Aggregated Blockchains: A New Thesis

tl;dr:

Monolithic → Modular → Aggregated
Aggregation synthesizes the advantages of each built-in (monolithic) and modular architectures utilizing ZK know-how
The AggLayer brings uniform cryptographic safety and atomic composability throughout aggregated chains with out sacrificing sovereignty
Devs can join any L1 or L2 chain to the AggLayer, constructing a Web3 community that appears like a single chain with unified liquidity and virtually limitless scalability

Blockchains immediately don’t look or really feel just like the Web. As an alternative of a unified, extremely scalable community, customers face scaling limitations and dangerous UX resulting from fragmented liquidity and state. Sadly, the ever-increasing record of latest chains being launched has compounded the issue. This setting is harking back to the pre-Web period, siloed and missing interoperability. We have to do higher.

To resolve these challenges, Polygon Labs researchers and engineers have designed the aggregation layer, a novel resolution to unify the entire of Web3. Just like the invention of TCP/IP, which created a seamlessly unified Web, the aggregation layer, or AggLayer, unites a divided blockchain panorama into an online of ZK-secured L1 and L2 chains that appears like a single chain. 

The AggLayer is a decentralized protocol that does two issues:

It aggregates ZK proofs from all linked chains.
It ensures security for near-instant [atomic] cross-chain transactions.

If you need an early in-the-weeds technical explainer to know how the AggLayer will work, read the documentation here.

The AggLayer is the subsequent evolutionary step of blockchain design, enhancing on the presently prevailing approaches, particularly monolithic and modular.

Monolithic → Modular → Aggregated

A fast tour of the historical past of blockchain structure exhibits the necessity to evolve in direction of aggregated blockchains. 

At first, there have been the monoliths (i.e., built-in chains).

Monolithic chains run with nodes chargeable for consensus, information availability, and execution, they usually additionally function a settlement layer. Such an ecosystem is unified and interoperable by design; nevertheless, it has elementary limits. These limits are available the best way of scalability, safety, and decentralization tradeoffs. As scalability will increase, the {hardware} necessities for validators enhance, leading to better centralization and fewer safety. Even essentially the most environment friendly chains ultimately end in state bloat (storing an excessive amount of information) and state competition (processing too many transactions that contact the identical state), which implies efficiency degrades over time. As well as, monolithic chains don’t supply significant customizability or sovereignty for ecosystem individuals. 

To handle these challenges, devs started to tinker with modular architectures, and for good motive: a modular framework solves a ton of issues inherent to monolithic programs. Modularity ends in many chains operating independently and in parallel, every sustaining sovereignty. It permits for a lot larger scalability and multiplicity of chain design—from VMs to decentralization to privateness profiles.

However modularity alone, as an evolution from monolithic chains, results in fragmentation throughout liquidity and customers; it creates multi-chain ecosystems that both require awkward and inefficient bridging, or sacrificing chain sovereignty.

There shall be no mass adoption with siloed liquidity and customers.

The answer to the monolithic-versus-modular dilemma is a brand new class of blockchain design: Aggregation.

Aggregation provides the sovereignty and scale of modular architectures, in addition to the unified liquidity and UX of a monolithic system, synthesizing these two approaches into one thing novel.

AggLayer Benefits

As a central element of Polygon 2.0, the AggLayer will use ZK proofs to create a seamless, aggregated setting that feels like a single chain–whilst every chain within the ecosystem stays sovereign. 

This allows near-instant, atomic transactions, unifies liquidity throughout the ecosystem, creates capital effectivity, and dramatically improves UX.

For L1s and L2s linked to AggLayer: Preserve full sovereignty but additionally get to faucet into an enormous pool of unified liquidity, making it simple to bootstrap liquidity.

For dApp builders: Attain customers in combination. Even when your dApp is on a distinct chain, customers from different chains will be capable of work together with it, with out cumbersome bridging UX. Seamless cross-chain transactions imply true progress and entry to customers of the aggregated community. 
‍For finish customers: UX that’s just like the Web. A single setting that doesn’t require cumbersome and frequent bridging.

In the long run state of AggLayer, finish customers will be capable of execute cross-chain atomic transactions in < 1 second.

AggLayer Use Circumstances

This all sounds good, however what does it imply from a sensible perspective? 

With the AggLayer, a consumer on X1 holding DAI should purchase an NFT on Polygon zkEVM, with out having to first bridge funds to Polygon zkEVM. From the top consumer’s perspective, this may really feel like utilizing a single chain; with the AggLayer, customers can work together with dApps with no need to know that they’re accessing one other chain.

With the AggLayer, customers can even ship property to take part in exercise on one other chain. Let’s say Alice is on a gaming chain constructed with Polygon CDK and linked to the AggLayer. Alice’s pockets on the gaming chain additionally has ETH and DAI, which Alice needs to place right into a DEX on X1. Alice can create a transaction that bridges DAI and ETH and does the perform name to LP these tokens—with all of the charges paid—from the gaming chain.

Wen Manufacturing?

The production-ready, AggLayer v1—the unified bridge and a typical proof aggregator for taking part chains—is coming in February. Admittedly, that is simply the primary model, nevertheless it exhibits the place we’re headed.

AggLayer v2 will help asynchronous cross-chain transactions and is anticipated later this 12 months.

Excited to study extra? Within the subsequent few weeks, we’ll have deep dives into crucial elements of the AggLayer, together with: proof aggregation, optimistic confirmations, and atomic cross-chain transactions. 

And be sure you keep tuned for extra details about “Aggregation Day,” coming in February. 

Tune into the blog and our social channels to maintain up with updates concerning the Polygon ecosystem.

Collectively, we are able to construct an equitable future for all by way of the mass adoption of Web3.

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