Beam Chain: 'Ethereum 3.0'
The recently concluded 2024 Devcon conference was bustling, with the Ethereum ecosystem gathering in Bangkok, where Ethereum and related ecosystem projects released the latest progress and dynamics, igniting a series of new ideas, new trends, and new plans for global Web3.
Especially impressive is the proposal plan for 'Ethereum 3.0' released by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake.
He proposed a consensus layer upgrade proposal known as 'Ethereum 3.0' by the community -- Beam Chain [1]. Its core idea is to use zero-knowledge proofs to reduce the computational and communication burden of Validators, lowering the threshold required to become a Validator, allowing more Validators to join the network to increase security, reduce computational redundancy, and improve the overall efficiency of the network. In addition, Justin also wants to take this opportunity of the Snarkification transformation of the consensus layer to address the technical debt left in the Beacon chain due to era limitations and prepare for future quantum-safe requirements.
In Vitalik's The Verge roadmap, the Snarkification of Ethereum (SNARKification) has always been one of the important tasks, which includes the zero-knowledge proof transformation of the consensus layer and execution layer. In Vitalik's latest interpretation [2], Vitalik candidly admitted that the transformation work of the consensus layer is a challenge that needs to be continuously considered and optimized in subsequent work. The proposal of Beam Chain can be seen as Vitalik's response to how to Snarkify the consensus layer.
Beam Chain focuses only on the consensus layer. However, Snarkifying the consensus layer does not mean transforming all parts. The core of blockchain is the State Transition Function, so the transformation only needs to Snarkify the State Transition Function, which is exactly where ZK excels. For the consensus layer, the State Transition Function mainly includes three parts: the per-slot transition function, the per-block transition function, and the per-epoch transition function. Among these three State Transition Functions are the execution of consensus algorithms and Staking logic, block proposal, verification of execution layer results, Merkle Tree Root verification, consensus signature verification/aggregation, hash function calculation, and Staking and redemption operations involving account storage state access. To Snarkify the consensus layer is actually to Snarkify the operations mentioned above. It is worth noting that in the route of Snarkifying the consensus layer, Ethereum still prioritizes decentralization and diversity, so it will not impose ZK algorithms and protocols but will allow Proposers to choose.
Image source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGE_RDumZGgt=8257s
Core challenge: Realtime Proving
To realize the vision of Beam Chain, the core difficulty is the improvement of proof efficiency, specifically how to compress the current proof time of tens or even hundreds of seconds to a few seconds. At the ZK Workshop II [3] jointly held by AntChain OpenLabs, ZAN, and Pharos on September 24 this year, guest Justin shared a report titled 'Realtime Proving', where he proposed core ideas that resonate with the vision of 'Ethereum 3.0', presenting solutions to address performance bottlenecks. He encouraged the community to use ASIC acceleration methods to complete the entire process of zero-knowledge proof virtual machine from evidence generation to proof on chips, aiming to increase proof generation time by more than ten times in the next few years, truly achieving Realtime Proving.
Helping the performance and application of zero-knowledge proof technology: We have been on the road.
AntChain OpenLabs has been committed to accelerating ZK proofs using hardware platforms such as GPU, FPGA, and ASIC, accelerating various ZK systems including Polygon ZKEVM Prover, Stone Prover, Halo 2, and Plonky 2, forming multiple FPGA IP and GPU acceleration solutions, with some core operators achieving over 100 times acceleration ratio.
Relative acceleration ratio of some operators based on CUDA by AntChain OpenLabs compared to CPU, as shown in Table (1).
( Table 1 )
Performance comparison of GPU-accelerated MSM implemented by AntChain OpenLabs and open-source ICICLE (both at 4090 GPU), as shown in Table (2).
( Table 2 )
Performance comparison of GPU-accelerated Circle FFT implemented by AntChain OpenLabs and open-source Stwo Prover on 16-core CPU, as shown in Table (3).
( Table 3 )
In addition, AntChain OpenLabs is also committed to exploring the application of zero-knowledge proofs, using technologies such as self-designed matrix multiplication Folding, Sumcheck protocol for GPU+CPU cooperative optimization, and efficient implementation of elliptic curves, to reduce the first token generation time of zkLLM [4][5] (original implementation does not include commitment and opening, performance tested after adding commitment and opening, targeting the LLama-7B model) from 4 hours to about 18 minutes under 4 GPUs.
AntChain OpenLabs continuously optimizes the performance and usability of verifiable computing for large models based on GPU accumulation, and continues to push for improvements in commitment scheme replacement and optimization, multi-instance Folding, and multi-token proof generation, aiming to build an efficient, user-friendly, AI ecosystem-friendly verifiable computing service to explore possible directions for large-scale application of zero-knowledge proof technology, and to build a bridge linking Web3 and AI applications.
At the same time, in the face of the threat of quantum computers, AntChain OpenLabs has also conducted active exploration, modifying a post-quantum version of the cryptographic library based on OpenSSL [6], supporting multiple NIST standard post-quantum algorithms. At the same time, facing the issue of over 40 times storage inflation of post-quantum signatures compared to ECDSA, it uses consensus processes and low-latency memory reading optimization, achieving a quantum-resistant blockchain TPS of about 50% of the original chain.
It is worth noting that the above technical explorations have been applied in the soft-hardware integrated acceleration solution launched by ZAN -- Power Zebra (https://zan.top/home/power-zebra?chInfo=ch_WZ), which targets the acceleration and optimization of operators commonly used in zero-knowledge proofs, including multi-scalar multiplication MSM, number-theoretic transform NTT, H polynomial solving, polynomial opening proofs, and other key components, fully utilizing the computational resources, storage bandwidth, and PCIe bandwidth of GPUs, significantly improving computational efficiency. Previously, after introducing ZAN's soft-hardware integrated acceleration solution Power Zebra, the GPU computing performance of the zkWASM open-source community Delphinus Lab improved by over 20%, setting the highest record for similar services in the community.
Foresee
For a long time, the Ethereum community has mainly focused on optimizing various aspects of the execution layer, including increasing BlockGasLimit, L2s, and other strategies. Among them, the Snarkification of the execution layer has already completed most of the work through 'Rollup Centric' roadmaps with L2, yielding significant benefits. The idea of Beam Chain opens the door to the Snarkification of the consensus layer. It is believed that with the proposal of Beam Chain, it will guide and inspire the community to focus on the transformation of the consensus layer, bringing more exciting ideas.
It can be anticipated that the Snarkification of the consensus layer and execution layer will together complete the final puzzle of Ethereum Snarkification, making a significant contribution to Ethereum's scalability and decentralization. At the same time, as the Beam Chain proposal progresses, virtual machines based on zero-knowledge proof technology will play a core role in the Ethereum ecosystem. By introducing SNARK proofs and post-quantum cryptography, combined with lower staking thresholds and faster block confirmation times, Beam Chain will bring stronger decentralization and higher performance to Ethereum.
References
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGE_RDumZGg
[2] https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/10/23/futures4.html
[3] https://x.com/zan_team/status/1844947080642539752
[4] https://github.com/jvhs0706/zkllm-ccs2024
[5] https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.16109
[6] https://www.openssl.org/
