Does Polkadot need Layer2?

Hyden Adams tweeted:"I want to state the fact that on UNISWAP, we will waste 420k dollars per day on gas fees for transactions, and this means that 150M dollars will be wasted on gas a year. This is not ridiculous, it is a fact"。

It sounds ridiculous, but it really happened.

The actual user experience is that the development of ETH2.0 is slow, and more and more transactions lead to high load, slow packaging speed, high miner fees and handling fees. Various warnings: Ethereum needs to save itself.

When the sharding of Ethereum encountered a bottleneck, the appearance of Rollup made Layer 2 become popular again. In a previous interview with PolkaWorld, the encryption investment institution DFG also predicted that one of the development trends in 2021 is the implementation of DeFi on the second-tier network.first level title

There is a limit to the efficiency of Layer 1, which directly leads to the inconvenient experience in the real world. Unless some restrictions are modified, it is impossible for us to break through this limit. So the idea of ​​​​Layer2 is to let most of the things be done at Layer2, and the trust can be transferred to Layer1 through the interaction with Layer1.

To put it simply: Layer1 can do very little work, and Layer2 can assist online, and the more the better. The form embodied in the blockchain is the operation outside the chain and the record on the chain.

Therefore, Layer 2 is essentially a general term for a category of expansion solutions, aiming to solve the fundamental problem of Layer 1’s inability to expand capacity through Layer 2. What specific forms of interaction are derived from this type of solution?

Simply put, there are four categories: state channels, side chains, Plasma, and Rollup.

first level title

Plasma and state channel solutions rely on full knowledge of the state by the owner, but this prevents such schemes from being fully generalizable. Rollups is a hybrid two-tier solution. Rollups move computation (and state storage) off-chain, but put some data about each transaction on-chain.

secondary title

Optimistic Rollup solutions are fraud proofs.

The aggregator (Batch/only batch transactions) submits the batched transaction data and state root to the Rollup contract (smart contract) of L1, and provides a penalty mechanism in the process, allowing anyone to end the challenge period Come to verify the transaction, if an error occurs, roll back the block (Rollup!!!)

secondary title

ZK Rollups solutions are validity proofs.

first level title

Today, we see that Polkadot has proposed a new idea to deal with scalability issues by combining the relay chain (Layer0) and the parachain (Layer1), rather than being limited to the old city renovation of Ethereum. However, such a structure cannot directly explore Layer 2, so it is necessary to use the scalability of the parachain to bring Layer 2 functions. At present, we have also seen some explorations of some ecological projects on Layer2. Among them, the most well-known one is the Plasm Network, which will exist as a Layer 1 on Polkadot that focuses on vertical scalability such as Layer 1-Layer 2, which is of great significance.

We know that horizontal scalability is different from vertical scalability. Polkadot has the former but not the latter. Therefore, generally speaking, a parachain needs to be a blockchain based on the Substrate framework, but a Rollup application can be different from a parachain, which means that a Layer2 application does not need to be a complete block chain from day 1. blockchain.

On the other hand, Rollups has a high probability of becoming an important representative of Ethereum Layer 2 solutions, and even the preferred solution for most projects, so Polkadot must also be compatible with it.

And if Polkadot has a more mainstream Rollups expansion solution, then the current Rollups project based on Ethereum can also be smoothly integrated into the Polkadot ecosystem. Of course, this requires Polkadot itself to have good compatibility, at least with the market. Most Layer2 solutions are integrated.

first level title

Plasm believes that the blockchain will be divided into different uses in a few years. Layer 1 public chains like Bitcoin and Ethereum will be applied as the trust layer, while Layer 2 will be the transaction layer. Therefore, Plasm believes that Layer 2 will be an indispensable and important direction of the blockchain in the future.

Therefore, Plasm chose Plasma among many Layer 2 solutions because it is the scalability solution that is least dependent on the processing performance of the main chain, and can manage its side chains without sacrificing decentralization. Plasm uses the Optimistic Virtual Machine (OVM) developed by the Plasma team supported by the Ethereum Foundation.

OVM is a virtual machine that can support all Layer 2 protocols. It is the unification of all Layer 2 scalability structures, which means that in addition to Plasma, Plasm is also compatible with other Layer 2 protocols such as state channels, Optimistic Rollups, and ZK Rollups.

secondary title

Plasm uses the Substrate framework on Polkadot to realize the Layer 2 solution of Plasma. However, Plasm does not simply implement Plasma. Plasma itself has some shortcomings, such as the limited performance of its Layer1 smart contract, which makes it impossible for many Dapps to be implemented. For example, deploying a Plasma-based DApp (Plapp for short) is more expensive than ordinary DApps. More complicated, general DApps only need to write and deploy to create a DApp, while Plapps needs to be composed of four smart contracts that exist on the parent chain, child chain, operator and user.

Therefore, Plasm solves the above problems through a set of standard libraries and cloud services to deploy and manage Plasma components and other tools, and allows developers to develop their applications more easily.

On the other hand, Layer 2 solutions cannot be fully implemented on Plasma. In order to help DApp developers deal with Layer 2 that cannot be implemented on Plasma, Plasm has specially established a Plasma as a Service platform to provide support for developers. It also demonstrates the high compatibility of Plasm again. At the same time, this platform also provides a set of easy-to-operate graphical user interface (GUI) for developers to use, which further reduces the learning and deployment threshold for developers.

first level title

Plasms Layer 2 development plan

At present, Plasm already supports EVM and Solidity, and integrates Metamask, Remin, and Truffle. It will also support ECDSA, WASM, and ink!, and Plasma has been implemented at the Layer2 level.

Next, Plasms plan is to deploy Optimistic Rollups to be further compatible with more Layer 2 solutions. After that, it will participate in the Polkadot parachain auction and become Polkadots parachain, which will also be Polkadots main vertical scalability provider. Finally, it is the incentive to launch DApps and strive to carry out ecological construction.

For the Plasm network, on the one hand, it will serve as an important part of Polkadot’s smart contract, and on the other hand, it will also serve as an extension solution for Polkadot’s Layer 2. However, unlike other Layer 2 solutions, Plasm is more like an The universal sticker fused with other Layer2 tracks helps Polkadot build a bridge across various Layer2s.

Because of this, if Ethereum 2.0 is ETH1.0 + sharding (+ Rollups), then Plasm is to create ETH2.0 on Polkadot.

Special thanks to: Zenlink cz for his contribution to the Layer2 content of this article