Not long ago, Polkadots co-founder Gavin Wood publicly stated that Polkadots relay chain is Layer 0, and each parachain is Layer 1, and he also talked about the prospect of building Layer 2 on the side chain. Under Gavin Woods flickering, many Polkadot ecological projects also like to claim that they will build infrastructure for multiple Layer 1 public chains in the future, because they can use Polkadots cross-chain for each side chain on Polkadot (Polca self-referred to as parachains) to provide services. Obviously, the entire Polkadot ecology has been fooled by the false concept of every sidechain is a public chain, or joined the camp that fools others. However, Baozai believes that from a technical point of view, Polkadot’s side chain is essentially Layer 2. Judging from the current ecology, most of Polkadots sidechains are not even Layer 2, but just a set of smart contracts.
Why do you say that, let’s take a look at the essential differences between Layer 1 projects and Layer 2 projects, and what are their respective characteristics? Think about the influential Layer 1 projects like Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, and emerging Layer 2 projects like Conflux, what do they have in common? The decentralization and transaction finality of these chains are native to the chain and do not depend on other projects or ecology. And which transactions are packaged in this chain and which transactions are not packaged are also determined by the consensus protocol and miners.Lets take a look at the characteristics of Layer 2 projects? For example, projects like Loopring, ZKSwap, and Optimism are obviously attached to a Layer 1 project (Ethereum). The concept of blocks is not exclusive to Layer 1 projects, and Layer 2 projects also have the concept of blocks. ZKSwap even provides a block browser that shows which Layer 2 transactions are in each Layer 2 block, when and through which Layer 1 transaction was submitted to Ethereum? When submitted to Ethereum, there will be a smart contract that will do some checks. For example, there will be a zero-knowledge proof in the Layer 2 block of the ZK rollup series, which proves that the execution result of the Layer 2 transaction in the entire block is correct, and the smart contract on Ethereum needs to verify this proof. Once the submitted transaction is successfully executed and confirmed on Ethereum, the state of the ledger of Layer 2 will not be tampered with. If Layer 1 forks and the state is rolled back, then the ledger state of Layer 2 also needs to be rolled back accordingly. It can be said that the security of a Layer 2 project is guaranteed by the Layer 1 it is attached to.In addition, the Layer 2 project Loopring also provides a forced withdrawal function. This function allows users to initiate a Layer 1 transaction, and record the requirement of withdrawal from Layer 2 in the smart contract that verifies the Zero-Knowledge Proof of Layer 2 Block. If the next Layer 2 block does not contain this forced withdrawal transaction, the contract will reject the submission of the Layer 2 block. In other words, which transactions can be packaged in a Layer 2 block is not completely determined by the Layer 2 miners. Such a design has an advantage: it weakens the ability of Layer 2 to launch a censorship attack, and brings the security of Layer 2 closer to Layer 1. But this also reflects the important difference between Layer 2 and Layer 1, that is, the independent right to package transactions.So, lets take a look at what the Polkadot ecology looks like. First of all, each side chain of Polkadot is attached to Polkadots relay chain. The verifier of the Polkadot relay chain will verify the state of the side chain like a patrol group, and record the state root hash of the side chain on the relay chain. If the ledger state of the relay chain is rolled back, all sidechain ledger states must be rolled back and resubmitted. In other words, the security of the Polkadot sidechain is guaranteed by Polkadots relay chain and verifiers. Polkadot’s technical documentation also stipulates that Polkadot’s sidechain must respond to cross-chain messages from other sidechains sent by the relay chain, otherwise it is considered an illegal block. Does this look like the forced withdrawal function we just talked about?In fact, in the Polkadot ecosystem, Polkadots relay chain is equivalent to Layer 1 of Ethereum, and each side chain is equivalent to Layer 2 of Ethereum. Compared with the Ethereum ecosystem, the advantage of Polkadot is that it provides a unified cross-chain standard and an optional development platform. At the same time, from the level of protocol design, it ensures that the side chain is not allowed to ignore the news from the cross-chain. This ensures the public availability of sidechain data. On Ethereum, whether it is necessary to respond to cross-chain messages and whether to ensure the public availability of Layer 2 data is entirely up to the Layer 2 project party to decide. However, the disadvantages of Polkadot are also obvious. The relay chain does not support contracts, the throughput performance is limited, and the accumulation of funds is zero, which have become its obvious shortcomings.As for what Gavin Wood said the relay chain is Layer 0, and the parachain (side chain) is Layer 1, its just to help the ecological project to blow the bubble, and its just an act of flickering. It is also a DeFi product that provides liquidity. If it is done on Ethereum, it is just a DeFi product provided by a set of smart contracts. If it is done on Polkadot, it is a Layer 1 public chain certified by Gavin Wood. Does the infrastructure of other Layer 1 public chains sound like they have reached more than one level? Only when the ecological bubble blows up can Polkadots own bubble rise, and Gavin Wood will be profitable. This is why he refers to a deer as a horse, and refers to Layer 2 as Layer 1. But what is the use of this foam? The side chain development ecology is collectively self-proclaimed. After the self-promotion is over, except for a few head side chains that introduce EVM for Polkadot may have a place, the tail side chains provide some single-function, ecologically deficient, and interoperable delays in hours. Whats the point of DeFi products? Where are their development prospects?
