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The Rollup

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Modular Ecosystem Roadmap 2024-2025 Aug 07, 2024

Show notes

In this livestream we dive into the evolution of the modular blockchain ecosystem, focusing on data availability sampling, high TPS chains, and the rise of Celestia.

The discussion explores the future of the modular stack, the push for gigabyte blocks, and the need for better user experience and infrastructure.

It also highlights the potential of chain abstraction, rollup clusters, and the critical role of trustless, secure interoperability in driving the next wave of innovation.

Finally, the conversation emphasizes the importance of customization, diversity, and competition to prevent reliance on a single solution.

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗥: 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘍𝘪 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬, 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘈𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭, 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴.

The New Era of Bitcoin Powered By Starknet Aug 06, 2024

Show notes

Starknet is coming to Bitcoin with one of the biggest breakthroughs in Bitcoin scaling: STARK verifiers natively on Bitcoin.

In a recent conversation with Eli Ben-Sasson from StarkWare, we got a closer look at how they’re working to bring STARK verifiers to Bitcoin, something that hasn’t been possible until now. Our discussion was centered around giving the Bitcoin network new capabilities, thanks to the potential reintroduction of OP__CAT, a simple but powerful opcode that will enable advanced computational functions on Bitcoin.

Eli talked us through their exploration of integrating Bitcoin with Ethereum, envisioning a future where Starknet can settle transactions across both chains simultaneously. This could open up a new world of possibilities, allowing users to leverage the strengths of both ecosystems while choosing their preferred data availability layer on a transaction basis.

Eli also touched on some of the broader implications of these developments. From the shifting political landscape around Bitcoin, with discussions about OP__CAT gaining traction, to the challenges of maintaining security and decentralization as the network grows more complex.

We asked Eli about his broader vision of immutability at the base layer of Bitcoin and Ethereum vs. improving better technology. He talked deeply about the challenges ahead, from governance issues to the risk of centralization, as well as his and the entire Starknet community's commitment to building a more open and decentralized future.

Eli emphasized that this is a journey that will take years, if not decades, to fully realize.

This has been one of, if not the biggest breakthroughs in the ongoing Bitcoin scaling space race. We really enjoyed this conversation as it started off quite technical and ended up philosophical.

The Rollup

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How Prediction Markets Have Become Crypto's Killer App Aug 01, 2024

Show notes

"Prediction markets are part of phase two of crypto product adoption" - Andrew Young, in today's podcast.

If you’ve been following the evolution of DeFi, you know that prediction markets were one of the earliest use cases envisioned for blockchain. But only now, with more robust infrastructure and a larger pool of onchain users, are we beginning to see the full potential of this usecase unfold.

Today, we discussed the idea of sports betting as a much larger and more sustainable market compared to other prediction markets, like political betting. The regularity of betting events is a key part of prediction market success.

We also discussed the liquidity problem for prediction markets, especially for long-tail sports events and more niche markets. SX has tackled this head-on by building an Arbitrum Orbit appchain which has over 50 market makers, ensuring that there’s always someone on the other side of the bet.

One of the more interesting parts of the discussion was the self-fulfilling prophecy of prediction markets and the danger of them, in a dystopian way.

Kept it light, not-so-technical and focused on the usecase of blockchains. Where are the apps? Prediction markets are here.

The Rollup

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The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

One Rollup or A Million Rollups? Jul 31, 2024

Show notes

There's been an ongoing debate about whether or not we need more L2s. Without getting into too much of where *we* stand, the idea of new, EVM general purpose L2s is certainly in oversupply.

But, what about altVM L2s? Like Eclipse and their SVM design?

Originally, Eclipse was a strong proponent of modular scaling, advocating for multiple rollups to expand the ecosystem horizontally. But as their research deepened, they’ve seemingly changed messaging towards a different approach—one that focuses on a single, highly performant rollup that settles to Ethereum.

This isn’t just a technical shift; it’s a response to the economic realities and incentive structures that come with managing execution and consensus in a rollup-centric world.

The "one big rollup" idea? Max out the sequencer, decentralize block validation, incentivize the app builders to stay on your chain, and let the flywheel rip.

But, is this the ideal path to scaling rollup infra? Or is the appchain model a better model?

In today’s piece, we’ll explore the challenges and opportunities that come with shared sequencing—a concept that’s been gaining traction as a way to improve interoperability between different rollups. While shared sequencing could, in theory, create a more seamless onchain experience, Terry from Eclipse raises important questions about its economic viability. Specifically, they’re concerned about how MEV and execution fees are distributed across multiple domains, potentially reducing the value for individual app chains.

Also, are the incentive structures completely misaligned for rollups to collaborate with a shared sequencer?

We’ll also touch on the concept of sovereign sequencing, where applications take control of their own transaction orderings, a trend that’s gaining momentum as projects seek to capture more value and reduce reliance on general-purpose L2s. Finally, we’ll discuss the broader implications of interoperability, which Terry argues is as much a social and economic challenge as it is a technical one.

This was a really fun episode. Quite technical, but understandable.

Enjoy.

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Lava Network Mainnet: A Fair Launch? Jul 30, 2024

Show notes

Today is the day for Lava Network mainnet, bringing their incentive system of RPC providers to the modular ecosystem.

There's been some question marks about the launch strategy, as it was quite different than what the community is used to. We are entering into a new era of token launches and expecting more and more experimentation at the the launch stage.

In today's video, we sit down with Yair Cleper to explore the mainnet launch, highlighting how Lava’s unique approach to data access will play a part in the modular eco. We’ll discuss the different roles within this ecosystem, the benefits of aggregated RPC providers, how you can get involved, the token launch strategy, and what the future holds for Lava Network.

