Blockspace Quality
Blockspace is becoming incredibly abundant. We're finally starting to see what a world with low fees looks like, and it's pretty exciting.source: growthepie.xyzIn a world where blockspace is cheap, what differentiates various blockspace? The answer is simple: blockspace quality. Blockspace quality is a spectrum. Ethereum, the most secure and decentralized smart contract platform, is at the core of this spectrum. Slightly further out, we have Layer 2s - still very secure, but with so...
Blockspace Quality
Blockspace is becoming incredibly abundant. We're finally starting to see what a world with low fees looks like, and it's pretty exciting.source: growthepie.xyzIn a world where blockspace is cheap, what differentiates various blockspace? The answer is simple: blockspace quality. Blockspace quality is a spectrum. Ethereum, the most secure and decentralized smart contract platform, is at the core of this spectrum. Slightly further out, we have Layer 2s - still very secure, but with so...
Accelerated Timelines
Special thanks to motherpredicate for the discussion that led to this blog post. The accelerated timelines of crypto are both a benefit and a hazard. Crypto does not operate on software startup timelines, and it shouldn’t - but the assumption that it does is the root of crypto’s problems. Crypto was a hyper-niche novelty from 2009-2012, and nobody expected it to catch on the way it did. Those early players who held on to their tokens made a massive amount of money (yet the vast majority sold ...
Accelerated Timelines
Special thanks to motherpredicate for the discussion that led to this blog post. The accelerated timelines of crypto are both a benefit and a hazard. Crypto does not operate on software startup timelines, and it shouldn’t - but the assumption that it does is the root of crypto’s problems. Crypto was a hyper-niche novelty from 2009-2012, and nobody expected it to catch on the way it did. Those early players who held on to their tokens made a massive amount of money (yet the vast majority sold ...
Distinguishing zkEVMs
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the virtual machine that manages state and executes smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. zkEVMs, which aim to prove EVM execution through zero-knowledge (ZK) circuitry, have seen significant growth and expansion as an industry over the past year. Many different projects and community efforts have emerged in this space, each taking its own unique approach to the challenges and opportunities presented by the intersection of these two technologies. On...
Distinguishing zkEVMs
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the virtual machine that manages state and executes smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. zkEVMs, which aim to prove EVM execution through zero-knowledge (ZK) circuitry, have seen significant growth and expansion as an industry over the past year. Many different projects and community efforts have emerged in this space, each taking its own unique approach to the challenges and opportunities presented by the intersection of these two technologies. On...
From ARPANET to web3
The internet as we know it today is the result of decades of research and development. ARPANET, the precursor to the internet, was created in the 1960s by the US military and designed to be a secure and reliable communication network for the government. Universities and research institutions then adopted this technology in the 1970s and used it to share research and connect with colleagues around the globe. In the 1980s, the US government liberalized this technology, allowing commercial busin...
From ARPANET to web3
The internet as we know it today is the result of decades of research and development. ARPANET, the precursor to the internet, was created in the 1960s by the US military and designed to be a secure and reliable communication network for the government. Universities and research institutions then adopted this technology in the 1970s and used it to share research and connect with colleagues around the globe. In the 1980s, the US government liberalized this technology, allowing commercial busin...
PBS: Neutralizing the Dark Forest
Domothy and I co-authored this article. PBS is still an active area of research, but this comprehensive post aims to aggregate and summarize where research is so far- and where it’s headed. In the existing architecture, block proposers (previously miners) select transactions in the mempool to build a block. On Ethereum, these consist of validators running a consensus and execution client in tandem. Theoretically, a block builder would select transactions paying the highest fee- but this is no...
PBS: Neutralizing the Dark Forest
Domothy and I co-authored this article. PBS is still an active area of research, but this comprehensive post aims to aggregate and summarize where research is so far- and where it’s headed. In the existing architecture, block proposers (previously miners) select transactions in the mempool to build a block. On Ethereum, these consist of validators running a consensus and execution client in tandem. Theoretically, a block builder would select transactions paying the highest fee- but this is no...
