1. The development background of Layer2
The development background of Ethereum Layer2 is mainly to solve the scalability and transaction efficiency problems of the Ethereum mainnet. With the rapid growth of the Ethereum community, the volume of transactions on the mainnet has increased dramatically, resulting in high transaction fees and network congestion issues. To address these challenges, the Ethereum community began exploring and developing various Layer2 solutions.
Layer2 technology achieves its functionality by creating one or more additional processing layers on the Ethereum main chain that can operate independently of the main chain, thereby reducing the burden on the main chain and increasing the processing power and reducing costs of the overall network.
2. The implementation scheme of Layer2 is Rollup
In the early development of the Ethereum ecosystem, Layer2’s solutions mainly included technologies such as side chains and Plasma. With the advancement of technology, Rollup became the mainstream in Layer2 solutions, and Rollup significantly improved transaction processing efficiency and reduced costs by aggregating multiple transactions into a single transaction and verifying it on-chain.
Rollup schemes fall into two main categories: ZK Rollup and Optimistic Rollup. ZK Rollup uses zero-knowledge proof technology to ensure the validity of transactions, while optimistic Rollup uses a fraud proof mechanism that allows transactions to be processed quickly without controversy.
Although they are both Rollup schemes, there are still significant differences between them. Because ZK Rollup contains less data in each transaction, it can significantly improve the throughput and scalability of the second layer, and because it reduces the computing burden on the chain through effectiveness proof, ZK Rollup usually has a lower Gas cost.
Optimistic Rollup, on the other hand, is more versatile, allowing developers to migrate code to a layer 2 network with less effort. And because it supports Turing-complete computing, compatible with EVM, which makes it more popular among the developer community, Optimistic Rollup can achieve faster transaction speeds and lower costs due to the default assumption that all transactions are valid.
Although both have advantages and ZK Rollup is superior in the processing of large transactions, it is preferred in the market due to Optimistic Rollup’s advantages in terms of cost effectiveness and is the main choice among many Layer2 solutions.
The representative projects that adopt Optimistic Rollup include Arbitrum and Optimism, both of which are listed as the Optimistic Rollup projects with the highest market share and occupy a very important position in this field, with outstanding performance in terms of technology maturity and market influence.
3. The relationship between DA and Layer2
As for data availability (DA), this is a key component in the Layer2 solution. The core goals of DA are to expand on-chain space, reduce transaction costs and speed up transactions. In a Rollup scenario, the DA layer is responsible for ensuring that all network participants have access to transaction data, which is essential for maintaining the integrity and security of the network.
For example, Celistia is a DA layer with relatively high popularity and TVL recently, creating the pioneer of modular blockchain. Modular blockchain separates the execution layer and DA layer. In Celistia, the main role of DA layer is to receive the status data submitted by the execution layer and submit these data to the settlement layer. And ensure the availability of data.
A perfect DA layer should have the following characteristics: First, it should be able to efficiently store and retrieve a large amount of data, which is the most essential requirement of data availability layer; Second, it should have a high degree of scalability to adapt to the growing network demand; Finally, it should be able to integrate seamlessly with the Rollup scheme, providing fast and cost-effective transaction processing.
4.DA programme
At present, there are better DA layers in the ETH ecosystem, such as Celistia, EigenDA and NEAR DA. Firstly, we introduce Celistia, the representative of modular blockchain mentioned above. As the name suggests, modularity is to separate the core functions of blockchain, such as execution, settlement, consensus and data availability, into independent layers. This architectural approach allows each layer to specialize, which increases efficiency and scalability.
A few terms for the modular blockchain narrative, explained below:
Execution layer: Execute user transactions, update blockchain status, submit data to DA layer and settlement layer.
Settlement layer: Verifies state transitions in the execution layer, resolves disputes (such as proof of fraud), and provides bridge modules to handle L1-L2 bridged assets.
DA layer: A large bulletin board that receives state transition data submitted by the executive layer and provides this data to anyone in a trusted manner.
