Author: Bitpush Lincoln Murr
Smart contract blockchains, represented by Ethereum, have historically based their value on the ability to execute code and serve as the computing engine of the world. However, with the transition to Layer 2 (L2) as an interaction point and scalability solution, L1 is used less and less for execution and more for storing L2-related data.
The shift towards data availability (DA) has been one of the hottest topics in the industry over the past few months, with some DA solution tokens increasing more than 5x over the past month. This article will introduce the definition of data availability, its importance, and some prospects for the future of blockchain computing.
Before Layer 2, Ethereum's advantage over other chains was the Ethereum Virtual Machine (the part of the blockchain that allows it to execute smart contracts and arbitrary code) and the liquidity in smart contracts. However, during the previous bull run, it became clear that Ethereum was not ready for mass adoption and had serious scalability issues, with simple token transfers costing up to $10. In order to achieve greater scale while maintaining similar levels of security and decentralization, the concept of L2 Rollup was born.
Rollup works by abstracting blockchain transactions into two independent parts: data storage and computational execution, and optimizing how they are completed.
Computation on decentralized blockchains is expensive, so developers design them to be done off-chain at a low cost. Cryptographic verification that proves the data has been processed correctly is published to the blockchain, which allows anyone to quickly verify that given the data input, the off-chain computing engine outputs the correct result.
But there is still a question: how do we know that the off-chain engine is using the correct data? Therefore, it is necessary to publish all transaction data to the on-chain environment to allow anyone willing to re-execute transactions and check for fraud. It also brings the additional benefit of allowing users to query state-specific information, such as account balances, which would otherwise not be available.
Storing Rollup data on-chain is called data availability and has become a very hot topic in the Web3 industry recently. As the number of Rollup and application chain solutions continues to increase, there is a need to reduce the cost of data availability and support more data.
For example, currently on Ethereum, data is stored as a "calldata" storage type, which means it is very expensive and stored forever by validators. The new upgrade, called EIP-4844, introduces a new storage type called "blob" specifically for storing L2 data. The data automatically expires after 1-3 months, which means users can download the data for later use while unnecessary data does not clog the Ethereum chain. In theory, this could reduce the cost of using Rollup for users by 20 times.
However, EIP-4844 and blobs are not the only data availability (DA) solutions. Many new and old projects are creating new solutions for data availability, hoping to gain some profits from L2.
For example, the recently launched Cosmos SDK-based network Celestia aims to be a cheap and efficient DA layer for all blockchains, and the related concept hype has caused the token to rise from an airdrop price of $2 to over $12 in less than two months. Other projects, such as NEAR, have modified their existing products to include DA functionality, and another high-profile project, EigenLayer, plans to accelerate the launch of the EigenDA service, which will allow Ethereum validators to choose L2-supported DAs in exchange for larger staking rewards.
The concept of using L1 and its massively distributed validator set to effectively serve as redundant storage space is novel and a radical departure from previous L1 value propositions. In a sense, it creates more modularity and flexibility for Rollups, as any DA layer can be chosen with little to no impact on end users. That being said, this makes the L1 DA space more competitive, with protocols competing based on fees, scalability, and liveness/uptime.
It is difficult to predict how L2 will choose their DA layer. On the one hand, the existing L2 on Ethereum seems to work well, but if there is a cheaper solution that can give them a competitive advantage without compromising the user experience, what is the reason not to switch?
The other major risk of migration is outage or downtime, which has historically rarely occurred on Ethereum. In addition, zero-knowledge L2 can still use Ethereum to verify proof of transaction execution by publishing it to an Ethereum-based smart contract validator, which is much cheaper than DA and does not compromise security.
Investors and Layer 2 architects have shown great interest in the data availability layer, and the competition has just begun. As Celestia includes more partners, Ethereum releases EIP-4844, and other solutions begin to release and promote their solutions, the competition in the L2 DA track will gradually heat up. However, a better combination of privacy, efficiency, and security is the core competitiveness that an excellent project needs to have.
Author: Bitpush Lincoln Murr
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Tags CelestiaCosmosEigenLayerL2Layer 2RollupEthereumData availability
Source link: https://en.bitpush.news/articles/6584990
Note: All articles on Bitpush only represent the author's views and do not constitute investment advice
Original link: https://www.bitpush.news/articles/5829067
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