Ethereum Dencun Upgrade and Mainstream Data Availability Project Analysis

Memo Labs
8 min readMay 6, 2024

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1. Upgrade Ethereum Dencun with EIP-4844

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade is a major update in its history, specifically introducing the so-called “proto-danksharding” feature via EIP-4844. This feature significantly improves the availability of data and the scalability of the network by freeing up more storage space for the so-called “blob” data types. In addition, EIP-4844 is also designed to reduce gas charges for Layer 2 solutions, thus making the Ethereum network more efficient and economical.

2. Interpretation of data Availability (DA)

Data availability refers to the extent to which data is assured that it can be accessed and used in any situation. In a blockchain environment, this often involves how to efficiently store and retrieve transaction data to support decentralized applications and services. The issue of data availability has always been a challenge in blockchain scaling and performance optimization, as it directly affects the scalability and cost-effectiveness of the network.

In today’s digital age, the importance of data is self-evident. Especially in the field of blockchain technology, Data Availability has become a key indicator to measure a network’s ability to scale and efficiency. This article will analyze the mainstream DA projects in the market such as Celestia, Meeda, EigenDA, and Avail, explore their advantages in the field of data availability and summarize them to help users better understand the field of DA and the project itself.

3. Introduction and advantage comparison of mainstream DA projects

3.1 Introduction

Celestia: Provides a modular DA network with technologies such as Data Availability Sampling (DAS) and namespace Merkle Tree (NMTs). Its competitive advantage lies in extremely low data availability costs and higher data throughput, suitable for small to medium-sized L2 and application chains.

Meeda: is an efficient and concise DA solution that provides reliable data availability assurance for execution layers such as Layer2 Rollup. It uses KZG polynomial commitment technology, elliptic curve computing, and other technologies to provide an efficient and concise data availability solution for Rollups.

EigenDA: emphasizes security and technical legitimacy, with technologies like erasure code, KZG Promise, and ACeD. It excels in terms of transaction throughput, node load, and DA costs

Avail: is part of a growing modular ecosystem focused on increasing the data availability of blockchains. It is unique in increasing block size using efficient client-side verification technology

3.2 Advantages

How does the Celestia project improve data processing speed with large blocks and data availability sampling techniques? Project Celestia improves data processing speed by adopting large blocks and data availability sampling techniques. Specifically, Celestia acts as a modular data availability network with core mechanisms including key technologies such as data availability Sampling (DAS) and namespace Merkle tree (NMT). These technologies work together to improve the data processing power and scalability of the blockchain.

Data availability sampling techniques allow light nodes to download only a small portion of the block data to verify the availability of the data, thereby reducing the amount of data that the node needs to verify, especially as the block size increases. This technique expands a piece of data containing N blocks into a piece of data containing 2N blocks by using erasure codes, making it possible to recover the entire data from any N of these blocks. In this way, the availability of the data can be effectively verified, even in the case of large blocks, without the need to download the entire data.

In addition, Celestia expands by decoupling execution from consensus and introducing a new sampling of raw data availability. This design not only increases the speed of data processing but also enhances the scalability and security of the system. In this way, Celestia is able to scale securely based on the number of users, making it easy for anyone to launch their own blockchain.The Celestia project effectively increases the speed of data processing by utilizing large blocks and data availability sampling techniques, while maintaining the scalability and security of the system.

What steps has the Meeda project taken to improve the speed and security of data transfer?

Backed by the MEMO distributed storage system, Meeda offers a long-term data acquisition solution, which utilizes the technical support of MEMO to effectively improve the speed and security of data transfer.

Technology integration and performance enhancement: Based on MEMO’s storage technology, Meeda supports large-capacity read and write operations, provides programmable dynamic storage, and aims to reduce the storage cost of large amounts of data and increase the processing speed

Data Availability sampling: allows light nodes to verify the availability of data without downloading all blocks of data. In addition, Meeda utilizes KZG polynomial commitment technology, elliptic curve calculation and other technologies to provide reliable data availability assurance for execution layers such as Layer2 Rollup.

Proof of Storage: Through random sampling and dynamic data-sharding technology, Meeda can demonstrate data retention and ensure high data reproduction through an incentive mechanism, which helps to improve the censorship resistance and security of the data.

Data storage and Availability: Meeda will enable permanent data storage, which is supported by its original time-sampled data availability proof algorithm. This integration not only enhances the security of the data but also prolongs the time when the data is available.

As a whole, Meeda provides a robust technical support framework that significantly improves data processing capabilities and the economics of the system by integrating advanced data processing and storage technologies, thus enhancing its competitiveness and attractiveness in the entire blockchain ecosystem.

What are the specific ways in which the high security and native compatibility with Ethereum offered by EigenDA can be implemented?

