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Before introducing the execution layer modularization, we should understand what Rollup technology is.
Currently, the execution layer modularization technology mainly relies on Rollup, which is a scaling solution that runs outside the Layer 1 chain. This solution executes transactions outside the chain, which means it takes up less block space and is also one of Ethereum's important scaling solutions. After executing the transaction, it will send a batch of transaction data or execution proof to Layer 1 and settle it on Layer 1. Rollup technology provides a scalability solution for the Layer 1 network while maintaining decentralization and security.
Taking Ethereum as an example, Rollup technology can further improve performance and privacy by using ZK-Rollup or Optimistic Rollup.
ZK-Rollup uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify the correctness of packaged transactions, thereby ensuring the security and privacy of transactions.
Optimistic Rollup assumes that transactions are valid before submitting them to the Ethereum main chain. During the challenge period, anyone can calculate fraud proofs to verify transactions.
1.1 Ethereum Layer 2:
Building Future Scaling Solutions Ethereum initially adopted sidechain and sharding technology for scaling, but the sidechain sacrificed some decentralization and security to achieve high throughput; Layer 2 Rollups have developed much faster than expected and have provided a lot of expansion, and will provide more after Proto-Danksharding is implemented. This means that "sharding chains" are no longer needed and have now been removed from Ethereum's roadmap.
Ethereum outsources the execution layer to Layer 2 s based on Rollup technology to reduce the burden on the main chain. EVM provides a standardized and secure execution environment for smart contracts executed on the Rollup layer. Some Rollup solutions are designed with compatibility with EVM in mind, so that smart contracts executed on the Rollup layer can still take advantage of EVM features and functions, such as OP Mainnet, Arbitrum One, and Polygon zkEVM.
These Layer 2s execute smart contracts and process transactions, but still rely on Ethereum for the following:
Settlement: All Rollup transactions are completed on the Ethereum mainnet. Users of Optimistic Rollups must wait for the challenge period to pass, or for the transaction to be deemed valid after anti-fraud calculations. Users of ZK Rollups must wait until validity is proven.
Consensus and Data Availability: Rollups publish transaction data to the Ethereum mainnet in the form of CallData, enabling anyone to execute Rollup transactions and reconstruct their state if necessary. Optimistic Rollups require a large amount of block space and a 7-day challenge period before being confirmed on the Ethereum mainchain. ZK Rollups provide instant finality and store data available for verification for 30 days, but require a lot of computing power to create proofs.
1.2 B² Network:
Pioneering Bitcoin ZK-Rollup B² Network is the first ZK-Rollup on Bitcoin, which increases transaction speed without sacrificing security. Using Rollup technology, B² Network provides a platform capable of running Turing-complete smart contracts for off-chain transactions, thereby improving transaction efficiency and minimizing costs.
As shown in the figure, B² Network's ZK-Rollup Layer adopts the zkEVM solution, which is responsible for the execution of user transactions within the Layer 2 network and the output of related proofs.
Unlike other Rollups, B² Network ZK-Rollup consists of multiple components, including account abstraction module, RPC Service, Mempool, Sequencers, zkEVM, Aggregators, Synchronizers, and Prover. Among them, the account abstraction module implements native account abstraction, which allows users to flexibly program higher security and better user experience into their accounts. zkEVM is compatible with EVM, and it can also help developers migrate DApps from other EVM-compatible chains to B² Network.
Synchronizers ensure that information is synchronized from the B² node to the Rollup layer, including details such as sequence information and Bitcoin transaction data. B² nodes act as off-chain validators and are the executors of multiple unique functions in the B² network. The Bitcoin Committer module in the B² node builds a data structure to record the B² Rollup data and generates a Tapscript called a "B² inscription". Then, the Bitcoin Committer sends a UTXO of one satoshi to a Taproot address containing the $B^{ 2 }$ inscription, and the Rollup data will be written to Bitcoin.
In addition, the Bitcoin Committer sets a time-locked challenge, allowing the challenger to question the commitment verified by the zk proof. If there is no challenger during the time lock or the challenge fails, the Rollup is finally confirmed on Bitcoin; if the challenge succeeds, the Rollup will be rolled back.
