1. The public chain track is overcrowded
Speaking of blockchain, this chain and that chain, many people still think of it as high-end cutting-edge technology.
A few years ago, someone said that he had launched a chain, and there were real big names. But now, the track of various chains can be said to be overcrowded. Just the Layer 2 project of Ethereum, after a cursory look, now the entire There are probably over six thousand in the crypto industry!
As we all know, there is a concept of the impossible triangle in blockchain. Blockchain cannot take into account the three dimensions of scalability, security and decentralization at the same time.
For example, our main chains of Bitcoin and Ethereum are very good at the two dimensions of security and decentralization, but their scalability is very poor. Transactions per second (TPS) is a well-known gap.
The TPS of the Ethereum main network is about 20, while the TPS of the Bitcoin main network is only 7.
Some developers patch through Layer 2 solutions, sacrificing some security and decentralization, and try to migrate the transaction data processed by the main chain outside the main chain to increase transaction speed and load. Currently, most Layer 2 TPSs are in the thousands. Considering that current large-scale application scenarios are limited and most on-chain interactions are currency speculation transactions, this TPS should be completely sufficient.
2. It turns out that sending links can also be "generated with one click"
Is it difficult to build a Layer 2 chain?
In fact, it is not difficult at all. There is a track called RaaS (Rollup-as-a-Service). This kind of service provider supports "one-click chain sending". It is said that a chain can be created in 10 minutes.
And you can choose from various ecosystems: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, etc.
Still using the most advanced zk-Rollup
The example I just gave is Lumoz.
There are also many other well-known players in this track. For example, the AltLaye project is a leader in the RaaS track. It was launched on Binance at the end of January this year and currently has more than 2 billion FDV.
The characteristic of Altlayer's project is the invention of a re-pledge Rollup architecture. Are you confused after hearing this? One is Rollup, the other is ZK. What does these have to do with Layer2?
3. Review of Layer2 technology roadmap
Now let’s share some knowledge about the technical path of Layer2. Currently, most of the technologies used by Layer2 include the following three types:
State Channels
This approach allows two or more parties to conduct multiple transactions off-chain, only committing the final state to the blockchain at the end of the transaction. A typical example is the Lightning Network, mainly used in Bitcoin.
This plan is a bit like issuing an IOU. Suppose you own a restaurant and a pork seller comes to your place for a meal every day. At the same time, you have to buy pork from him every day. Normally, you have two transactions every day. But if you keep accounts every day and settle the accounts at the end of the month, then you will only have one transaction in a month.
This solution is especially suitable for long-term, repeated, and small-amount payments, but is not suitable for temporarily adding or reducing participants. Therefore, the Lightning Network is currently used more frequently for transfers to exchange accounts, and other scenarios are more restrictive.
Sidechains
A sidechain is an independent blockchain that uses its own consensus mechanism but is connected to the main chain (parent chain) through a two-way anchor. Sidechains can freely implement different functions and optimizations, while the main chain still maintains its primary security and stability.
The famous Polygon uses this solution. When users send Ethereum from the main network to Polygon, the transfer never actually happens. What really happens is that the transferred amount is locked on mainnet and a mirrored version of the asset is minted on Polygon. This is why Ethereum sent to Polygon is available as $wETH (Wrapped Ethereum).
Rollups
The third technical solution is Rollups. The principle of this solution is to package multiple transactions and send them to one data to be uploaded to the main chain.
It's like you go to a restaurant and order 50 dishes at once, and you don't need to pay fifty times, you only need to pay once.
There are two paths to this technical solution:
OP Rollup：Optimistic
Optimistic Rollup is very optimistic, assuming that all the data entered by Rollup are valid, just like when you go to a restaurant to pay the bill, you believe that the restaurant's bill is correct. To prevent fraudulent transactions, the OP Rollup protocol allows people to submit challenges to fake transactions. Fraudulent transactions are submitted directly on the Ethereum network to check whether they are legitimate and to resolve disputes.
ZK Rollup: Zero Knowledge Zero Knowledge Proof
The Arbitrum and Base chains we are familiar with all use OP Rollup.
ZK Rollup, on the other hand, relies on a type of cryptography called zero-knowledge proofs, which allow someone to mathematically prove that a statement is true without revealing other information about the statement. It kind of encrypts every dish you order, and finally generates a unique password. As long as the password can be matched, it is impossible for the store to edit your menu.
The recently controversial ZKsync uses ZK Rollup.
In addition, the Merlin Chain we are familiar with also uses ZK Rollup.
So which one is more advanced, OP or ZK?
Buterin has repeatedly stated that "short-term OP, long-term ZK", OP has a low threshold, and now it has formed a scale effect, but it is not as safe as ZK. Therefore, there is also a saying that ZK technology is the endgame of Layer2.
The disadvantage of ZK is that it consumes too much computing power.
4. Technology upgrades too fast, ZK also becomes standard equipment
The modularization of this round of fire can make up for the shortcomings of excessive computing power consumption. From a technical perspective, a Rollup is divided into at least 3 modules:
Data Availability (DA): refers to the block producer publishing all the transaction data of the block to the network so that the verifier can download it.
Sequencer: Responsible for sorting, organizing, packaging and submitting transactions in the Layer2 network to the Layer1 network.
Prover: It is necessary to prove through cryptography that the data of Layer2 is consistent with the data uploaded to the Layer1 network.
Among these modules, projects in the DA and Sequencer industries have achieved remarkable results, such as Celestia and EigenDA, which have a market value of tens of billions, and have set examples for the modular development of blockchain. However, in the ZK-Rollup industry, the cost of Prover modules is even higher than that of DA, and there is no strong competitor yet. Lumoz is currently the only computing power provider in the industry.
The Lumoz team has good technical capabilities. They have improved the ZKP algorithm, significantly improved the utilization of machine resources in the cluster, and further accelerated ZKP calculations. Successfully reduced the average transaction confirmation time from approximately 5-6 minutes to approximately 3 minutes, increasing ZKP generation efficiency by approximately 80%.
Lumoz also introduced the concept of ZK-PoW, inviting miners to participate in maintaining zkEVM and calculating ZKP. Lumoz aims to simplify the use of ZK-Rollup and promote its wider adoption, thereby facilitating large-scale deployment of zkEVM-based application chains.
Having said this, do you feel that the Lumoz project is very powerful?
Yes, their strength is also very recognized in the encryption industry. It is said that they currently support more than 20 Layer2 chains such as Merlin Chain, Hashkey Chain, Ultiverse, and Matr1x.
Isn’t it explosive?
You know, most of the RaaS service providers on the market now can only provide OP Rollup services, but the emergence of Lumoz actually allows ZK Rollup to issue links with one click.
If you are injured by ZKsync while playing airdrop, this Lumoz can help you take revenge, and you can copy a ZKsync in ten minutes.
[Disclaimer] There are risks in the market, so investment needs to be cautious. This article does not constitute investment advice, and users should consider whether any opinions, views or conclusions contained in this article are appropriate for their particular circumstances. Invest accordingly and do so at your own risk.
This article is reprinted with permission from: "MarsBit"
Original author: Observer Lao Wang