EigenLayer: EigenDA protects the security of data by providing higher instantaneous censorship resistance to the DA layer through EigenLayer. The EigenLayer is a key component that allows Ethernet pledgers and verifiers to connect, increasing security and reducing costs while increasing throughput. EigenDA also employs an Active Verification Service (AVS) to share security from Ethereum validators by repledging ETH via a lock on a smart contract, whose security guarantee will depend on the amount of ETH repledged by the number of validators.

Proof of Custody: EigenDA ensures by means of proof of custody that the node holds the block of data promised by it. This mechanism can prevent dishonest behavior and further enhance the security of the system.

Decentralization and independence: EigenDA is built on a trust model that requires not only economic trust from ETH pledges, but also decentralization and independence from node operators in order to operate safely. EigenLayer allows EigenDA to borrow both of these trust mechanisms from Ethereum.

Ethereum-centric security: EigenDA brings Ethereum-centric security, and ETH Stakers participate in the EigenLayer, where they can Restake EigenDA. In addition, EigenDA allows Rollup tokens to be used in Dual Staking, and together these measures ensure security when building on EigenDA.

Lack of Data Availability Sampling (DAS): While EigenDA’s security is built on trust in a small number of intact nodes or other entities, its lack of data availability sampling (DAS) means that the integrity of the protocol depends on more than half of those within the Commission being honest.

EigenDA achieves high security and compatibility with Ethereum natively through multifaceted measures such as EigenLayer, proof of hosting, decentralization and independence, and Ethereum-centric security.

What are the specific mechanisms that Avail uses to guarantee data security with KZG Promise and other cryptography?

KZG Polynomial Promise: Avail takes the KZG Polynomial Promise approach to improve blockchain data throughput and solve performance bottlenecks. When a block producer generates a block, a promise is generated that summarizes the data in the entire row of Avail blockchain. In the verification phase, the light client looks at the promise in the block header and validates the proof of each cell against this promise, thus confirming the availability of all the data in the block.

Data Availability Check: Avail Checks data availability by using erasure codes, which are an extremely secure mathematical primitive. 3 Encryption technology: Avail encrypts all data 256-bit to comply with the latest security and privacy standards. In addition, Avail does not distribute data to any third parties. Users can request deletion of their data at any time, or delete the data themselves by deleting the account. When users delete their accounts, Avail removes all relevant data.

Fail-safe mechanisms: Avail has strong fail-safe mechanisms, which are a feature of its Data Availability (DA) layer. This mechanism ensures that the system remains stable and secure even in the event of a failure.

Asynchronous messaging principle: Avail is using the asynchronous messaging principle to scale applications on the Internet, which shows that Avail has taken advanced technical measures in handling large amounts of data and guaranteeing the security of data transmission.

By combining various technologies and methods such as KZG polynomial commitment, data availability check, advanced encryption technology, fail-safe mechanism, and asynchronous messaging principle, Avail has built a secure and efficient blockchain ecosystem.

3.3 Comparison

Celestia

Focusing on providing pluggable consensus networks to simplify blockchain deployment and reduce operational costs, Celestia solves the processing costs that increase as on-chain activity grows in an integral blockchain, with extremely low data availability costs and high data throughput.

Meeda

Meeda is a decentralized storage layer that provides programmable data storage services that support long-term data availability solutions for Rollups and other on-chain applications such as gaming, social networking, AI, etc.

EigenDA

EigenDA uses the EigenLayer repledge primitive, and its strength lies in its potentially higher security and its combination with Ethereum’s legitimacy, which makes it ideal for large L2 projects.

Avail

Optimized data processing and storage of blockchain, supporting asynchronous interaction between application chains, Avail optimizes data processing and storage through its modular system, improving the overall performance of the network and the efficiency of data management.

In summary, Celestia, Meeda, EigenDA and Avail each have their own unique technical characteristics and market positioning. Celestia focuses on modular and low-cost data availability solutions for small and medium-sized businesses; Meeda emphasizes capacity expansion, cost-effectiveness, and security; EigenDA focuses on security and compatibility with Ethereum for large projects that require high security; And Avail, which optimizes data processing and storage through its modular system, boosts network performance.

Step 4: Summary

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade greatly improves network scalability and economics by introducing proto-danksharding and reducing Layer 2 gas charges. Meanwhile, projects such as Celestia, Meeda, EigenDA, and Avail, with their unique technical advantages and market positioning, offer diversified solutions for data processing, storage, and security of blockchain, all showing greater development potential, and users can follow these projects for more information.

DA, as the foundation for the development of blockchain ecology, is crucial for the scalability and security of mainstream blockchain platforms such as Ethereum and BTC. With the advancement of technology and the growth of market demand, the future situation of the DA layer is better, and the DA layer will continue to promote the development and innovation of blockchain technology.

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Memo Labs

MEMO is a new-gen blockchain decentralized cloud storage protocol. Our mission is to build a reliable storage infrastructure for the Web3 era. www.memolabs.org