Whether it is Ethereum or Bitcoin, in essence, Layer 1 is a single chain that receives extended data from Layer 2. In most cases, the capacity of Layer 2 also depends on the capacity of Layer 1. Therefore, the implementation of the Layer 1 and Layer 2 stack is not ideal for scalability. When Layer 1 reaches its throughput limit, Layer 2 will also be affected, which may lead to rising transaction fees and longer confirmation times, affecting the efficiency and user experience of the entire system.
In addition to Celestia's DA solution being favored by Layer 2 s, other innovative solutions focusing on DA have emerged one after another, playing a key role in the entire blockchain ecosystem.
2.1 EigenDA: Empowering Rollup Technology
EigenDA is a secure, high-throughput and decentralized DA service, whose design is inspired by Danksharding. Rollup is able to publish data to EigenDA to obtain lower transaction costs, higher transaction throughput and secure composability throughout the EigenLayer ecosystem.
When Ethereum Rollup builds decentralized temporary data storage, data storage can be handled directly by EigenDA operators. Operators are those who participate in the operation of the network and are responsible for processing, verifying and storing data. EigenDA can scale horizontally as the amount of stake and operators grow.
EigenDA combines Rollup technology and transfers part of the DA to off-chain processing to achieve scalability. Therefore, the actual transaction data no longer needs to be copied and stored on each node, reducing the demand for bandwidth and storage. The chain only processes metadata and accountability mechanisms related to data availability (accountability enables data to be stored off-chain and its integrity and authenticity can be verified when necessary).
As shown in the figure, Rollup writes transaction batches to the DA layer. Unlike systems that use fraud proofs to detect malicious data, EigenDA splits data into blocks and generates KZG commitments and multi-disclosure proofs. EigenDA requires nodes to download only a small amount of data [O (1/n)] instead of downloading the entire blob. Rollup's fraud arbitration protocol is also able to verify that the blob data matches the KZG commitment provided in the EigenDA proof. While doing this verification, the Layer 2 chain ensures that the transaction data of the Rollup state root cannot be manipulated by the sorter/proposer.
2.2 Nubit: The First Modular DA Solution on Bitcoin
Nubit is a scalable, Bitcoin-native DA layer. Nubit is pioneering the future of Bitcoin native, aiming to increase data throughput and availability services to meet the growing needs of the ecosystem. Their vision is to bring the huge developer community into the Bitcoin ecosystem and provide them with scalable, secure and decentralized tools.
Nubit's team members are professors and doctoral students from UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) with outstanding academic reputation and global influence. They are not only proficient in academic research, but also have rich experience in blockchain engineering implementation. The team wrote a paper on modular indexers with domo (creator of Brc 20), added the design of the DA layer to the indexer structure of the Bitcoin meta protocol, and participated in the establishment and formulation of industry standards.
Nubit's core innovations: consensus mechanism, trustless bridging, and data availability. It uses innovative consensus algorithms and lightning networks to inherit Bitcoin's fully censorship-resistant characteristics and uses DAS to improve efficiency:
Consensus mechanism: Nubit explores an efficient consensus based on PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance) powered by SNARK for signature aggregation. The PBFT scheme combined with zkSNARK technology significantly reduces the communication complexity of signature verification between validators, and verifies the correctness of transactions without accessing the entire data set.
DAS: Nubit's DAS is achieved by performing multiple rounds of random sampling of small portions of block data. Each successful round of sampling increases the probability that the data is fully available. Once a predetermined confidence level is reached, the block data is considered accessible.
Trustless Bridge: Nubit uses a Trustless Bridge that leverages the Lightning Network’s payment channels. This approach is not only consistent with the local Bitcoin payment method, but also does not add additional trust requirements. Compared with existing bridge solutions, it brings lower risks to users.
Let’s further review the complete system lifecycle shown in Figure 8 using a specific use case. Suppose Alice wants to complete a transaction using Nubit’s DA service (Nubit supports multiple data types, including but not limited to inscriptions, Rollup data, etc.).
Step 1.1: Alice first needs to pay the gas fee through Nubit’s trustless bridge to continue the service. In particular, Alice needs to obtain a public challenge from the trustless bridge, denoted as X (h) (X is a cryptographic hash function from the hash range of the verifiable delay function (VDF) to the challenge domain, and h is the hash value of a certain height block).
Step 1.2 and Step 2: Alice must obtain the evaluation result R of the VDF related to the current round, submit R along with her data and transaction metadata (such as address and nonce) to the validator to be merged into the memory pool.
