📝 Hi, I’m 𝟏𝟎, this is the popular science series of #BlockchainDevelopmentHistory, this issue’s content: Modular blockchain.

The rise of modular blockchains marks that blockchain has become more flexible and extensible. It is no longer a closed system, but an open platform that can easily add or remove functions. This idea not only promotes technological progress, but also provides an important strategy for the blockchain ecosystem to cope with future challenges.

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1. The Origin of Modularity

The concept of modular blockchain originated from two important white papers. In 2018, Mustafa Albasan and Vitalik Buterin proposed a system that allows light clients to ensure data integrity by verifying fraud proofs generated by full nodes. The data availability sampling technology they adopted improves the scalability of blockchain while ensuring security and decentralization. This approach is the key to implementing expansion solutions such as sharding or large blocks, ensuring that on-chain data is reliable and available.



In 2019, Mustafa Albasan proposed a new architecture in "Lazy Ledger" where the blockchain is only responsible for sorting and ensuring the availability of transaction data, and no longer handles the execution and verification of transactions. This idea is called "smart contract client" and aims to improve the scalability of blockchain. The execution of smart contracts is handled by an independent execution layer, and this concept later became the basis of the Celestia project.

With the emergence of Rollup technology, this concept has become more realistic. Its core idea is to put the execution of smart contracts off-chain, and then upload the results as proof to the execution layer. Based on this idea, Celestia came into being and proposed a new way of "modular blockchain".

2. What is a modular blockchain?

To understand modular blockchain, first understand the monolithic blockchain. Monolithic blockchain is like an all-rounder that handles all blockchain functions, including data storage, transaction verification, and smart contract execution. Take Bitcoin and Ethereum as examples, these blockchains cover all necessary functions.

Taking Ethereum as an example, its structure can be divided into four main parts. Imagine the blockchain's accounting process as a library. Here is a detailed interpretation of the Ethereum structure:

We can use an analogy to more clearly understand the collaborative work of blockchain architecture. Monolithic blockchain is like an all-powerful chain that concentrates all functions on one chain and manages all tasks in a unified way. However, modular blockchain splits the system into different modules, each focusing on a specific function, such as consensus, data availability, execution, and settlement. Imagine modular blockchain is like a professional team, where each member excels in their own field, resulting in faster transaction processing speed and lower costs.

In terms of node architecture, a single chain requires full nodes to download and process the data of the entire blockchain, which not only increases the burden of storage and computing, but also limits the speed of network expansion. Modular blockchains use light nodes that only process block header information, greatly improving transaction speed and network efficiency.

The biggest advantage of modular blockchain is flexibility and collaboration. It can hand over non-core functions to experts, and the modules cooperate with each other to improve the overall performance. This design is like Lego blocks, developers can freely combine them according to their needs to create various solutions.

Although monolithic chains excel in global control, security, and stability, they may face challenges in scalability, upgrading, and adapting to new needs. In contrast, modular blockchains stand out for their flexibility and customization capabilities, simplifying the creation and optimization process. However, their complex architecture also brings challenges in development and maintenance, and their long-term stability and security still need to be further verified.

3. Why do we need modular blockchain?

Modular blockchain technology may sound a bit complicated, but it is actually an attempt to solve an age-old problem: how to make blockchain fast, secure, and decentralized.

The "impossible triangle" of blockchain refers to the fact that it is difficult for blockchain to achieve the best of the three aspects of security, decentralization and scalability. For example, Bitcoin and Ethereum do a good job in security and decentralization, but they sacrifice processing speed (scalability).

Modular blockchain is designed to change this situation. It splits the functions of blockchain into different parts, each of which focuses on different tasks. For example, some parts are dedicated to processing data, while others are responsible for executing smart contracts. The benefit of this is that each part can be better optimized, which can improve efficiency and performance as a whole.

Specifically, the design of modular blockchain can separate the data layer from the execution layer. The data layer focuses on efficient data storage and verification, while the execution layer handles smart contracts and business logic. This separation not only improves processing power, but also improves the scalability and transaction costs of the system, while maintaining the security and decentralization of the system.

4. Example of modular blockchain

Celestia

Celestia is a modular blockchain focused on data availability storage. It provides a way for Ethereum's Rollup and second-layer solutions to publish transaction data while allowing anyone to download it. Celestia uses Data Availability Sampling (DAS) technology to ensure efficient availability of data.

Mantle Network（MNT）

Mantle Network is a second-layer expansion solution based on Optimistic Rollup technology, providing a modular design compatible with EVM. Incubated by BitDAO, Mantle uses Rollup technology and a decentralized data availability layer (Mantle DA) to provide users with high throughput, low fees, and fast confirmation services while maintaining Ethereum-level security.

5. Tail

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