In this episode of The Rollup, which took place on March 13, 2024, Robbie, Andy, and Anurag discuss rollups, data availability, Avail’s products, and more. Read our notes below to learn more.
Background
- Robbie (Host) – Merkle Tree Maxi, Co-Founder of The Rollup
- Andy (Host) – zkProof Maxi, Co-Founder of The Rollup
- Anurag (Guest) – Founder of Avail
- Avail – Web3 infrastructure layer that allows modular execution layers to scale and interoperate in a trust-minimized way.
Evolution of Rollups
- Anurag says that rollups have gained prominence over the last three to four years, with Ethereum pivoting to a rollup roadmap in 2020.
- He adds that rollups revolutionize blockchain scalability by enabling experimentation with various execution environments and state models.
Avail’s Vision for Web3
- Anurag says that rollups mark a significant shift in how blockchain infrastructure will be constructed in the future. He anticipates that there will be hundreds and thousands of rollups, predominantly app-specific ones, indicating a shift towards specialized rollup tooling.
- He adds that the data availability (DA) layer is crucial for solving rollup scalability issues by implementing validity-proof-driven data availability sampling.
The Role of Data Availability Layer
- Anurag says that as the number of rollups increases, user experience becomes fragmented. Users must navigate multiple chains and third-party solutions for cross-chain activities. Avail addresses this by developing a unification framework to unify rollups and enhance user interaction.
- He adds that Avail Nexus unifies rollups via proof aggregation, execution proof, and data validity sampling. They focus on enabling communication between different rollups for enhanced functionality.
Challenges of Blockchain Scalability
- Anurag introduces Avail Fusion Security. It uses native tokens and high-value tokens for consensus participation.
Interoperability and User Experience
- Anurag says that they plan to upgrade the signature mechanism to a BLS one for scaling up to 10K validators or more. Avail is lightweight, acting as a scalable data availability layer without smart contracts, focusing on staking transfers and data submission. Different from blockchains combining execution and data availability, Avail’s pure focus allows increasing block sizes with growing demand.
Introduction to Avail Nexus
- Anurag says that rollups need transaction ordering data on the base layer; not limited to Ethereum but adaptable to various blockchains. Rollups heavily depend on data availability; around 70-90% of costs are attributed to this aspect.
- He emphasizes that while users can verify transaction orders easily, there are more powerful use cases beyond simple verification.
Future of Rollups and Web3 Unification
- Anurag says that data ordering is crucial as it determines the state transitions in a batch of transactions. Data availability is sometimes misunderstood; it is vital for rollups to commit to an order that cannot be reversed. Validity proofs ensure correct transaction data encoding, crucial for maintaining integrity. Fraud proofs can be executed through challenges within specific time frames to detect incorrect encodings.
- He adds that they utilize polynomial commitments for creating proofs in a cryptoeconomic manner. Immediate proof creation upon block finalization enhances efficiency compared to traditional methods requiring challenge window periods. The introduction of a P2P light client layer alongside the validator-run network enhances data accessibility and distribution.
- Anurag says that the differentiation between two chains is crucial for understanding their unique characteristics. Exploring the life cycle and core reasoning behind design choices provides valuable insights into blockchain structures.
- Avail Nexus serves as a pivotal component offering scalable data availability capabilities within blockchain architecture. It enables the expansion of blob space to accommodate numerous rollups as demand increases, enhancing scalability.
- Avail Nexus facilitates proof aggregation by composing proofs from various rollups to create a single trust-minimized aggregate proof. By combining proof aggregation with ordering guarantees, effective communication and coordination among rollups are ensured.
Asynchronous Messaging in Blockchain
- Anurag says that asynchronous messaging plays a vital role in scaling blockchain systems similar to how microservices enhance scalability in internet applications like Amazon’s payment processing.
Avail Nexus as a Coordination Framework
- Anurag says that Avail Nexus is crucial in a world with increasing ecosystem fragmentation, where multiple teams are developing their own ecosystems.
Sequencer Selection Mechanism in Avail Nexus
- Anurag says that various teams are working on different ecosystems, leading to a fragmented user experience when dealing with funds outside one’s ecosystem.
- He adds that Avail acts as a credible third party that collaborates with ecosystems to establish a permissionless verification hub, enhancing interoperability between ecosystems.
- Anurag says that Avail Nexus implements a decentralized marketplace for selecting sequencers through an auction mechanism, promoting inclusivity and decentralization within rollup operations.
Avail Fusion and Cryptoeconomic Security
- Anurag says that partners like Polkadot and Sassin Labs have also utilized similar concerns in building consensus verifiers. Various elements are required for connecting to different chains, such as SVM support and complexity considerations.
- He adds that they put emphasis on building Solana consensus verifier alongside other components like state verifiers for practical implementation.
Consensus Mechanism Explained
- Anurag says that design considerations involve leveraging native tokens like Avail tokens for crypto economic security. Ability to enhance security by incorporating tokens from other ecosystems into the cryptoeconomic model.
- He adds that drawing inspiration from existing projects like Osmosis, plans include allowing new rollup tokens to participate in Avail Fusion for added utility. Introducing game-theoretical aspects by integrating valuable assets into the protocol to strengthen security measures.
Conclusion and Vision for Web3 Unification
- Anurag says that there is a proposal to incorporate provisions for new rollup tokens within Aale Fusion to bolster token utility amidst evolving ecosystems.
- He adds that new rollup tokens’ addition to consensus raises concerns about illiquid tokens affecting consensus due to volatility. Crypto Economic Security for consensus mechanisms like Bitcoin and Ethereum shields against significant impacts from individual new rollup token failures. He anticipates minimal contribution of new rollup tokens to total Economic Security due to high volatility and liquidity concerns.
- Avail Fusion comprises separate quorums for various tokens, including Avail token, $BTC Quorum, $ETH Quorum, and distinct quorums for rollup tokens.
Check out these important links
- Listen to the episode on Youtube
- Follow Robbie on Twitter
- Follow Andy on Twitter
- Follow Anurag on Twitter
- Follow Avail on Twitter
Show Information
- Medium: Youtube
- Show: The Rollup
- Show Title: Modular March EP 3: The Next Modular DA Launch & Avail Trinity
- Show Date: March 13, 2024