Step 3: The process by which the validator proposes a block and its header after reaching consensus. The block header includes a commitment to the data and its associated Reed-Solomon Coding (RS Code), while the block itself contains the original data, the corresponding RS Code, and basic transaction details.
Step 4: The lifecycle ends with Alice's data retrieval. The light client downloads the block header, while the full node obtains the block and its header.
The light client undertakes the DAS process to verify data availability. In addition, after a threshold number of blocks are proposed, a checkpoint of this history is recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain via a Bitcoin timestamp. This ensures that the validator set can prevent potential remote attacks and support fast unbinding.
In addition to chains that focus on modularizing specific layers, decentralized storage services can provide long-term support for the DA layer. There are also some protocols and chains that provide developers with customized and full-stack solutions that allow users to easily build their own chains without even having to write code.
3.1 EthStorage - Dynamic decentralized storage
EthStorage is the first modular Layer 2 that implements dynamic decentralized storage, providing programmable key-value (KV) storage driven by DA, which scales programmable storage to hundreds of TB or even PB at 1/100 to 1/1000 of the cost. It provides a long-term DA solution for Rollups and opens up new possibilities for fully on-chain applications such as games, social networks, and AI.
Qi Zhou, the founder of EthStorage, has been fully committed to the Web3 industry since 2018. He holds a Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology and has worked as an engineer at top companies such as Google and Facebook. Its team has also received support from the Ethereum Foundation.
Before introducing the execution layer modularization, we should understand what Rollup technology is.
Currently, the execution layer modularization technology mainly relies on Rollup, which is a scaling solution that runs outside the Layer 1 chain. This solution executes transactions outside the chain, which means it takes up less block space and is also one of Ethereum's important scaling solutions. After executing the transaction, it will send a batch of transaction data or execution proof to Layer 1 and settle it on Layer 1. Rollup technology provides a scalability solution for the Layer 1 network while maintaining decentralization and security.
Taking Ethereum as an example, Rollup technology can further improve performance and privacy by using ZK-Rollup or Optimistic Rollup.
ZK-Rollup uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify the correctness of packaged transactions, thereby ensuring the security and privacy of transactions.
Optimistic Rollup assumes that transactions are valid before submitting them to the Ethereum main chain. During the challenge period, anyone can calculate fraud proofs to verify transactions.
1.1 Ethereum Layer 2:
Building Future Scaling Solutions Ethereum initially adopted sidechain and sharding technology for scaling, but the sidechain sacrificed some decentralization and security to achieve high throughput; Layer 2 Rollups have developed much faster than expected and have provided a lot of expansion, and will provide more after Proto-Danksharding is implemented. This means that "sharding chains" are no longer needed and have now been removed from Ethereum's roadmap.
Ethereum outsources the execution layer to Layer 2 s based on Rollup technology to reduce the burden on the main chain. EVM provides a standardized and secure execution environment for smart contracts executed on the Rollup layer. Some Rollup solutions are designed with compatibility with EVM in mind, so that smart contracts executed on the Rollup layer can still take advantage of EVM features and functions, such as OP Mainnet, Arbitrum One, and Polygon zkEVM.
These Layer 2s execute smart contracts and process transactions, but still rely on Ethereum for the following:
Settlement: All Rollup transactions are completed on the Ethereum mainnet. Users of Optimistic Rollups must wait for the challenge period to pass, or for the transaction to be deemed valid after anti-fraud calculations. Users of ZK Rollups must wait until validity is proven.
Consensus and Data Availability: Rollups publish transaction data to the Ethereum mainnet in the form of CallData, enabling anyone to execute Rollup transactions and reconstruct their state if necessary. Optimistic Rollups require a large amount of block space and a 7-day challenge period before being confirmed on the Ethereum mainchain. ZK Rollups provide instant finality and store data available for verification for 30 days, but require a lot of computing power to create proofs.
1.2 B² Network:
Pioneering Bitcoin ZK-Rollup B² Network is the first ZK-Rollup on Bitcoin, which increases transaction speed without sacrificing security. Using Rollup technology, B² Network provides a platform capable of running Turing-complete smart contracts for off-chain transactions, thereby improving transaction efficiency and minimizing costs.
As shown in the figure, B² Network's ZK-Rollup Layer adopts the zkEVM solution, which is responsible for the execution of user transactions within the Layer 2 network and the output of related proofs.
