Rollup-centric Roadmap and the New Teacher’s Pets
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The industry focus has shifted from Plasma as a “one size fits all” solution to several different approaches, security, scalability, and decentralization. Rollups became the new “teacher’s pet” after Buterin posted his ideas on rollup-centric Ethereum roadmap []. 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” [].
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 [].
On top of SNARK (hello, 🕊), there is also STARK (scalable transparent argument of knowledge) method, of which the project truly stands out []. STARK stands out because (according to proponents) it can withstand a quantum computer’s brute force attack, using post-quantum cryptographic algorithms [].
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 , by Offchain Labs, and [].