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Guardian Set

1 min read
Pronunciation
[gard-ee-uhn set]
Analogy
Like a council of trustees who must all sign off on a shipment before it leaves the warehouse.
Definition
A group of authorized nodes or signers in cross‑chain protocols (e.g., Wormhole) responsible for attesting and signing messages to ensure secure message delivery across chains.
Key Points Intro
Guardian sets provide decentralized trust by requiring multiple signatures on cross‑chain messages.
Key Points

Threshold signatures: Only valid when ≥ t-of-n guardians sign.

Rotation: Sets can be updated on‑chain via governance.

Quorum: Defines minimum signers needed for finality.

Slashing: Misbehaving guardians can lose stake.

Example
In the Wormhole protocol, a guardian set of 19 nodes signs token transfer VAAs; at least 15 signatures are needed to relay the transfer on the target chain.
Technical Deep Dive
Guardians run signing daemons that watch for `LogMessagePublished` events, produce Ed25519 signatures on the VAA hash, and submit to an aggregator. The aggregator assembles a signed VAA which is posted to target chain for verification.
Security Warning
If an attacker controls ≥ threshold guardians, they can forge cross‑chain messages; diversify operator infrastructure.
Caveat
Guardian set changes require careful coordination to avoid service downtime.
Related Terms
Wormhole
Slashing

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