(1/24) Are you liking my @ethereum roadmap posts? Do you want to further into the future, beyond the roadmap?
Bitcoin was our 0 to 1 for trustless applications. Ethereum for trustless computing.
And soon, @eigenlayer will extend $ETH to provide generic, extendable trust.
(2/24) @Bitcoin invented decentralized computation: the coordination of untrusted computers to achieve a unified computing environment.
However, Bitcoin was implemented as an application-specific blockchain computer. It’s only functionality is to transfer $BTC.
(3/24) In order to create any other application/functionality, you would have to deploy a new network with a new basis of decentralized trust.
Each application would fracture the available trust further and further.
(4/24) In 2015, @VitalikButerin delivered on Satoshi's 2008 vision: generalized trustless computing.
(5/24) @ethereum replaces Bitcoin's application-specific computing environment with a generalized one.
Bitcoin can only add or subtract. Ethereum is Turing-complete.
(6/24) Turing-completeness is a concept that boils down to "if a system is Turing-complete it can do anything that any other Turing-complete system can do"
We can prove that @ethereum is Turing-complete and therefore we know it is capable of everything your Macbook is capable of
(7/24) @ethereum allows a developer to deploy a decentralized application without having to build out decentralized trust network.
Decentralized trust becomes a resource supplied by Ethereum. All the technology, infrastructure and participants get abstracted away.
(8/24) From the perspective of an application, @ethereum provides a decentralized trust module. Developers are freed up for innovation.
Before they had to rebuild the wheel and nurture a network before they even got started. Today all that comes in the base package.
(9/24) However, @ethereum didnt solve the trust problem. The trust module is built on the first three layers of the system (trust, consensus, context).
This created a great platform for innovation, but requires a complete rebuild for changes to those 3 layers.
(10/24) Turns out @ethereum only provides trust around block production, but there are lots of other applications that need trust.
Any other trust we must supply directly through middleware.
(11/24) Middleware is any software that provides a service, information or method of communication between chains.
Middleware exists between chains and therefore must secure its own trust.
(12/24) A good example of middleware is oracles, software that transfers data in and out of @ethereum’s computing environment.
These protocols must boostrap their own trust network… which is very hard and expensive. There’s a reason why @chainlink is the only game in town.
(13/24) Fortunately we have @eigenlayer! So new I can only find 3 videos.
But just one is all it takes. Once you hear @sreeramkannan walk you through you’ll see that this technology will eventually be in the core @ethereum protocol.
(14/24) @eigenlayer integrates at the node level of @ethereum. Nodes are where $ETH staking takes place.
Node operators lock $ETH in exchange for the right to operate a node. If the operator behaves and fulfills his duties, he earns $ETH.
(15/24) If he fails in his duty (or worse, takes malicious action), a portion of the $ETH that he locked up is slashed (permanently taken) and they are ejected from the network.
This is the mechanism by which @ethereum secures and delivers trust.
(16/24) And so, a node operator puts capital at stake and operates a node.
Nodes are real computers scattered across the globe. The requirements for running an @ethereum node are EXTREMELY low, especially considering the capital at stake.
(17/24) Requirements are kept low deliberately; every person, whether MEGACORP CEO or Aunt Phillis, can become a node operator and keep the network honest.
(18/24) Many node operators have extra computational power, some MUCH more.
@eigenlayer allows node operators to deploy their excess computing power for middleware layers while tapping into the trust base of @ethereum.
The process is called restaking.
(19/24) Node operators begin the process like normal, locking $ETH in exchange for the right to operate a node.
Then node operators opt-in to being a service provider for @eigenlayer.
(20/24) Restaking means your $ETH is put at risk for additional slashing if the node operate misbehaves in providing these additional services
This isn’t a liquid staking product, this is managed through the delegated withdrawal address.
(21/24) $ETH stakers can set the withdrawal address of their node to a 3rd party address. When they opt-in to @eigenlayer, they set their withdrawal address to an EigenLayr smart contract. This contract can then deduct any $ETH before returning it to you (effectively slashing).
(22/24) In exchange for committing to operate the middleware and taking this extra risk, the node operator is compensate by the service provider.
Thus, the middleware can tap directly into $ETH’s trust base.
(23/24) Merge mining refers to the act of mining two or more cryptocurrencies at the same time, without sacrificing overall mining performance.
Restaking is Proof of Stake's version: merge staking.
(24/24) Below is @ethereum’s roadmap. As much as it’s full of detail, it’s even more full of questions.
The more I ask, the more I realize I still have to learn.
And the more I realize that Ethereum is inevitable.
The World Computer has a long road before it is ready to be the globe's premier settlement layer. Rollups will scale execution, quickly revealing a new bottleneck.
Before we talk solutions, let's define the data availability problem.
(2/25) @ethereum is the World Computer, a globally shared utility that exists between a network of 1,000s of computers (nodes), each running a local version of the EVM.
(3/25) However, this slowness is a feature, not a bug. In order to keep the World Computer as decentralized as possible, we want to allow as many machines/connections to be able to be nodes as possible.
Staking isn't just for AWS and supercomputers; everyone can participate.
The World Computer will be the decentralized settlement layer of the internet and of the world. Although Ethereum has successfully Merged, it is still a far from ready for the global stage... for now.
It's time to scale.
(2/21) In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto gave us @Bitcoin and introduced the dream: decentralized computing. Bitcoin was the first application-specific blockchain computer.
In 2015, @VitalikButerin gave us @ethereum and delivered on that dream. The World Computer was born.
(3/21) The World Computer is a globally shared utility that exists between a network of 1,000s of computers (nodes), each running a local version of the EVM.
Each copy of the EVM is held in sync; therefore, every local copy is THE canonical EVM.
The path from today's Ethereum to the World Computer of the future is through ZK-EVMs. But not all are made the same, and the field is getting crowded...
(3/27) ZK-proofs allows one party (prover) to prove to another party (verifier) that a statement is true while also ensuring that the prover does not give the verifier any info that the verifier didn't already have.
The Merge was successful, $ETH is Proof of Stake! As the era of miners closes, we find ourselves entering a new meta: the age of MEV
Your guide to existential threat facing Ethereum... and the plan to vanquish it
(2/26) @ethereum is the World Computer, a globally shared utility that exists between a network of 1,000s of computers, each running a local version of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
Anyone can access the World Computer by submitting a transaction to the network.
(3/26) Holistically, an @ethereum transaction is an instruction for the World Computer. Transactions are irreversible and atomic (they execute completely or they fail).
To use the World Computer, users create a transaction and sends it to the mempool.