Written by: ZAN
Beam Chain: 'Ethereum 3.0'
The recently concluded 2024 Devcon conference was bustling, with the Ethereum ecosystem gathering in Bangkok. During this period, Ethereum and related ecosystem projects released the latest developments and updates, igniting a series of new ideas, trends, and plans in the 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 in the community as 'Ethereum 3.0' -- Beam Chain [1]. Its core idea is to use zero-knowledge proofs to reduce the computational and communication burdens on Validators, lowering the threshold to become a Validator, allowing more Validators to join the network to increase security, reduce computational redundancy, and improve overall network efficiency. In addition, Justin also aims to take the opportunity of the Snarkification of the consensus layer to address the technical debt left in the Beacon chain due to epoch limitations and prepare for future post-quantum security needs.
In Vitalik's The Verge roadmap, the Snarkification of Ethereum (SNARKification) is already an important task, which includes the zero-knowledge proof transformation of both the consensus layer and execution layer. In Vitalik's latest interpretation [2], he candidly stated that the transformation work of the consensus layer is a challenge, requiring continuous consideration and optimization in future work. The proposal of Beam Chain can be seen as Vitalik's response to how to Snarkify the consensus layer.
Beam Chain focuses solely on the consensus layer. However, Snarkifying the consensus layer does not mean modifying all parts. The core of blockchain is the state transition function, so to modify it, only the state transition function needs to be Snarkified, which is exactly what ZK excels at. For the consensus layer, the state transition function mainly includes three parts: the per-slot transition function, per-block transition function, and per-epoch transition function. These three state transition functions involve the execution of consensus algorithms and staking logic, block proposal, verification of execution layer result correctness, Merkle Tree Root verification, consensus signature verification/aggregation, hash function computation, and staking and redemption operations involving account storage state access. Snarkifying the consensus layer essentially means Snarkifying 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 does not impose ZK algorithms and protocols but rather allows the Proposer to choose.
Image source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGE_RDumZGg&t=8257s
Core Difficulty: Realtime Proving
To realize the vision of Beam Chain, the core difficulty is to improve proof efficiency, specifically how to compress the current proof time of tens to even hundreds of seconds down to seconds. At the ZK Workshop II [3] held on September 24 this year, co-hosted by AntChain OpenLabs, ZAN, and Pharos, guest Justin shared a report titled 'Realtime Proving', where he presented core ideas in line with the vision of 'Ethereum 3.0' and proposed 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 speed by more than ten times within the next few years, truly achieving Realtime Proving.
Empowering the performance and application of zero-knowledge proof technology: We are always on the road.
AntChain OpenLabs has been committed to accelerating ZK proofs using hardware platforms such as GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs, accelerating various ZK systems including Polygon ZKEVM Prover, Stone Prover, Halo2, and Plonky2, forming multiple FPGA IP and GPU acceleration solutions, with some core operators achieving over a hundred times acceleration ratios.
The relative acceleration ratios of certain 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 with open-source ICICLE (both using 4090 GPU), as shown in Table (2).
(Table 2)
Performance comparison of GPU-accelerated Circle FFT implemented by AntChain OpenLabs with open-source Stwo Prover on a 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. In AI+ZK, large model verifiable computation has been optimized using self-designed matrix multiplication Folding, Sumcheck protocol GPU+CPU collaborative optimization, and efficient implementation of elliptic curves. Under 4 GPUs, the token generation time of zkLLM [4][5] (the original implementation did not include commitment and opening, and the performance was tested after adding commitment and opening, targeting the LLama-7B model) was reduced from 4 hours to about 18 minutes.
AntChain OpenLabs continues to optimize the performance and usability of large model verifiable computations based on GPU accumulation, and is focusing on the replacement and optimization of commitment schemes, multi-instance Folding, and multi-token proof generation, aiming to build an efficient, user-friendly, and AI-ecosystem-friendly verifiable computation service to explore possible directions for the large-scale application of zero-knowledge proof technology and build a bridge linking Web3 and AI applications.
Facing the threat of quantum computers, AntChain OpenLabs has also actively explored by modifying a post-quantum version of the cryptographic library based on OpenSSL [6], supporting multiple NIST standard post-quantum algorithms. At the same time, in response to the problem of over 40 times storage expansion of post-quantum signatures compared to ECDSA, optimizations in the consensus process and low-latency memory reads have made anti-quantum blockchain TPS reach about 50% of the original chain.
It is worth noting that the aforementioned technological explorations have been applied in the soft and hard integration acceleration solution launched by ZAN—Power Zebra. This solution accelerates and optimizes common operators 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 GPU computational resources, storage bandwidth, and PCIe bandwidth, significantly improving computational efficiency. Previously, the zkWASM open-source community Delphinus Lab saw over a 20% increase in GPU computing performance after introducing ZAN’s soft and hard integration acceleration solution Power Zebra, setting the highest record for similar community services.
Foresee
For a long time, the Ethereum community has mainly focused on optimizing the execution layer, including increasing BlockGasLimit, L2s, and other strategies. In this process, the Snarkification of the execution layer has already completed most of the work with the help of L2 in the 'Rollup Centric' roadmap, yielding significant results. The idea of Beam Chain opens the door to 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 and bring more exciting ideas.
It is foreseeable that the Snarkification of the consensus layer and execution layer will together complete the final puzzle of Ethereum's Snarkification, making a significant contribution to the scalability and decentralization of Ethereum. At the same time, with the advancement of the Beam Chain proposal, the virtual machine 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/