Definitely a novel token launch. High float, low FDV, DEX only. We'll see how this pans out in the long-term.

For now, lets jump in for a quick interview with Yair reflecting on the launch of Lava Network and the LAVA token.

Website: https://therollup.co/

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The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

How Caldera is Becoming The Distribution Channel for Modular Infra Jul 25, 2024

Show notes

After an epic announcement of a series A raise as well as a rebrand yesterday, Caldera is positioning itself as the go-to modular vending machine for launching new chains.

Does that sound funny? Well, we came up with this analogy minutes before the show and are starting to lean into it.

Vending machines allow you to pick any snack to cure your hunger. RaaS providers similarly allow you to pick from a variety of modular infra to build a new chain. Developers can access everything needed to build and scale their blockchains—from rollup frameworks like OP, Arbitrum, and ZK Sync to data availability layers such as Celestia and EigenDA.

We ended up talking about the core issue Caldera is trying to solve with their recent metalayer developments, which is fragmentation. The technical complexity involved in connecting separate modules can be difficult, let alone connecting chains itself in a friendly way for users. We asked Matt how he plans to handle this...

He mentioned by focusing on asynchronous composability over the more challenging synchronous composability is his ideal outcome, for now. We discussed what it actually looks like to provide RaaS services for projects, who their customers are, their marketing strategy, and the technicals behind their metalayer.

We also asked if RaaS is going to zero via commoditization and if RaaS is really needed in a world of abundant shared sequencers (which can fulfill a similar role to a RaaS, in a sense). Matt had good answers.

We really enjoyed this episode and hope you do as well.

Website: https://therollup.co/

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The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

The Next Evolution of Onchain Apps Jul 24, 2024

Show notes

We've heard all the complaints at ETHCC about no applications and "all infra" in crypto. Where are the apps?

To us, this is a bit silly seeing as we have a fully fledged onchain DeFi and NFT ecosystems as well as DAOs operating. The apps are here. The usecase is money.

But, whats somewhat problematic to us is the lack of innovation on the DeFi rails since 2021-2022.

So, we sat down with Bob Baxley to discuss this and more. Bob takes us through the latest in Maverick V2, introducing us to programmable pools that allow for complex interactions and reduced gas fees, making operations more efficient and cost-effective compared to Uniswap V3 swaps. This flexibility extends to directional fees, enabling different fees for each direction of a swap, which is especially useful for liquidity providers (LPs) with specific strategies like dollar-cost averaging.

We also discuss zero knowledge machine learning (ZKML), which is a tech that allows for heavy computation to be performed offchain in a trustless manner, which can then be integrated into DeFi applications. This means more sophisticated models can be used for setting AMM fees or lending rates, all verified by ZK proofs to ensure correctness and security.

The interview also touches on AI and Web3 integration, highlighting how offchain AI models can provide more nuanced outputs for DeFi applications. We delve into the multi chain strategy pioneered by Sushiswap, where Bob explains Maverick’s goal to deploy everywhere, ensuring they can interact with other protocols and remain relevant across various chains.

This contrasts with the appchain approach (modular thesis), which Bob views skeptically due to challenges in liquidity and composability.

We thought that part was particularly interesting.

From restaking and Eigenlayer to programmable pools and AI integration, there is a lot jam packed in this episode. Enjoy!

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A Holistic View of Ethereum and The Modular Ecosystem Jul 19, 2024

Show notes

We've been of the opinion that the Cosmos Hub and Ethereum rollup-centric roadmap are converging. Both of the scaling methodologies are somewhat opposites (appchains at first vs. baselayer L1 then building vertically), however they seem to be converging.

The convergence of roadmaps is particularly interesting because of the challenges faced by Cosmos Zones and the need for upgrades via forking the chain.

In today's episode, Andy hosted Ganesh Swamy, founder of Covalent, to discuss this convergence and more. We talked about scaling data availability in rollups with Celestia and blobs, preserving and accessing transaction data with the Ethereum wayback machine and competition between data availability solutions and Ethereum itself.

Covalent emerged from a simple idea of 'pulling Ethereum transactions into Excel'. The core idea of creating a persistent, perpetual storage machine for blockchains is a result of Ganesh's extensive database engineering experience. We also discussed how this works under the hood, and why having a long-term data storage solution for blockchains is crucial.

Towards the end we went on to discuss the troubles of the token economy that we are currently in. Negative sentiment, early stage investing, high FDV low float, and some of the potential solutions that we see out there.

Join us for a holistic overview of some of the topics shaping the modular ecosystem going forward.

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The Rollup Disclosures: https://therollup.co/the-rollup-discl

ZK Proof Generation & Verification Explained Jul 18, 2024

Show notes

If you've been listening in for a while you understand the idea behind ZKVMs and where we see them fitting into the modular stack. ZKVMs, from what we understand, are mostly focused on proof generation.

However, a lesser known part of the ZK "magic" is directly verifying ZK proofs. We're interested in teams lowering the cost and time to verify.

So, we sat down with Rob and John of zkVerify to discuss their dedicated blockchain for verifying ZK proofs, significantly reducing the costs and stabilizing the pricing of verification.

We discussed the need to support different types of cryptography, why offering product developers the flexibility they need to create innovative applications in ZK is important, and proof aggregation. We also talked about how they settle proofs and whether or not its truly decentralized and trust-minimized.

The idea behind integrating with multiple proof systems also came up as we discussed their plans to include Ethereum, Apechain, and Horizon's Eon within their proof verification system. While still in the early stages, the zkVerify team is already expanding into Bitcoin as well and pushing their mainnet soon.

Hope you enjoy this somewhat technical, yet understandable ZK deep dive.

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