These days, I've been reviewing IBC / cross-chain protocols again. The more I look, the more I feel that transferring tokens from A to B is essentially gambling on a series of steps not to go wrong: both chains shouldn't go offline, the light client/validation logic shouldn't be written incorrectly, relayers shouldn't go offline and send mixed signals, and you have to trust that the validators on the other side won't all suddenly malfunction... Just hearing about it gives me a headache. Bridges are even more intense; many are basically "you send your tokens to a certain contract/escrow, and I give you a receipt," which is both funny and frustrating: the money hasn't moved much, but trust is stacked up first. Recently, I also heard that some regions are tightening taxes and compliance, and with the uncertainty around deposits and withdrawals, I prefer not to cross chains if I can avoid it. If I do, I only transfer the necessary amount, and the rest stays in cold wallets so I can sleep peacefully.