1. “Towards Trust-minimized Blockchain Scalability with EVM-native Fraud Proofs” by Zhe Ye, Ujval Misra, and Dawn Song

TLDR:

• Optimistic Rollup (ORU) systems like Optimism are currently amongst the most popular Ethereum scalability solutions. Dozens of thousands of transactions are processed within these systems on a daily basis.

• One of the challenges associated with ORUs is the way they are connected to Ethereum’s base layer: all of them must be implemented as a set of smart contracts that enforce validation rules and evaluate fraud proofs. This leads to expensive contracts that have large on-chain footprints, and that is not optimal.

• This paper proposes a new schema to natively verify and enforce fraud proofs within the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which could address many of the issues with Optimistic Rollups.

2. “DAO-Analyzer: Exploring Activity and Participation in Blockchain Organizations” by Javier Arroyo, David Davó, Elena Martínez-Vicente, Youssef Faqir-Rhazoui, and Samer Hassan

TLDR:

• There has been a noticeable effort in the industry to increase standardization when implementing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO).

• This has been made possible through frameworks such as the Aragon DAO suite and DAOhaus, which are effectively libraries of standardized DAO smart contracts.

• This paper introduces a new tool called DAO-Analyzer, which leverages this increase in standardization to produce statistics, metrics, and insights on DAOs implemented through popular frameworks.

3. “A Taxonomy of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations” by Christian Ziegler and Isabell M. Welpe

TLDR:

• Taxonomies can be helpful in organizing and evaluating the moving components and themes of a fast-growing industry.

• This paper proposes a fascinating taxonomy for DAOs that can be used to evaluate their growth, understand how they are structured, and potentially used in the context of a DAO vetting framework.

4. “Understanding the Adoption and Impact of GasTokens on Ethereum” by Lixuan Luo

TLDR:

• So-called gas tokens were invented in order to empower users to hedge against fast increases in transaction fees, which are priced on a per gas (unit of computation) basis.

• Put simply, these tokens function as vouchers that enable users to receive a discount in a future transaction. This is achieved by “locking in” block space on-chain during calm times when gas prices are low.

• This paper provides an excellent overview of how gas tokens have evolved and showcases fascinating data on their usage over time.

5. “Concentrated Liquidity Analysis in Uniswap V3” by Saleh Hashemseresht and Mohsen Pourpouneh

TLDR:

• The Uniswap V3 protocol is a considerable deviation from previous versions as it intends to improve the economics for Liquidity Providers (LPs).

• Previous analysis of Uniswap V1 and V2 protocols have shown that LP returns are dramatically impacted by impermanent loss, which is a loss incurred from providing liquidity instead of simply holding the asset in a wallet.

• This paper provides a mathematical formulation of Uniswap V3 and compares its dynamics with its predecessors, especially as it relates to impermanent loss.

6. “Quantifying Loss in Automated Market Makers” by Jason Milionis, Ciamac C Moallemi, Tim Avelin Roughgarden, and Anthony Lee Zhang

TLDR:

• Also on the topic of Automated Market Makers (AMMs), this paper looks at LP returns and providers a formal return function.

• The authors formalize the concept of "loss-versus-rebalancing’’ (ŁVR, pronounced "lever’'), which is a mathematical evaluation framework for liquidity providers.

7. “Two More Attacks on Proof-of-Stake GHOST/Ethereum” by Joachim Neu, Ertem Nusret Tas, and David Tse

TLDR:

• As a new system, Proof-of-Stake Ethereum still lacks rigorous security analysis, especially as it relates to LMD-Ghost, its new consensus engine.

• In response to previous attack vectors, the concept of ‘proposer boosting’ was introduced whereby block proposers can receive a boost from a cohort of nodes in order to prevent liveness failures.

• This paper introduces a new type of attack that circumvents ‘proposer boosting’ as it is currently implemented and, like the previous version, leads to liveness failures.

Research collected and curated by @cipherix.

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal, business, investment, or tax advice.

The Smart Contract Research Forum’s (SCRF) bold mission is to advance web3 through actionable research and knowledge-sharing. To this end, SCRF connects researchers and builders, sponsors projects, and constructs collaborative forums. SCRF’s community is an active, international network of academics, industry architects, and blockchain advocates.