Unlike other Rollups, B² Network ZK-Rollup consists of multiple components, including account abstraction module, RPC Service, Mempool, Sequencers, zkEVM, Aggregators, Synchronizers, and Prover. Among them, the account abstraction module implements native account abstraction, which allows users to flexibly program higher security and better user experience into their accounts. zkEVM is compatible with EVM, and it can also help developers migrate DApps from other EVM-compatible chains to B² Network.
Synchronizers ensure that information is synchronized from the B² node to the Rollup layer, including details such as sequence information and Bitcoin transaction data. B² nodes act as off-chain validators and are the executors of multiple unique functions in the B² network. The Bitcoin Committer module in the B² node builds a data structure to record the B² Rollup data and generates a Tapscript called a "B² inscription". Then, the Bitcoin Committer sends a UTXO of one satoshi to a Taproot address containing the $B^{ 2 }$ inscription, and the Rollup data will be written to Bitcoin.
In addition, the Bitcoin Committer sets a time-locked challenge, allowing the challenger to question the commitment verified by the zk proof. If there is no challenger during the time lock or the challenge fails, the Rollup is finally confirmed on Bitcoin; if the challenge succeeds, the Rollup will be rolled back.
Whether it is Ethereum or Bitcoin, in essence, Layer 1 is a single chain that receives extended data from Layer 2. In most cases, the capacity of Layer 2 also depends on the capacity of Layer 1. Therefore, the implementation of the Layer 1 and Layer 2 stack is not ideal for scalability. When Layer 1 reaches its throughput limit, Layer 2 will also be affected, which may lead to rising transaction fees and longer confirmation times, affecting the efficiency and user experience of the entire system.
In addition to Celestia's DA solution being favored by Layer 2 s, other innovative solutions focusing on DA have emerged one after another, playing a key role in the entire blockchain ecosystem.
2.1 EigenDA: Empowering Rollup Technology
EigenDA is a secure, high-throughput and decentralized DA service, whose design is inspired by Danksharding. Rollup is able to publish data to EigenDA to obtain lower transaction costs, higher transaction throughput and secure composability throughout the EigenLayer ecosystem.
When Ethereum Rollup builds decentralized temporary data storage, data storage can be handled directly by EigenDA operators. Operators are those who participate in the operation of the network and are responsible for processing, verifying and storing data. EigenDA can scale horizontally as the amount of stake and operators grow.
EigenDA combines Rollup technology and transfers part of the DA to off-chain processing to achieve scalability. Therefore, the actual transaction data no longer needs to be copied and stored on each node, reducing the demand for bandwidth and storage. The chain only processes metadata and accountability mechanisms related to data availability (accountability enables data to be stored off-chain and its integrity and authenticity can be verified when necessary).
As shown in the figure, Rollup writes transaction batches to the DA layer. Unlike systems that use fraud proofs to detect malicious data, EigenDA splits data into blocks and generates KZG commitments and multi-disclosure proofs. EigenDA requires nodes to download only a small amount of data [O (1/n)] instead of downloading the entire blob. Rollup's fraud arbitration protocol is also able to verify that the blob data matches the KZG commitment provided in the EigenDA proof. While doing this verification, the Layer 2 chain ensures that the transaction data of the Rollup state root cannot be manipulated by the sorter/proposer.
2.2 Nubit: The First Modular DA Solution on Bitcoin
Nubit is a scalable, Bitcoin-native DA layer. Nubit is pioneering the future of Bitcoin native, aiming to increase data throughput and availability services to meet the growing needs of the ecosystem. Their vision is to bring the huge developer community into the Bitcoin ecosystem and provide them with scalable, secure and decentralized tools.
Nubit's team members are professors and doctoral students from UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) with outstanding academic reputation and global influence. They are not only proficient in academic research, but also have rich experience in blockchain engineering implementation. The team wrote a paper on modular indexers with domo (creator of Brc 20), added the design of the DA layer to the indexer structure of the Bitcoin meta protocol, and participated in the establishment and formulation of industry standards.
Nubit's core innovations: consensus mechanism, trustless bridging, and data availability. It uses innovative consensus algorithms and lightning networks to inherit Bitcoin's fully censorship-resistant characteristics and uses DAS to improve efficiency:
Consensus mechanism: Nubit explores an efficient consensus based on PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance) powered by SNARK for signature aggregation. The PBFT scheme combined with zkSNARK technology significantly reduces the communication complexity of signature verification between validators, and verifies the correctness of transactions without accessing the entire data set.
