Centralized Sequencers
In blockchain and cryptocurrency networks, the role of a sequencer is crucial for ordering and bundling transactions. Sequencers are operators that are responsible for organizing how transactions are processed. In many roll-up solutions, sequencers are centralized, controlled by a single entity.Centralization risksCensorship and Manipulation. Centralized sequencers have the power to selectively block or delay specific transactions. For example, users might experience blocked withdrawal transa...
Centralized Sequencers
In blockchain and cryptocurrency networks, the role of a sequencer is crucial for ordering and bundling transactions. Sequencers are operators that are responsible for organizing how transactions are processed. In many roll-up solutions, sequencers are centralized, controlled by a single entity.Centralization risksCensorship and Manipulation. Centralized sequencers have the power to selectively block or delay specific transactions. For example, users might experience blocked withdrawal transa...
Rollup Stages
A Layer 2 (L2) chains maturity is evaluated based on specific properties and categorized into stages. The L2B team provides an opinionated assessment to encourage a progression towards a greater decentralization.Rollup StagesStage 0: In this initial stage, the rollup's governance is largely in the hands of the operators and a security council, ensuring that critical decisions and actions are overseen by a trusted group. The open-source software allows for the reconstruction of the state ...
Rollup Stages
A Layer 2 (L2) chains maturity is evaluated based on specific properties and categorized into stages. The L2B team provides an opinionated assessment to encourage a progression towards a greater decentralization.Rollup StagesStage 0: In this initial stage, the rollup's governance is largely in the hands of the operators and a security council, ensuring that critical decisions and actions are overseen by a trusted group. The open-source software allows for the reconstruction of the state ...
Layer 1 and Layer 2
I want to briefly touch on the concepts of Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks here as well.Layer 1 solutions: This refers to base layer blockchain implementations like Bitcoin or Ethereum.Layer 2 solutions: These are applications added on top of a layer one, like Chainlink or Arbitrum.Layer 2s like Arbitrum and Optimism are special in that they're trying to solve the problem of scalability. These protocols leverage something called rollups. We won't go too deep, but the idea is that the p...
Layer 1 and Layer 2
I want to briefly touch on the concepts of Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks here as well.Layer 1 solutions: This refers to base layer blockchain implementations like Bitcoin or Ethereum.Layer 2 solutions: These are applications added on top of a layer one, like Chainlink or Arbitrum.Layer 2s like Arbitrum and Optimism are special in that they're trying to solve the problem of scalability. These protocols leverage something called rollups. We won't go too deep, but the idea is that the p...
Traditional Networks vs Blockchain
Traditionally, when you run an application be it a website or something that connects to a server you are interacting with a centralized entity. This is the opposite of what you may recall from our distributed blockchain example, in that the server is controlled and run by a single centralized group. Blockchains, as we saw, run on a network of independent nodes. In our previous example, each of the Peers was representative of an independent node operator. The term node typically refers to a s...
Traditional Networks vs Blockchain
Traditionally, when you run an application be it a website or something that connects to a server you are interacting with a centralized entity. This is the opposite of what you may recall from our distributed blockchain example, in that the server is controlled and run by a single centralized group. Blockchains, as we saw, run on a network of independent nodes. In our previous example, each of the Peers was representative of an independent node operator. The term node typically refers to a s...
Blockchain and Smart Contracts
Bitcoin and BlockchainYou might be familiar with Bitcoin, which is one of the first protocols to utilize the revolutionary blockchain technology. The Bitcoin Whitepaper, authored by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, described how Bitcoin could facilitate peer-to-peer transactions within a decentralized network using cryptography. This gave rise to censorship-resistant finance and presented Bitcoin as a superior digital store of value, often referred to as digital gold. There is a fixed amoun...
Blockchain and Smart Contracts
Bitcoin and BlockchainYou might be familiar with Bitcoin, which is one of the first protocols to utilize the revolutionary blockchain technology. The Bitcoin Whitepaper, authored by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, described how Bitcoin could facilitate peer-to-peer transactions within a decentralized network using cryptography. This gave rise to censorship-resistant finance and presented Bitcoin as a superior digital store of value, often referred to as digital gold. There is a fixed amoun...