Consensus layer: Ensuring the finality of transaction ordering seems to be close to the function of the DA layer (the Ethereum community’s layered approach to modular blockchains does not include a consensus layer).
EigenDA, another scheme focused on data availability, has the core advantage of sharing security from Ethereum validators through locking and repledging ETH on smart contracts.
EigenDA’s use of redundant data and decentralized storage protocols allows it to provide a highly reliable and cension-resistant data storage solution designed to allow multiple nodes in the network to store multiple copies of the data, thereby enhancing the fault tolerance of the entire system.
In addition, EigenDA is highly configurable and is designed to allow L2 developers to adjust various parameters, such as the tradeoff between security and activity, the mode of pledged tokens, erasure coding ratios, etc., to suit different scenarios and needs.
NEAR DA is a unique solution that leverages a key component of the NEAR consensus mechanism called “Night Shadow.” This mechanism parallelizes the network into multiple shards, each capable of processing transactions and generating a portion of a block independently. This sharding technology greatly improves the processing power and throughput of the network, while also maintaining a high degree of data availability.
In NEAR DA, once a shard processes and records transaction data, the data becomes available to all network participants, ensuring data integrity and accessibility.
NEAR’s sharding approach provides NEAR DA users with a roadmap for future expansion, including a move to stateless validation, which will further reduce the hardware requirements for validators, increase the decentralization of the system, and improve overall throughput.
5. Meeda based on MEMO
As an innovator in the field of decentralized storage, MEMO has significant technical advantages in data processing. With distributed storage at its core, the MEMO team built Meeda, a DA solution specifically designed for Rollup scenarios, especially for optimistic Rollup scenarios such as Arbitrum and Optimism.
For more information about Meeda, please visit https://medium.com/@memolabs/memoda-an-efficient-and-simple-da-solution-cfe6ea847ff9, Here we focus on the unique features of Meeda compared with the above three DA’s:
1. Proof of Persistence: Meeda uses an advanced proof of persistence mechanism to ensure data continuity and availability, which is not available in Celestia and NEAR DA.
2. On-chain verification: Unlike Celestia’s off-chain verification, Meeda implements on-chain verification, which enhances data transparency and trust.
3. Sample verification without downloading data: Meeda’s sample verification mechanism allows users to verify without downloading the full data, which is in stark contrast to the storage and verification methods of EigenDA and NEAR DA.
4. Users are free from running verification nodes: Meeda’s design makes it unnecessary for ordinary users to run their own verification nodes, simplifying the participation process and lowering the user’s operation threshold.
Meeda is compared to Celestia, which lacks proof of persistence and on-chain verification and relies on off-chain verification nodes for data verification. Although EigenDA adopts the method of storage node return signature, it lacks effective data availability guarantee.
Although NEAR DA provides a short-term data storage solution, the data will be discarded after a certain period of time, and there is no long-term data protection and verification mechanism.
Meeda’s verification methods are not only reliable and trustworthy, but also strive to be cost effective. It also supports the Ethereum community’s existing light-client authentication approach, but chooses a more efficient and concise on-chain authentication path.
Another big advantage of Meeda is the ability to leverage the security properties of the Ethereum mainnet to ensure the security of data transmission and storage through encryption algorithms and smart contracts.
Meeda is designed to fully consider the needs of Layer2, providing an efficient, scalable and secure DA layer that significantly reduces transaction costs and speeds up transactions by optimizing data storage and retrieval mechanisms.
The seamless integration of Meeda with Rollup solutions provides users with a secure and cost-effective trading environment.
Step 6 Summarize
The above is an explanation of Layer2, Rollup and a detailed analysis of key DA projects in the market. In the future, with the continuous progress of technology and the growth of market demand, we have reason to believe that Layer2 and DA layer will continue to promote the development and innovation of blockchain technology.
They will bring users a safer, faster, and more economical trading experience, while also providing developers with a broader scope for innovation.
As other blockchain platforms like BTC also begin to explore Layer2 and DA layer solutions, we will usher in a more prosperous and diverse blockchain ecosystem.
