Huge day for Ethereum interop! @chainlink CCIP has integrated the Fast Confirmation Rule (FCR)! NOTE: If you're a solver, bridge or messaging provider, CEX or anyone else benefiting from quick reorg guarantees - reach out to @ethlabs_org! Ever since first EVM equivalent chains started launching, one of the biggest technical challenges and one of the biggest vulnerability surfaces has been the bridge connecting Ethereum to those chains. By holding the largest amount of TVL and having most assets issued on it (not to mention being the native home of ETH itself - one of the most valuable assets in all of human history), Ethereum has long served as the center of gravity for the vast majority of L1s and L2s. However, moving from Ethereum to those chains and back always had one big drawback - per the current consensus rules of Ethereum, the chain finalizes every ~15 minutes. This means, in essence, that a message sent from Ethereum to another chain (such as transferring ETH or some other token) will take around 15 minutes to execute. However, some time back (April ‘23), some very talented researchers (including Ethlabs’ very own @fradamt) concluded that the Ethereum consensus is much more performant under “usual” conditions. I’ve written a primer on the rule before (xitter.cf/ox_shaman/status/20893…), but boiled down to the core proposition - instead of waiting for full consensus finality (15 minutes), the Ethereum nodes are able to give a softer guarantee that the Ethereum chain won’t reorg much much quicker - within just 12 - 24 seconds! Why is this important? Because message passing protocols and bridges, such as Chainlink CCIP require the source chain not to reorg in order to feel confident to send a message to an L2. However, this guarantee being “softer” than full finality doesn’t mean in any way that it’s a soft guarantee. In order for the Fast Confirmation Rule to trigger and for the blockchain to reorg simultaneously - some truly extraordinary circumstances must happen (explained more in the primer document). Having the rule integrated into clients, supported by RPCs and bridges has been one of the primary priorities of Ethlabs since the inception. It’s a technical advancement which makes Ethereum faster, more secure and more deterministic - today!