1. “Towards Trust-minimized Blockchain Scalability with EVM-native Fraud Proofs” by Zhe Ye, Ujval Misra, and Dawn Song

TLDR:

• Optimistic Rollup (ORU) systems like Optimism are currently amongst the most popular Ethereum scalability solutions. Dozens of thousands of transactions are processed within these systems on a daily basis.

• One of the challenges associated with ORUs is the way they are connected to Ethereum’s base layer: all of them must be implemented as a set of smart contracts that enforce validation rules and evaluate fraud proofs. This leads to expensive contracts that have large on-chain footprints, and that is not optimal.

• This paper proposes a new schema to natively verify and enforce fraud proofs within the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which could address many of the issues with Optimistic Rollups.

2. “DAO-Analyzer: Exploring Activity and Participation in Blockchain Organizations” by Javier Arroyo, David Davó, Elena Martínez-Vicente, Youssef Faqir-Rhazoui, and Samer Hassan

TLDR:

• There has been a noticeable effort in the industry to increase standardization when implementing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO).

• This has been made possible through frameworks such as the Aragon DAO suite and DAOhaus, which are effectively libraries of standardized DAO smart contracts.

• This paper introduces a new tool called DAO-Analyzer, which leverages this increase in standardization to produce statistics, metrics, and insights on DAOs implemented through popular frameworks.

3. “A Taxonomy of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations” by Christian Ziegler and Isabell M. Welpe

TLDR:

• Taxonomies can be helpful in organizing and evaluating the moving components and themes of a fast-growing industry.

• This paper proposes a fascinating taxonomy for DAOs that can be used to evaluate their growth, understand how they are structured, and potentially used in the context of a DAO vetting framework.

4. “Understanding the Adoption and Impact of GasTokens on Ethereum” by Lixuan Luo

TLDR:

• So-called gas tokens were invented in order to empower users to hedge against fast increases in transaction fees, which are priced on a per gas (unit of computation) basis.

• Put simply, these tokens function as vouchers that enable users to receive a discount in a future transaction. This is achieved by “locking in” block space on-chain during calm times when gas prices are low.

• This paper provides an excellent overview of how gas tokens have evolved and showcases fascinating data on their usage over time.

5. “Concentrated Liquidity Analysis in Uniswap V3” by Saleh Hashemseresht and Mohsen Pourpouneh

TLDR:

• The Uniswap V3 protocol is a considerable deviation from previous versions as it intends to improve the economics for Liquidity Providers (LPs).

• Previous analysis of Uniswap V1 and V2 protocols have shown that LP returns are dramatically impacted by impermanent loss, which is a loss incurred from providing liquidity instead of simply holding the asset in a wallet.

• This paper provides a mathematical formulation of Uniswap V3 and compares its dynamics with its predecessors, especially as it relates to impermanent loss.

6. “Quantifying Loss in Automated Market Makers” by Jason Milionis, Ciamac C Moallemi, Tim Avelin Roughgarden, and Anthony Lee Zhang

TLDR:

• Also on the topic of Automated Market Makers (AMMs), this paper looks at LP returns and providers a formal return function.

• The authors formalize the concept of "loss-versus-rebalancing’’ (ŁVR, pronounced "lever’'), which is a mathematical evaluation framework for liquidity providers.

7. “Two More Attacks on Proof-of-Stake GHOST/Ethereum” by Joachim Neu, Ertem Nusret Tas, and David Tse

TLDR:

• As a new system, Proof-of-Stake Ethereum still lacks rigorous security analysis, especially as it relates to LMD-Ghost, its new consensus engine.

• In response to previous attack vectors, the concept of ‘proposer boosting’ was introduced whereby block proposers can receive a boost from a cohort of nodes in order to prevent liveness failures.

• This paper introduces a new type of attack that circumvents ‘proposer boosting’ as it is currently implemented and, like the previous version, leads to liveness failures.

Research collected and curated by @cipherix.

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal, business, investment, or tax advice.

The Smart Contract Research Forum’s (SCRF) bold mission is to advance web3 through actionable research and knowledge-sharing. To this end, SCRF connects researchers and builders, sponsors projects, and constructs collaborative forums. SCRF’s community is an active, international network of academics, industry architects, and blockchain advocates.