This article provides an overview of the concept, operational principles, advantages, and disadvantages of modular blockchains, leading readers to a deeper understanding of this new solution.
(Table of Contents)
What is a modular blockchain?
What is a monolithic blockchain?
What is a modular blockchain?
How does a modular blockchain work?
Methods for implementing a modular blockchain
Advantages and disadvantages of modular blockchains
Which modular blockchains are there?
Celestia
AltLayer
Dymension
Mantle Network (MNT)
April 19, 2024
Modular blockchain Avail opens up for airdrop! Over 350,000 wallets eligible, key points to note
February 7, 2024
Dymension ($DYM) airdrops over 350 million pounds! Listed on Binance, breaks $6
January 26, 2024
ALT listed on Binance surges 5000%, what is AltLayer? Features, token economy, how to claim airdrop
November 13, 2023
TIA surges 115%, breaks $5! Community surprised: Is Celestia the Solana of this bull market?
The development of blockchain technology has achieved significant growth, and the recognition of mainstream blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum has been increasing. However, since most blockchains handle the four core tasks of consensus, security, data availability, and transactions on the same layer, it is often difficult to balance scalability, security, and decentralization.
Therefore, modular blockchains have emerged, focusing on specific tasks and outsourcing the remaining tasks to one or more independent layers of blockchains, aiming to build a more scalable system without compromising decentralization or security. The following sections provide an overview of the concept, operational principles, advantages, and disadvantages of modular blockchains to help readers understand this solution.
What is a modular blockchain?
What is a monolithic blockchain?
We know that almost every blockchain has the same core tasks, and a monolithic blockchain can be roughly divided into the following four functional layers:
Consensus: Agreeing on the content and order of transactions
Execution: Supporting the execution of transactions and deploying and interacting with smart contracts
Settlement: Used for completing transactions, resolving disputes, verifying proofs, and bridging between different execution layers
Data Availability (DA): Ensuring the availability of transaction data
Usually, most blockchains handle these tasks at the same layer, and these blockchains are called “monolithic blockchains,” such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
What is a modular blockchain?
Unlike a single blockchain, a modular blockchain focuses on handling a few tasks and outsources the rest to one or more independent layers of blockchains, aiming to establish a more scalable system without compromising decentralization or security.
How does a modular blockchain work?
As mentioned above, modular blockchains follow a “modular” design concept, dividing the entire system into several specialized components, each with its own clear functions and responsibilities. A modular blockchain can be designed to focus on handling one or a combination of the following tasks:
Consensus: Achieving agreement on the content and order of transactions
Data Availability: Ensuring the availability of transaction data
Execution: Supporting the execution of transactions and deploying and interacting with smart contracts
Settlement: Providing a layer for completing transactions, resolving disputes, verifying proofs, and bridging between different execution layers
Methods for implementing a modular blockchain
Methods for implementing a modular blockchain include aggregation, validium, and sovereign aggregation:
Aggregation: Aggregation is an execution layer used to process transactions and publish data to the Layer 1 network.
Validium: Validium is a variant of aggregation that processes transactions off-chain and then submits the data to L1, using Proof of Stake (PoS) to validate the network.
Sovereign Aggregation: Sovereign aggregation serves as both an execution layer and a settlement layer, with data blocks published directly to the aggregation. Sovereign aggregation does not require L1 smart contracts for verification.
Advantages and disadvantages of modular blockchains
Advantages:
1. Improved scalability: Modular blockchains achieve excellent scalability by moving resource-intensive tasks to separate layers, increasing overall throughput without compromising decentralization.
2. Flexibility and interoperability: The design of modular underlying layers is highly flexible, facilitating interoperability between multiple Layer 1 and Layer 2 chains. This flexibility allows developers to execute Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) or choose other virtual machines.
3. Multi-functional application development: The modularity of blockchains supports the development of general-purpose applications, reducing barriers to use the blockchain ecosystem for users. This versatility helps create more secure and efficient decentralized applications (DApps).
4. Customizable tech stack: Developers can freely choose the most suitable virtual machine and provide a customizable tech stack, creating an environment that is easier to adapt to and more developer-friendly.
