Response to Justin Bons: Ethereum scales L1 via blobs and danksharding
Quote387 words
Rebuts the claim that L2-only scaling is no scaling. Ethereum sells secure block space and shifts from B2C to B2B, rollups keep customizable execution, composability is the real concern, and L2 activity accrues fees to L1.
Key claims
EIP-4844 and danksharding scale L1 block space for rollups
Data-space scaling is likely superior to execution sharding as it yields heterogeneous execution layers
Composability concerns can be countered by GMPs, zkBridges and shared sequencers
I don't agree with this take.
Ethereum is scaling the L1 through EIP-4844 and subsequently full danksharding. The product Ethereum provides is secure block space and by providing dedicated, non-permanent space for rollups to dump data to (in the form of data blobs), you scale the amount of block space that is available.
Ethereum doesn't care who pays for the block space and through the rollup-centric roadmap Ethereum simply shifts its business model from B2C to B2B. Makes sense as it will foster innovation among teams building (application-specific) L2s & L3s and allows for a great UX (e.g. cheap fees) on the execution layers (rollups).
Turning Ethereum into a more powerful data availability layer (with more/cheaper data space for rollups) will provide similar overall scaling potential in terms of throughput and speed as execution sharding but is likely the superior approach as it turns what would be homogenous shards (in execution sharding), into heterogenous execution layers under a shared security framework.
The rollups can customize the execution environments, providing more use-case tailored (e.g. zkApp-friendly EVM like Manta Pacific) and/or performant execution environments (SVM, MoveVM) and quickly iterate on the innovation side of things (support for AA, enabling web2 programming languages through WASM, etc.).
Composability, as outlined below, might be the bigger concern:
twitter.com/Justin_Bons/status/1702702614213787791
But with solutions like GMPs such as Axelar, Layer Zero or Hyperlane and upcoming zkBridges & zkIBC soltions (Succinct Labs, Polyhedra, Electron Labs, Polymer, etc) or validity proof aggregation layers (Polygon's interop layer), I think we will soon have more secure, more trustless bridges than the mainly committee/multisig based bridges we have today, which will help counter this. Additionally, shared sequencers, DA layers and settlement layer all facilitate interop/composability among rollups that share these components within an ecosystem (for example in the OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, zkSync Hyperchains, etc). What I do agree with is that this is likely to create network effects within ecosystems.
Optmism's Superchain vision nicely shows what that could mean:
twitter.com/zerokn0wledge_/status/1691858018772701531
Finally, L2 and L3 success/activity accrues to the L1 where fees are generated as rollups pay for the blockspace they use to achieve L1 security guarantees. I'm sure rollup-based scaling will enable a thriving and long-term sustainable Ethereum ecosystem.
Gave a short and simplified intro to data sharding here btw: twitter.com/zerokn0wledge_/status/1702942883224129985
posted in response to @d_eleye request for opinion
QUOTING @Justin_Bons
Scaling a blockchain exclusively through L2s is the equivalent of not scaling at all You might as well roll over & show your belly to the predators Who will gladly provide alternatives, from L1s to L2s Even encouraging your "L2 scaling" roadmap as they profit from your demise!
Scaling a blockchain exclusively through L2s is the equivalent of not scaling at all You might as well roll over & show your belly to the predators Who will gladly provide alternatives, from L1s to L2s Even encouraging your "L2 scaling" roadmap as they profit from your demise!
What came next · since 18 Sep 2023
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This market take reads the setup without making a call on the token, so price moves since publication are shown as market context.
Covered, no call
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