what's Interoperable State Machine Protocol (ISMP)?

ISMP is a lightweight, unopinionated messaging protocol designed to enable the development of cryptographically secure cross-chain applications using consensus and state proofs. It features a minimal API surface area, making it economically feasible for high-gas environments like Ethereum, and is modular to support new consensus mechanisms and state machines. The protocol employs a message-passing mechanism analogous to HTTP, facilitating requests and responses between modules on different chains. Key components include the host interface for blockchain state management, consensus clients to obtain finalized states from connected chains, state machine clients to read messages from outboxes, a router for directing messages, and a dispatcher for sending cross-chain requests. This abstraction supports deployment on both monolithic and modular architectures, such as Polkadot parachains and Ethereum, decoupling light clients into consensus and state machine components for future-proof interoperability.[[1]](https://docs.hyperbridge.network/protocol/ismp/introduction)

HyperBridge cross-chain protocol exploit minted fake DOT on Ethereum, liquidating for 108.2 ETH.