Is data availability a commodity and do DA layers have network effects
Quote270 words
Argues DA is not a pure commodity because integrators differ on DAS and crypto-economic security needs. Network effects exist as soft mindshare and, with coordination layers, harder interconnection effects.
Key claims
DAS is not a commodity feature of Celestia or Avail
Block space network effects arise from shared state, such as L1 MEV
Soft network effects like mindshare matter for DA
1 ) Is DA a commodity?
2 ) Do DA layers have network effects?
My take ⤵️
( 1 ) depends on the definition, but I tend to say no. If we define DA simply as the capability of making data available or providing space for rollups to dump data to, it can be considered a commodity imo.
However, looking at it from the angle of an integrator with certain technical requirements or a minimum of crypto-economic security that is desired, etc. different DA solutions might not be actually fungible.
For Celestia or Avail for example, the DAS component is not a commodity. All existing blockchains provide DA by default, DACs enable high throughput, but that doesn't provide the same (decentralized) basis to inter-connect the rollups based on the DA layer in a more coherent manner down the line.
The latter part (more cohesive ecosystem / interop) also ties in with the network effect question ( 2 ).
Think if we talk about block space, network effects that arise from the shared state within that block space are undeniable (L1 MEV in the case of Ethereum for example, is also the reason why block space is not fungible).
With DA only, specifically in the case of a modular DA layer for example, I would argue that it's slightly different and that supporting infra such as coordination/sequencing layers are important to bring these "hard" network effects to life.
There is also "soft" network effects tho that play a role imo, which includes increased mindshare, a strong narrative, and so on, which also brings in more devs, ultimately users, etc. (see @CelestiaOrg).
QUOTING @_weidai
Poll on Data Availability Layers Q1. Is DA a commodity? Q2. Do DA layers have network effects? Reply or QT to add your reasoning Definitions - Commodities of the same type are generally fungible - Network effects mean that utility per user increases as the network gets larger
Poll on Data Availability Layers Q1. Is DA a commodity? Q2. Do DA layers have network effects? Reply or QT to add your reasoning Definitions - Commodities of the same type are generally fungible - Network effects mean that utility per user increases as the network gets larger