DAS: Nubit's DAS is achieved by performing multiple rounds of random sampling of small portions of block data. Each successful round of sampling increases the probability that the data is fully available. Once a predetermined confidence level is reached, the block data is considered accessible.
Trustless Bridge: Nubit uses a Trustless Bridge that leverages the Lightning Network’s payment channels. This approach is not only consistent with the local Bitcoin payment method, but also does not add additional trust requirements. Compared with existing bridge solutions, it brings lower risks to users.
Let’s further review the complete system lifecycle shown in Figure 8 using a specific use case. Suppose Alice wants to complete a transaction using Nubit’s DA service (Nubit supports multiple data types, including but not limited to inscriptions, Rollup data, etc.).
Step 1.1: Alice first needs to pay the gas fee through Nubit’s trustless bridge to continue the service. In particular, Alice needs to obtain a public challenge from the trustless bridge, denoted as X (h) (X is a cryptographic hash function from the hash range of the verifiable delay function (VDF) to the challenge domain, and h is the hash value of a certain height block).
Step 1.2 and Step 2: Alice must obtain the evaluation result R of the VDF related to the current round, submit R along with her data and transaction metadata (such as address and nonce) to the validator to be merged into the memory pool.
Step 3: The process by which the validator proposes a block and its header after reaching consensus. The block header includes a commitment to the data and its associated Reed-Solomon Coding (RS Code), while the block itself contains the original data, the corresponding RS Code, and basic transaction details.
Step 4: The lifecycle ends with Alice's data retrieval. The light client downloads the block header, while the full node obtains the block and its header.
The light client undertakes the DAS process to verify data availability. In addition, after a threshold number of blocks are proposed, a checkpoint of this history is recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain via a Bitcoin timestamp. This ensures that the validator set can prevent potential remote attacks and support fast unbinding.
In addition to chains that focus on modularizing specific layers, decentralized storage services can provide long-term support for the DA layer. There are also some protocols and chains that provide developers with customized and full-stack solutions that allow users to easily build their own chains without even having to write code.
3.1 EthStorage - Dynamic decentralized storage
EthStorage is the first modular Layer 2 that implements dynamic decentralized storage, providing programmable key-value (KV) storage driven by DA, which scales programmable storage to hundreds of TB or even PB at 1/100 to 1/1000 of the cost. It provides a long-term DA solution for Rollups and opens up new possibilities for fully on-chain applications such as games, social networks, and AI.
Qi Zhou, the founder of EthStorage, has been fully committed to the Web3 industry since 2018. He holds a Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology and has worked as an engineer at top companies such as Google and Facebook. Its team has also received support from the Ethereum Foundation.
As one of the core features of the Ethereum Cancun upgrade, EIP-4844 (also known as Proto-dank sharding), temporary data blocks (blobs) for Layer 2 Rollup storage are introduced, which improves the scalability and security of the network. The network does not need to verify every transaction in the block, but only needs to confirm whether the blob attached to the block carries the correct data, which greatly reduces the cost of Rollup. However, the blob data is only temporarily available, which means that it will be discarded within a few weeks. This has a significant impact: Layer 2 cannot unconditionally derive the latest state from Layer 1. If a piece of data can no longer be retrieved from Layer 1, it may not be possible to synchronize the chain through Rollup.
With EthStorage as a long-term DA storage solution, Layer 2 s can get complete data from their DA layer at any time.
Technical features:
EthStorage can realize decentralized dynamic storage: Existing decentralized storage solutions can support the upload of large amounts of data, but they cannot be modified or deleted, and can only re-upload new data. EthStorage implements CRUD functions through the original key-value storage paradigm, that is, creating, updating, reading and deleting stored data, thereby significantly enhancing the flexibility of data management.
Layer 2 decentralized solution based on DA layer: EthStorage is a modular storage layer. As long as there is EVM and DA to reduce storage costs, it can be run on any blockchain (but many Layer 1 currently do not have a DA layer), even on Layer 2.
Highly integrated with ETH: EthStorage's client is a superset of Ethereum's client Geth, which means that when running an EthStorage node, it can still participate in any Ethereum process normally. A node can be an Ethereum validator node and an EthStorage data node at the same time.
