Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin recently published a detailed report on Layer-2 solutions and Ethereum’s base layer execution sharding for blockchain scaling.
According to Buterin, they both employ the use of high-level cryptographic assets such as Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (ZK-SNARK) for computation attestation and Data Availability Sampling (DAS) for data attestation. However, they differ greatly in their practical implementation and usage.
Furthermore, L2 solutions create a range of execution environments, not as unified as in the sharding approach. For instance, Arbitrum Stylus incorporates a virtual machine based on WebAssembly, and Aztec has privacy preservation by using ZK-SNARK smart contracts. This specialization enables effective implementation and targeted approaches that are needed in the process.
As for security, it is relatively high at the L1 level of Ethereum due to the ability to guarantee the integrity of the data and the impossibility of changing them, but such security is expensive. L2 solutions can provide quicker exchanges and more versatile defensive measures compared to L1, which makes them useful for applications like social media or gaming that may not require the strict security employed by L1.
There are several things to bear in mind when considering L2 solutions, and one of the most famous problems is coordination. Swapping between different L2s primarily requires the use of convoluted and centralized bridge platforms; meanwhile, decentralized validation is in its early stages. The given idea is based on Buterin’s comments claiming that the Ethereum community should see cross-L2 infrastructure as relevant as L1 clients alongside the developer tools.
Continuing his comparison of sharding and L2s in scaling Ethereum, Buterin concludes that though both guarantee scaling Ethereum, L2s give more freedom and opportunity for innovation. Coordination problems will be the main challenge that, if solved, will allow a layer-2 centric ecosystem to fully unlock its potential.
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