L2 Planet Issue #15
In this Issue of L2 Planet, we focused on the developments regarding Arbitrum, zkSync, Aztec, Fuel, dYdX, StarkEx, and StarkNet Ecosystem.
Arbitrum
Arbitrum announced Arbitrum Nova, its first product using AnyTrust technology. So if you're wondering what AnyTrust is, let's quote L2 Planet Issue #9.
“We can say that AnyTrust is actually an improved version of Plasma, it is very suitable for situations where decentralization is not important, such as the gaming industry and social media dApps. It is built on top of the Ethereum network and it is cheaper than Rollups. It is necessary to trust a committee that the data is available, meaning it gets its security from the committee, not the Ethereum mainnet. Just think there are 20 committee members. If at least two committee members are honest and 19 out of 20 members sign that the data is available, then at least 1 of the honest members has signed that the data is available, so the data should be correct. But what if the committee doesn't sign anything or if a group of committee members refuses to sign? If there is at least one honest committee member, it can move all the state, and AnyTrust can continue to work like a Rollup. In this case, AnyTrust works like a standard Optimistic Rollup until the committee works again, there is a waiting period for the withdrawals.”
As part of their fair launch, developers are allowed to request access to deploy their projects on Arbitrum Nova. You can apply using this form.
That’s not all! The Norwegian government is building a cap table platform for unlisted companies on Ethereum’s Layer-2 solution, Arbitrum. So, what does it mean and what is a cap table?
A company’s capitalization table is one of the most important ledgers. It shows the ownership of the company’s stock, options, and other securities, and is key to understanding the owners’ economic and voting interests. On the platform, the shares will be represented by Consensys' ERC-1400 standard. This standard meets the requirements for securities and is a combination of ERC-20 and ERC-721. Ceramic Network will be used for personal data.
This development clearly indicates that Layer-2 adoption keeps increasing day by day.
zkSync Structural Changes
zkSync has released a major update for the zkSync 2.0 testnet ahead of the upcoming mainnet.
According to the announcement, the most important upgrade is the introduction of account abstraction. This means that on the zkSync 2.0 network, there will be only one type of account, namely smart contract accounts. The team believes that account abstraction brings some advantages. These advantages could be summarized as follows:
The improved user experience of private key storage and recovery
The ability to natively pay gas fees in tokens other than ETH
The ability for accounts to change public and private keys
Diversity in signature verification systems from the current ECDSA, including post-quantum safe signature algorithms
Non-cryptographic modifications
Another feature covered in this upgrade is L2→L1 messaging. Developers can now send anything that happens on zkSync 2.0 to Ethereum as information.
Not only that, by adding support for msg.value, it is now possible to use native ETH for zkSync v2 transactions. Hence, developers don't have to make modifications to existing codebases and utilize wrapped ETH instead. Also, some of the added OPCODEs are:
EXTCODESIZE
CALLVALUE (msg.value)
BALANCE
SELFBALANCE
EXTCODEHASH
With all these added features, zkSync 2.0 testnet has been reset. In other words, all contracts and account balances are reset. zkSync 2.0 network will also be reset once again before upgrading to the mainnet version.
Aztec Connect
In our previous issue, we mentioned that Aztec Connect was delayed. About a month later, Aztec Connect is live on the mainnet!
Aztec seems to have changed the design of their official site. The new design and user interface are quite stylish. If you are wondering how Aztec Connect works, you can take a look at L2 Planet Issue #13. Additionally, you can also watch this video to learn how to use zk.money and Aztec Connect!
SwaySwap
Fuel Network has introduced SwaySwap, now live on devnet. SwaySwap is a Uniswap-style decentralized exchange, written in a novel smart contract language called Sway, and runs on FuelVM which is a UTXO-based customized virtual machine.
As the L2 Planet team, we tested SwaySwap on the devnet. The transactions have been confirmed nearly instantaneously. When Fuel says "The fastest execution layer", this is not a joke. For now, the mainnet release date of Fuel v2 is unknown. You can also try SwaySwap here. If you have questions about SwaySwap, you can join their upcoming AMA event.
dYdX V4
dYdX published some important updates about V4, the path to a fully decentralized dYdX. dYdX moves to the Cosmos blockchain!
The main reason for dYdX’s decision to move to Cosmos blockchain is that the order book and matching engine speeds are insufficient in alternative L1/L2s. When we look at their current metrics, dYdX is processing about 10 trades per second and 1000 order places/cancellations per second. Having explored all the alternatives, the team decided that Cosmos is the best option for building the fully decentralized dYdX protocol.
The dYdX chain, which will be built with the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint PoS consensus protocol, opens a new use case for $DYDX token as well. There will be no gas fee in dYdX V4, which will run on its own chain, and platform revenues will be shared among validators. Let's see how the V4 update will affect the statistics of dYdX platforms.
StarkEx 4.5
Version 4.5 of Starkware's StarkEx engine has been released. So what are the new features added with this version?
With the new version, the StarkEx engine becomes the first Layer-2 Volition solution to offer Volition technology to its users. Until the introduction of v4.5, applications using the StarkEx engine had to choose between Validium and zkRollup data availability modes. Now, this decision is left to the users. Users can choose which solution to utilize if they want to do their transactions in Validium or zkRollup. Users who want to use the Validium solution pay lower transaction fees while relying on the DAC (Data Availability Committee) for the availability of data such as account balances. Users who want to use the zkRollup solution, on the other hand, will perform transactions with the security of the Ethereum mainnet; however they will be paying higher transaction fees.
With the StarkEx 4.5 version, ERC-1155 support arrived. Users can now deposit, withdraw, transfer or trade their NFTs in the ERC-1155 standard in applications that use the StarkEx engine. ERC-1155 NFT minting support will be added in the next version.
Another added feature was transaction bundling. Users will now be able to do a bundle of transactions that are executed completely, or not at all.
The next step for Starkware is moving StarkEx on top of StarkNet as Layer-3 :)
StarkNet Ecosystem
Starkware has published notes from the upcoming final reset of StarkNet, which is expected to take place in Q4/2022.
The purpose of the final reset (or Regenesis) is like getting rid of the scaffolding of a long-awaited and completed construction. A simple version of StarkNet will be obtained by removing the parts that create complexity and cause extra weight on StarkNet. Before the final reset, Starkware will make various interoperability adjustments to ensure the transition is completely smooth. So you will not lose your ERC-20 tokens and NFTs.
The latest developments in StarkNet are:
Orbiter Finance now supports the StarkNet.
ZigZag Exchange has announced Invisibl3, which will be a Layer-3 on StarkNet, allowing private transactions.
StarkNet now supports Bulletproofs.
STARK Verifier audited by CryptoExperts.
Skyro compiler, which gives the ability to write StarkNet contracts with Idris2 announced.
Twitter Corner
Spectating Corner
Reading Corner
A Guide to Privacy On-Chain: Aztec Network, The Ramblings of Billyjitsu
ZK Talks with Brandon Kase, zkApe
Cross-Chain Bridge Hacks and Exploits, Numio
That’s all from L2 Planet for now, hope to see you in 15 days :)