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Fraud Proof

1 min read
Pronunciation
[frawd proof]
Analogy
Like presenting video evidence in court to prove someone lied under oath.
Definition
A cryptographic proof submitted to a bridge or rollup contract demonstrating that a previously accepted state transition was invalid, triggering a rollback or slashing of malicious actors.
Key Points Intro
Fraud proofs enforce correctness by allowing on‑chain challenges of bad state updates.
Key Points

Challenge window: Time period for submitting proofs after state commit.

Merkle proof: Verifies inclusion of disputed transaction.

Execution trace: Recomputes state root to show discrepancy.

Slashing: Malicious sequencer or relayer stake is confiscated.

Example
In an optimistic rollup, a challenger submits a fraud proof showing that a batch included an unauthorized token mint, causing the batch to be reverted and sequencer stake slashed.
Technical Deep Dive
Challenger calls `proveFraud(txIndex, proofs)` on the rollup contract. Contract replays transaction on EVM, compares resulting stateRoot to committed root, and on mismatch triggers `rollback()` and slashes proposer’s bond.
Security Warning
Insufficient bond size can make fraud economically viable; calibrate slashing penalties carefully.
Caveat
Fraud proofs can be expensive to generate and verify; balance performance with security.

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