Blockchain
Decentralizing Ethereum layer-2 options has been an ongoing problem for ecosystem contributors, however Figment Capital thinks that distributed sequencer know-how (DST) might put an finish to this headache.
Sequencers are blockchain nodes run by layer-2 options to achieve consensus. They’re a essential software to assist construct and suggest blocks, and considerably cut back the associated fee to transact on Ethereum.
In at present’s ecosystem, layer-2 options largely keep just one sequencer — which means that it’s topic to centralization dangers.
If rollups find yourself being centralized programs constructed on prime of a decentralized community, then it defeats the aim of getting a decentralized system within the first place, Dougie DeLuca, an investor at Figment Capital, informed Blockworks.
“We got here up with a brand new thought for a possible sequencer design,” DeLuca defined. “What we’ve been ideating is a brand new resolution that may basically function a cease hole resolution till a extra complicated and maximally decentralized design is accessible for use.”
This design is basically much like distributed validator know-how (DVT), the place the duties of a validator are distributed throughout completely different operators or machines.
“Proper now with validators you’ve gotten one operator, one machine, and if a validator turns into compromised or goes offline, they might be topic to slashing situations — which principally means they may get penalized for not doing the work that they’re purported to do,” DeLuca mentioned.
With DVT, you possibly can have one validator being serviced by six completely different machines, DeLuca famous.
“What that accomplishes is fault tolerance, which implies if one sub-validator cluster goes offline, the opposite 5 are nonetheless working as meant, so because of this we get a extra resilient community,” he mentioned.
DVT additionally allows options similar to community geographic distribution — making networks much less liable to regulatory dangers and community outage (similar to the newest Etheruem outage).
Utilizing DVT as a framework, DeLuca famous that he and different Figment staff members had an thought of repurposing it for sequencers.
“There are individuals utilizing it at present who can testify that it really works, so as a substitute of pondering of a model new design that may take without end to implement, let’s consider one thing that can be utilized within the mid-term…so identical to DVT, DST might be utilized to a single sequencer and it could actually distribute duties of working the sequencer throughout a cluster of machines and operators,” he mentioned.
Though Figment Capital won’t be constructing out the know-how themselves, DeLuca shared that Obol Community is at present having conversations with completely different rollup groups to discover the chances of this know-how.
