Thread by @etherlegend

Fees on rollups for DeFi transactions will be ~90%-99% cheaper than #Ethereum - but what about data storage? $ETH

A quick thread on my learning (and related links) about scaling using #ZK (Zero Knowledge) Layer 2 platforms & Volitions - and how this will change everything 🧵

Monolithic block chain designs are not efficient - and there are long standing efforts to solve the block chain trilemma so that we can really start building applications with user experience that competes with existing web 2.0 applications

So what is blockchain trilemma? Termed by @VitalikButerin the Trilemma addresses the challenges developers face in creating a blockchain that is scalable, decentralized, and secure

How do you scale blockchains? You can scale either Layer 1s (the 'main' block chains like Ethereum) itself, or you can scale Layer 2s (building an off-chain layer /protocol) that'll be processing deposits/withdrawals + verifying proofs with Layer 1

Why Layer 2s and not just Layer1s? Layer 1 sharding is great and they work better than monolithic networks we've today - but Layer 2 modular architectures are 100x superior

How do you scale Layer 1s? - You can do this by increasing the block size (but this increases the difficulty to validate blocks) or using techniques like sharding. Sharding involves splitting the chain to many nodes, what Ethereum 2.0 (eth2) trying to accomplish

How do you scale via building Layer 2s? There are various ways for a layer 2 with its own smart contract layer, that'll formalize/verify just the proofs with its layer 1 - and just verifying proofs on L1 main chain instead of doing computation on L1 chain is much cheaper

The three major types of layer-2 scaling options are State channels, Plasmas and Rollups - The above content is pretty much from Vitalik's post on the same that explains these three concepts - you should read & learn about all three vitalik.ca/general/2021/0…

I'm just going to focus on ZK rollups if you already read about State Channels, Plasma and Rollups - there are two types of roll ups (1) Optimising Rollups and (2) ZK rollups - ZK rollups are validity proofs, using a cryptographic proof called ZK Snarks. #zksnarks

What are ZK Snarks? Here is a simple explanation of zk-Snarks from @MinaProtocol to start with

Quote: "Imagine one of those Where’s Wally (or Where’s Waldo in North America). Say Bob asks Alice to prove that she knows where the cheeky character is."

Quote: "Alice agrees but doesn’t want to tell Bob where exactly Waldo/Wally is, or how she found him. Alice can do it by copying the page, cutting the character out and presenting that as proof."

zk-SNARK stands for “Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge,” and refers to a proof construction where one can prove possession of certain info, e.g. a secret key, without revealing that information, and without any interaction between prover / verifier.

For a step by step in depth explanation of zk-SNARKS, @zcash has a great explainer series, and you can find it here z.cash/technology/zks…

Multiple Zero knowledge proof schemes exist, and one of that is PLONK - a Purpose Zero Knowledge Proof Scheme. Your best bet to start with understanding more about PLONK is to start here vitalik.ca/general/2019/0…

Can you bring smart contracts to Layer 2s that'll support zk-Rollups? Yes! Few are building an EVM compatible Layer 2 for executing smart contracts - that'll settle the results with Layer 1. It is the key to building an EVM-compatible ZK Rollups - which are game changers

Who all are building Layer 2s based on ZK rollups? @StarkWareLtd are the pioneers, with working products/partners like @Immutable and @dydxprotocol - they already launched Starknet, a permissionless Zk-Rollup that's EVM compatible

Quote: "It operates as an L2 network over Ethereum, enabling any dApp to achieve unlimited scale for its computation, without compromising Ethereum's composability and security." starknet.io - and you can develop on this today

You can use ArgentX wallet to connect with Starknet alpha network github.com/argentlabs/arg…

If you are a developer, here is a great place to start - Explore how you can build scalable Dapps on starknet, using Cairo, their smart contract programming language. Also checkout the @OpenZeppelin contracts in cairo, and their hardhat plug in starknet.io/developer-tool…

Close followers include @zksync and @0xPolygon - and I'm really bullish about both. zkSync's zkEVM and Polygon's Hermiz zkEVM will create multibillion EVM compatible Zk-L2 ecosystems

Also, the great folks at @0xPolygon / @sandeepnailwal announced ZK Verse, a content series focussed on ZK rollups if you are interested in checking out blog.polygon.technology/zkverse-a-gent…

Taking a step back - we talked about Layer 2 chains that can settle transactions faster using ZK roll ups. But what about data & storage? Enter volitions

In ZK roll ups, you commit the state root and proof to ehtereum - including the transaction call data. How ever, volitions let you define a secondary data availability solution (validium). Wth are validums?

Validums are "plasma with snarks (aka zk rollup but with off chain data)" - and as Twitter is not letting me add more to this thread, head over here and read about them blog.matter-labs.io/zkrollup-vs-va… - that's all folks.

And finally, just closing this thread with a @balajis quote from 2018 - Balaji: “zk-SNARKs are still underrated"

cryptoglobe.com/latest/2018/10…"

*optimistic roll ups- typo