Disadvantages:
1. Development complexity: Building a modular blockchain is more challenging compared to a single blockchain. This complexity can increase the learning difficulties for users and developers, potentially slowing down adoption and development.
2. Limited testing: Modular networks have not undergone practical testing like mature blockchains such as Ethereum or Bitcoin. Extensive testing and verification experienced by mature blockchains have not yet been conducted in modular environments, raising concerns about the resilience under real-world high traffic conditions.
3. Security: Modular blockchains cannot guarantee their own security features. If the security layer (usually responsible for consensus and data availability) fails, the modular blockchain will face risks.
Which modular blockchains are there?
Celestia
Celestia is the first modular blockchain project focusing on data availability. Celestia believes that, similar to Layer 2 Ethereum scaling solutions, newly generated data can be released to the Celestia chain instead of directly to Ethereum, saving over 90% of transaction fees.
Data Availability Sampling (DAS) is an important feature of Celestia, allowing users to confirm the existence of a large number of data blocks without downloading the entire blockchain. This technology greatly improves scalability and security.
In addition, Celestia provides convenience for building independent, self-managed blockchains called sovereign rollups, benefiting from the security provided by the Celestia network.
Currently, the Celestia token TIA has been listed on Binance and OKX exchanges, with a total supply of 1 billion tokens. At the time of writing, it is priced at $10.63, with a circulating market cap of $1.996 billion.
AltLayer
AltLayer is an open, decentralized protocol designed for rollups. Its core network builds a Rollups-as-a-Service (Raas) dashboard, which adopts the Optimistic and ZK Rollup stacks, enabling developers to quickly customize rollups with fraud proofs and zero-knowledge proofs.
Additionally, AltLayer utilizes the “Restaked Rollups” re-staking mechanism to enhance its security, decentralization, interoperability, and convenience.
The AltLayer token ALT has been listed on Binance, priced at $0.3365 at the time of writing, with a circulating market cap of $510 million.
Dymension
Dymension is a modular blockchain based on Cosmos and Celestia technology, aiming to enable developers to deploy application chains called RollApps. Through the use of the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, it can connect with various other chains. Developers can choose various virtual machines and tokens for their RollApps.
In February 2023, Dymension completed a $6.7 million seed round of financing, led by Big Brain Holdings and Stratos, with participation from Matchbox DAO and DraftKings’ Shalom Meckenzie.
Currently, the Dymension token DYM has been listed on Binance, priced at $2.94 at the time of writing, with a circulating market cap of $508 million.
Mantle Network (MNT)
Mantle Network is an L2 scaling solution based on Optimistic Rollup technology, providing EVM compatibility and modular design. Incubated by BitDAO, it offers high throughput, low-cost, and fast finality services using roll-up technology and a decentralized data availability layer (Mantle DA), while ensuring Ethereum-level security.
April 19, 2024
Modular blockchain Avail opens up for airdrop! Over 350,000 wallets eligible, key points to note
On April 19, 2024, modular blockchain Avail announced the opening of token claims on its website. This airdrop will distribute a total of 600 million AVAIL tokens to 354,605 eligible wallets. Eligibility includes active Ethereum L2 users, outstanding testnet users, and community members who have made significant contributions to the blockchain ecosystem.
February 7, 2024
Dymension ($DYM) airdrops over 350 million pounds! Listed on Binance, breaks $6
Dymension, part of the Cosmos ecosystem, airdropped $DYM on February 6, coinciding with the mainnet launch. It was warmly received by the market, with the price surging over 3000% after being listed on Binance, breaking $6.
January 26, 2024
ALT listed on Binance surges 5000%, what is AltLayer? Features, token economy, how to claim airdrop
AltLayer, the 45th new coin mining project on Binance, was officially listed for trading and surged over 5000%, reaching a high of $0.349.
November 13, 2023
TIA surges 115%, breaks $5! Community surprised: Is Celestia the Solana of this bull market?
As the leading project of modular blockchains, Celestia officially launched its mainnet on October 31, with its native token TIA also airdropped and listed on major exchanges. It was priced at $2.3 and had an impressive opening performance, with approximately $675 per airdrop address calculated based on the generally distributed 294 TIA tokens per address.
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