ETH L2 (Rollup) has been developing towards a "universal layer" since the modularization of Celestia. Reviewing my recent content, I can actually summarize a few keywords: interoperability, generalization, and L2
And with the evolution of the multi-chain landscape, the fragmented liquidity of each chain has driven the demand for cross-chain interoperability. The current cross-chain protocols and facilities still have not come up with a good "version answer".
Of course, this article does not tell you which version is the answer, but only deduce some development trends based on this phenomenon that are currently ignored due to the overall low sentiment.
What we know is that there are currently two development directions. One is to purely enter the cross-chain interoperability protocol, such as Layerzero, Axlar, etc., and the other is the "universal layer" concept that this article will expand on, which is an aggregation business.
The two focus on linking and aggregation. It is difficult to say which one is easier to implement, but the latter [aggregation] is a newer and more "heavy" attempt.
In fact, this aggregation of operating environments is also solving the problem of dispersed liquidity, but the aggregation-type businesses in Web3 are relatively heavy. For example, Polkadot, which has recently caused heated discussions in the market, has adopted isomorphic aggregation in its initial concept of security sharing.
The development of things always reaches similar development results at some point.
From the figure below, we can see that the construction logic of L2, namely Rollup, is changing: from a pure ETH outsourced execution layer to a "general layer" that connects to more chains.
1. Pure Execution
Here I also cite projects at various stages of development, such as the L2 execution layer headed by ARB/OP in the first stage. At this stage, L2 is an execution environment under the Ethereum chain. The various similar Rollups that appeared later all differentiated themselves in various levels, governance, verification, and vertical business directions related to the chain;
But returning to the essence, what we ultimately do is to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and the actions taken are to package the transactions and submit them to the Ethereum mainnet.
2. Modular Rollup
In the second stage, DA uses Celestia's modular L2 - Manta. With Manta as the boundary, the subsequent development has not yet officially entered the eyes of the secondary market (I think this is also the main differentiation consensus of Manta). This stage also points out the beginning, abstracting the DA layer into a specific business model. With this beginning, the market will start to think: "Can other layers also be modularized as an alternative to cost reduction?";
This also provides motivation for the construction of some DAPPs, because the layered outsourcing trend driven by modularization makes building a chain less costly (including operating costs), so the role begins to change from a renter to a builder.
3.VM+
In the third stage, for example, Eclipse, which integrates the SVM execution environment into the EVM system, is also a Rollup and can be classified as the third development stage.
At this time, even the execution environment began to run in parallel or change. Although it is still within the scope of the Ethernet system, it has laid the foundation for the trend of generalization (because it currently only introduces a single virtual machine environment and has no concept of a universal layer).
4.any VM
As more and more virtual machine environments or chains are supported, the construction of Rollup has developed to the fourth stage (not necessarily the final stage), that is, the Rollup itself supports the application to be compatible with the operating environments of more virtual machines. Only then does it truly have the meaning of a universal layer.
There are also two projects at this stage, one is Lumio which was analyzed a few days ago, and the other is Skate Chain.
Both are still in the early stages of construction, but the final result seems to be heading towards the vision of a "universal layer"
When we review the concept of the Rollup universal layer, we may find that this stage has strong cross-chain interoperability properties, and even the logic of the two can be equivalent.
This is also the collision that is bound to occur when things develop to a certain stage.
Two different construction paths, but the final result seems to return to the full chain interaction of DAPP and even users.
- There is no need to expand too much on Lumio and other cross-chains, and we will mainly expand on the idea of Skate:
Skate's security is based on EigenLayer's security sharing concept, which ensures the security of on-chain applications by sharing security through re-staked verification nodes. At the same time, the concept of this universal layer also means that it not only serves the Ethereum system, but also radiates from the bottom up from the DAPP end to users.
In yesterday’s content, I said that [account abstraction] and [chain abstraction] are the battlegrounds in the multi-chain landscape. Before this step is achieved, the answer to how to connect multiple chains is still unknown. However, being able to aggregate the operating environment in one place also means that liquidity is aggregated there instead of being fragmented. If chain abstraction and account abstraction can be done on this basis, the interactive experience will be easier to achieve than the cross-chain interaction school.
The possibility of implementing the general layer application is not only in the areas of Defi liquidity aggregation, but the main idea is to build full-chain applications at this level, which is defined in the Skate framework as a unified state application (Stateless APP).
And in an ideal situation, based on account abstraction and chain abstraction, a method for implementing [user intent] is developed to further reduce the understanding threshold for the interaction between on-chain users and DAPPs. Currently, a preliminary description of the interaction form of intent can be seen in the Skate document.
Finally, one thing to mention: Skate’s predecessor was a Defi liquidity asset management protocol similar to the Solv protocol, which I have analyzed in my previous account. They are now making strategic changes, and the direction of the adjustment has not deviated from the issue of [liquidity], and they can migrate in the same direction.