EthStorage workflow:
Users upload their data to the application contract, which then interacts with the EthStorage contract to store the data.
In the EthStorage Layer 2 network, storage providers are notified about data waiting to be stored.
Storage providers download data from the Ethereum Data Availability Network.
Storage providers submit storage proofs to Layer 1, proving that there are a large number of copies in the Layer 2 network.
The EthStorage contract rewards storage providers who successfully submit storage proofs.
3.2 AltLayer - Modular Customized Service
AltLayer provides a versatile, code-free Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) service. RaaS products are designed for a multi-chain and multi-virtual machine world, supporting EVM and WASM. It also supports different Rollup SDKs, such as OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, Polygon zkEVM, ZKSync’s ZKStack, and Starkware, different shared ordering services such as Espresso and Radius, and different DA layers such as Celestia, EigenLayer, and many other modular services at different layers of the Rollup stack.
AltLayer enables a versatile Rollup stack, for example, a Rollup designed for an application can be built with Arbitrum Orbit, while using Arbitrum One as the DA and settlement layer, while another Rollup designed for general use can be built with ZK Stack, using Celestia as the DA layer and Ethereum as the settlement layer.
Note: You may be wondering why the settlement layer can be implemented by OP and Arbitrum? In fact, at present, the Rollup stacks of these Layer 2s are implementing the "interchain" work proposed by Cosmos to achieve interconnection: OP proposed Superchain, and OP Stack, as a standardized development stack supporting Optimism technology, integrates different Layer 2 networks and promotes interoperability between these networks; Arbitrum proposed the Orbitchain strategy, which allows the creation and deployment of Layer 3, also known as application chain, on the Arbitrum mainnet based on Arbitrum Nitro (technology stack). Orbit Chains can be settled directly to Layer 2s or directly to Ethereum.
3.3 Dymension - Full-stack modularization
Dymension is a modular blockchain network based on Cosmos SDK, which aims to ensure the security and interoperability of RollApp by using the IBC standard.
Dymension divides blockchain functions into multiple layers, with Dymension Hub as the settlement layer and consensus layer to provide security, interoperability and liquidity for RollApp, and RollApp as the execution layer. The data availability layer is a DA provider supported by the Dymension protocol, and developers can choose the appropriate data availability provider according to their needs.
The settlement layer (Dymension Hub) maintains the RollApps registry and corresponding important information, such as status, sequencer list, current active sequencer, execution module checksum, etc. The Rollup service logic is fixed in the settlement layer, forming a center of native interoperability. Dymension Hub has the following characteristics as a settlement layer:
Providing Rollups services locally on the settlement layer: Provides the same trust and security assumptions as the base layer, but with a simpler, safer, and more efficient design space.
Communication and transactions: Dymension's RollApp implements Inter-RollApp communication and transactions on the settlement layer through embedded modules, providing a trust-minimized bridge. In addition, RollApps can communicate with other IBC-enabled chains through the Hub.
RVM (RollApp Virtual Machine): The Dymension settlement layer starts the RVM in the event of a fraud dispute. RVM is able to resolve disputes in various execution environments (such as EVM), expanding the power and flexibility of RollApp's execution scope.
Anti-censorship: Users who have undergone Sequencer review can issue a special transaction to the settlement layer. This transaction is forwarded to the Sequencer and requests execution within a specified time frame. If the transaction is not processed within the specified time, the Sequencer will be penalized.
AMM (Automated Market Maker): Dymension introduces an embedded AMM in the settlement center, creating a core financial center. Providing shared liquidity for the entire ecosystem.
As one of the core features of the Ethereum Cancun upgrade, EIP-4844 (also known as Proto-dank sharding), temporary data blocks (blobs) for Layer 2 Rollup storage are introduced, which improves the scalability and security of the network. The network does not need to verify every transaction in the block, but only needs to confirm whether the blob attached to the block carries the correct data, which greatly reduces the cost of Rollup. However, the blob data is only temporarily available, which means that it will be discarded within a few weeks. This has a significant impact: Layer 2 cannot unconditionally derive the latest state from Layer 1. If a piece of data can no longer be retrieved from Layer 1, it may not be possible to synchronize the chain through Rollup.
With EthStorage as a long-term DA storage solution, Layer 2 s can get complete data from their DA layer at any time.
