Rollup-centric Roadmap and the New Teacher’s Pets

The industry focus has shifted from Plasma as a “one size fits all” solution to several different approaches, balancing security, scalability, and decentralization. Rollups became the new “teacher’s pet” after Buterin posted his ideas on rollup-centric Ethereum roadmap [Magicians]. Ethereum Foundation explains that “rollups are solutions that perform transaction execution outside the main Ethereum chain (layer 1), but post transaction data on layer 1” [Richards].

Rollups can be zero-knowledge (ZKR) and optimistic, the most essential difference between the two is how they deal with proving transactions and disputes. ZK rollups mainly use the SNARK (succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge) method. In contrast, optimistic rollups use fraud-proofs, which trigger longer wait times for an on-chain transaction, yet also enable agility in terms of computational resources required [Optimism].

On top of SNARK (hello, 🕊Lewis Carroll), there is also STARK (scalable transparent argument of knowledge) method, of which the zkSync project truly stands out [Grossman]. STARK stands out because (according to proponents) it can withstand a quantum computer’s brute force attack, using post-quantum cryptographic algorithms [Luciano].

Optimism uses optimistic rollups, hence the name. However, despite the naming similarity, Optimism is not the only team implementing this type of rollups, the other teams being Fuel Labs, Arbitrum by Offchain Labs, and Hubble [Adler Rollups].