Sovereign rollups vs smart contract rollups: where verification lives
Thread716 words
Contrasts smart contract rollups, which settle on and are verified by a settlement layer, with sovereign rollups that publish to a DA layer but verify themselves, upgrade through forks and lack a settlement bridge.
Key claims
Sovereign rollup nodes, not the DA layer, verify transactions and determine the canonical chain
Smart contract rollups can have weakened trust if contracts are upgradable by multisig
Sovereign rollups upgrade via forks like L1s
0/ sovereign rollups are a novel type of rollup design enabled by modular DA layers like @CelestiaOrg that come with a set of unique characteristics & features 🧱✨
a 🧵 on sovereign rollups & the difference to smart contract based rollups (0/20) 👇
1/ sovereign #rollups are an innovative design approach that originated from Celestia's exploration of new blockchain designs. They differ from their smart contract rollup predecessors on #Ethereum
2/ but what are they exactly? How do they work? And how do they differ from smart contract #rollups? That's what we'll cover in this 🧵
3/ smart contract rollups are a specific type of #blockchain that publishes complete blocks to a settlement layer, such as #Ethereum. The role of the settlement layer is to arrange the blocks in order, ensure data availability, and verify the accuracy of transactions
4/ taking #Ethereum as an example, the smart contract #rollup plays a crucial role in the modular stack. It handles the execution of tasks and effectively delegates the responsibilities of consensus, data availability, and settlement to #Ethereum
5/ smart contract rollups, as the name suggests, depend on a group of smart contracts on a settlement layer such as #Ethereum to validate their blocks. These smart contracts on the settlement layer serve as the authoritative source for determining the accuracy of the rollup chain
6/ verifying each transaction individually would not scale well. Instead, smart contract rollups utilize proofs to efficiently determine the validity (validity proof) or invalidity (fraud proof) of a block
7/ the set of smart contracts also includes a native bridge to the settlement layer, designed to minimize trust. This bridge operates by directly verifying the entire block on the settlement layer
8/ as a result, only a small number of actors need to behave honestly in order for the block to be successfully verified as valid or not
9/ a sovereign rollup on the other hand is a specific type of #blockchain that publishes its transactions to another blockchain for tx ordering and data availability purposes, while the sovereign rollup handles its own settlement (and execution obviously)
10/ within the modular stack framework, sovereign #rollups take charge of execution and settlement, while the #DA layer handles consensus and data availability
11/ uniquely, #DA layers do not verify the correctness of sovereign rollup transactions. It is the responsibility of the nodes verifying the sovereign #rollup to ensure the accuracy of new transactions
12/ if the nodes verify an invalid transaction published to the #DA layer, they will reject and ignore it. However, it is important to note that the responsibility for determining the correct chain lies with the sovereign rollup, not the DA layer
13/ sovereign #rollups usually lack a native trust-minimized bridge with the DA layer. While they can have a general bridge with the #DA layer, it is not utilized for settling the chain
14/ but let's summarize the key differences between smart contract #rollups and sovereign rollups
15/ the crucial distinction lies in where transactions are verified. In smart contract #rollups, smart contracts on the settlement layer handle verification, whereas in sovereign #rollups, it is the nodes of the rollup that verify transactions
16/ upgrades present various challenges and benefits. In the case of smart contract #rollups, one challenge is modifying the smart contracts on the settlement layer, which may be controlled via #multisig
17/ sovereign #rollups function similarly to layer 1 #blockchains. They upgrade through forks, providing nodes with the option to update client software or remain on the older version
18/ when it comes to bridges and #security, smart contract rollups have trust-minimized security due to settlement layer verification of the entire block. However, the trust assumptions might be weakened if upgradeability via #multisig is required
19/ on the other hand, sovereign #rollups can incorporate a trust-minimized bridge to the #DA layer. However, it does not determine the correct canonical chain for the #rollup
20/ for #DA layers that lack smart contracts (such as @CelestiaOrg), bridges with sovereign rollups primarily enable the transfer of the DA layer token. This enables the utilization of the DA layer token in applications such as #DeFi & #NFTs
tagging a few modular chads to follow🫡👇
@DeFiMinty
@Only1temmy
@Slappjakke
@Louround_
@thesaint_
@0xSalazar
@CryptoShiro_
@jake_pahor
@ViktorDefi
@poopmandefi
@Flowslikeosmo
@ShivanshuMadan
@0xShivani
@hmalviya9
@daddysether
@kunalgoel
@hooeem
@redvelvetzip
@0xDinoEggs
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