Technical features:
EthStorage can realize decentralized dynamic storage: Existing decentralized storage solutions can support the upload of large amounts of data, but they cannot be modified or deleted, and can only re-upload new data. EthStorage implements CRUD functions through the original key-value storage paradigm, that is, creating, updating, reading and deleting stored data, thereby significantly enhancing the flexibility of data management.
Layer 2 decentralized solution based on DA layer: EthStorage is a modular storage layer. As long as there is EVM and DA to reduce storage costs, it can be run on any blockchain (but many Layer 1 currently do not have a DA layer), even on Layer 2.
Highly integrated with ETH: EthStorage's client is a superset of Ethereum's client Geth, which means that when running an EthStorage node, it can still participate in any Ethereum process normally. A node can be an Ethereum validator node and an EthStorage data node at the same time.
EthStorage workflow:
Users upload their data to the application contract, which then interacts with the EthStorage contract to store the data.
In the EthStorage Layer 2 network, storage providers are notified about data waiting to be stored.
Storage providers download data from the Ethereum Data Availability Network.
Storage providers submit storage proofs to Layer 1, proving that there are a large number of copies in the Layer 2 network.
The EthStorage contract rewards storage providers who successfully submit storage proofs.
3.2 AltLayer - Modular Customized Service
AltLayer provides a versatile, code-free Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) service. RaaS products are designed for a multi-chain and multi-virtual machine world, supporting EVM and WASM. It also supports different Rollup SDKs, such as OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, Polygon zkEVM, ZKSync’s ZKStack, and Starkware, different shared ordering services such as Espresso and Radius, and different DA layers such as Celestia, EigenLayer, and many other modular services at different layers of the Rollup stack.
AltLayer enables a versatile Rollup stack, for example, a Rollup designed for an application can be built with Arbitrum Orbit, while using Arbitrum One as the DA and settlement layer, while another Rollup designed for general use can be built with ZK Stack, using Celestia as the DA layer and Ethereum as the settlement layer.
Note: You may be wondering why the settlement layer can be implemented by OP and Arbitrum? In fact, at present, the Rollup stacks of these Layer 2s are implementing the "interchain" work proposed by Cosmos to achieve interconnection: OP proposed Superchain, and OP Stack, as a standardized development stack supporting Optimism technology, integrates different Layer 2 networks and promotes interoperability between these networks; Arbitrum proposed the Orbitchain strategy, which allows the creation and deployment of Layer 3, also known as application chain, on the Arbitrum mainnet based on Arbitrum Nitro (technology stack). Orbit Chains can be settled directly to Layer 2s or directly to Ethereum.
3.3 Dymension - Full-stack modularization
Dymension is a modular blockchain network based on Cosmos SDK, which aims to ensure the security and interoperability of RollApp by using the IBC standard.
Dymension divides blockchain functions into multiple layers, with Dymension Hub as the settlement layer and consensus layer to provide security, interoperability and liquidity for RollApp, and RollApp as the execution layer. The data availability layer is a DA provider supported by the Dymension protocol, and developers can choose the appropriate data availability provider according to their needs.
The settlement layer (Dymension Hub) maintains the RollApps registry and corresponding important information, such as status, sequencer list, current active sequencer, execution module checksum, etc. The Rollup service logic is fixed in the settlement layer, forming a center of native interoperability. Dymension Hub has the following characteristics as a settlement layer:
Providing Rollups services locally on the settlement layer: Provides the same trust and security assumptions as the base layer, but with a simpler, safer, and more efficient design space.
Communication and transactions: Dymension's RollApp implements Inter-RollApp communication and transactions on the settlement layer through embedded modules, providing a trust-minimized bridge. In addition, RollApps can communicate with other IBC-enabled chains through the Hub.
RVM (RollApp Virtual Machine): The Dymension settlement layer starts the RVM in the event of a fraud dispute. RVM is able to resolve disputes in various execution environments (such as EVM), expanding the power and flexibility of RollApp's execution scope.
Anti-censorship: Users who have undergone Sequencer review can issue a special transaction to the settlement layer. This transaction is forwarded to the Sequencer and requests execution within a specified time frame. If the transaction is not processed within the specified time, the Sequencer will be penalized.
AMM (Automated Market Maker): Dymension introduces an embedded AMM in the settlement center, creating a core financial center. Providing shared liquidity for the entire ecosystem.
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