The Future Prospects of Diverse Layer-1 Public Chain Ecosystem and zkRollup

The blockchain industry currently has numerous Layer-1 projects, including several well-known public chains. Despite fierce competition, new L1 public chains with unique characteristics and advantages continue to emerge, and technology is continually iterating. In the future, almost all Layer 1 projects, including emerging public chains, may adopt zkRollup technology based on zkEVM, ultimately forming an Omnichain zkRollup ecosystem.

Emerging Public Chains and Move Smart Contract Language

In 2022, some emerging public chains received widespread attention, especially projects that adopted the Move smart contract language. These projects were initiated by engineers who had previously participated in the blockchain project development of a certain social media giant, inheriting multiple functions of the original project, while differing from existing L1 public chains in terms of performance, programming language, and mechanisms.

The unique aspect of the Move language lies in its redefinition of the "module structure," allowing tokens, NFTs, smart contracts, and other assets to be succinctly modularly defined through a single data module. This feature is not present in Ethereum's EVM. For example, the classic reentrancy attack issue is effectively addressed in the Move language, as Move adopts a resource-based approach that fundamentally avoids such attacks.

Whether emerging public chains can become mainstream depends not only on the languages used but also crucially on the innovative capabilities of on-chain projects. If Ethereum is likened to a busy four-lane highway, emerging public chains resemble a wide eight-lane expressway, but currently, the traffic is still insufficient. For public chains, while technological innovation is undoubtedly important, the feedback of on-chain projects to the traffic of the public chain is equally critical. To capture the enormous traffic of the EVM ecosystem, these emerging public chains may ultimately embrace the EVM system and Layer2 networks, particularly the advanced zkEVM-Based zkRollup technology.

Building zkEVM-based zkRollup on Emerging Public Chains

In the long run, zkRollup is expected to become the most concise, highly secure, and efficient scaling solution. Theoretically, zkRollup can be deployed on any network that can verify its proofs, making it feasible to build zkEVM's zkRollup on emerging public chains. There are mainly two benefits to doing so:

1. Attract developers and users from the EVM ecosystem: For developers, deploying products on the emerging zkEVM-based zkRollup is almost indistinguishable from deploying on Ethereum or other EVM-compatible chains, requiring minimal changes to code and design. This means that developers in the EVM ecosystem can migrate applications to the emerging public chain ecosystem at almost zero cost.

2. Enhancing User Experience: zkRollup can provide users with lower (or even negligible) transaction fees and offer interaction speeds and cost models comparable to traditional applications.

To establish a zkEVM-based zkRollup on an emerging public chain, a general model design can be referenced:

First, a Sequencer is needed to receive transactions on the zkRollup, executing the transactions through an EVM-compatible node to ensure EVM compatibility. The Sequencer will also generate easily provable execution process records and send them to the zkProver. The zkProver is a proof producer with zk-EVM that can verify the correctness of execution records and generate zero-knowledge proofs to be sent to the public chain.

Secondly, several key contracts need to be deployed on the public chain:

• Asset Custody Contract: Managing the flow of assets between the public chain and zkRollup.
• Verify Contract: Verify the proof sent by zkProver
• Governance contract: Manage permission issues, such as recording Prover and registering asset types in zkRollup.

The Omnichain zkRollup Vision of Web3 Network

The future Web3 ecosystem may present a pattern of multiple public chains coexisting, with the demand for cross-chain asset interaction becoming increasingly prominent. Traditional cross-chain bridges face scalability challenges in a multi-chain environment, while Omnichain zkRollup is expected to become the ultimate solution for cross-chain and even all-chain applications.

Based on the generic zkEVM-based zkRollup, combined with the omnichain interoperability protocol, an Omnichain zkRollup can be formed. It will aggregate the asset liquidity of the entire chain and serve as the execution layer for the entire chain. It ensures the correctness of transactions through zero-knowledge proofs, enjoying security equivalent to that of the entire chain.

The vision of Omnichain zkRollup encompasses infinite possibilities:

• A decentralized exchange that aggregates all chains
• GameFi and SocialFi with full-chain user participation
• More diverse, varied, and borderless innovative applications

This technology will bring unprecedented interoperability and innovation space to the Web3 ecosystem, promoting the advancement of blockchain technology to a higher level.