographic proofs and smart contracts instead of human signers, creating what Lanlege calls “the first truly decentralized bridge.”

How Hyperbridge Works

Hyperbridge uses a decentralized network of relayers that verify finality proofs – mathematical evidence that a transaction is complete and irreversible – across multiple blockchains.

These relayers interact through the Hyperbridge blockchain, ensuring cross-chain transfers are validated without relying on any central authority.

Lanlege explains:

“Rather than people, we have smart contracts on different networks. They function as an inbox and outbox for messages.

We’ve cracked the solution to scalable interoperability.”

The protocol is powered by Polkadot, often described as the AWS of blockchain infrastructure. Hyperbridge rents computational power from Polkadot through a system known as Coretime, which allows it to process millions of verifications efficiently and securely.

Strong Backing and Impressive Metrics

Hyperbridge has raised more than $5 million – including $2.5 million in seed funding from the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund and $2.8 million through a public sale.

Since launch, the protocol has:

• Verified over 10.2 million finality proofs
• Saved $12.2 trillion in gas fees
• Processed $92.4 million in transaction volume

At its token launch, the project’s market capitalization reached $70 million, peaking at $200 million, a figure Lanlege says reflects “people’s trust, respect, and expectation for the platform to deliver value.”

Recently, Polkadot DAO voted to make Hyperbridge the native bridge for the Polkadot network, further cementing its global relevance.

Building Africa’s Blockchain Infrastructure Layer

Lanlege’s path to blockchain began in curiosity. A self-taught engineer and former open-source contributor to Polkadot, he now leads one of the few African teams developing core blockchain infrastructure.

While acknowledging the difficulty of hiring engineers skilled enough to build at this level, he believes true talent cannot be manufactured.

“You can’t make geniuses. People who will dazzle the world with their engineering skills will do it no matter the circumstance.”

Still, Polytope Labs has launched a boot camp for blockchain developers, already producing a few hires to expand its team.

The Road Ahead

Hyperbridge now supports 14 blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, and Avalanche. Despite the competition in the cross-chain sector, Lanlege remains confident in the protocol’s technical foundation.

“We don’t need to talk too much,” he said.

“Technical blockchain founders can see the maths and understand why it works.”

With its decentralized architecture, academic depth, and growing adoption, Hyperbridge represents a major milestone – not just for Africa’s blockchain ecosystem, but for the future of trustless interoperability across global Web3 networks.

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Adapted from an original post published here.