Layer-1 Projects in the Blockchain Industry and the Development of New Public Chains

The blockchain industry currently has numerous Layer-1 projects, including well-known public chains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as some emerging competitors. Despite the fierce competition, new L1 public chains with different characteristics and advantages continue to emerge, and their technology is continuously iterating. The industry generally expects that in the future, almost all Layer 1 will ultimately adopt zkRollup technology based on zkEVM and eventually evolve into a full-chain zkRollup.

Aptos/Sui and Move Smart Contract Language

In 2022, the most attention-grabbing emerging public chains are Aptos and Sui, which use the Move smart contract language. These projects were initiated by engineers who were involved in the development of Diem (formerly Libra), inheriting many features of Diem while differing from existing L1 public chains in terms of performance, programming languages, and mechanisms.

A major feature of the Move language is the redefinition of the "module structure," allowing assets such as tokens, NFTs, and smart contracts to be succinctly modular defined using a single data module. This is something that the Ethereum EVM finds difficult to achieve. For instance, the Move language adopts a resource-based approach, fundamentally avoiding the reentrancy attack problems that have long plagued the EVM ecosystem.

Whether Aptos/Sui can become a mainstream public chain depends not only on the programming languages it adopts but also on the innovation capabilities of on-chain projects. Currently, although these new public chains have advanced technology, they still lack sufficient application ecosystems and user traffic. For public chains, while technological innovation is important, the feedback of on-chain projects to the traffic of the public chain itself is equally indispensable.

In order to capture the huge traffic of the EVM ecosystem, Aptos and Sui are expected to gradually adopt the EVM system and Layer 2 networks, especially the cutting-edge zkRollup technology based on zkEVM.

Building zkEVM-based zkRollup on Aptos/Sui

In the long run, zkRollup will become the most concise, high-security, and efficient scaling solution. Theoretically, zkRollup can be deployed on any network that can verify its proofs, so building a zkEVM zkRollup on Aptos/Sui is entirely feasible.

The main advantage of this approach is that it can attract developers and users from the EVM ecosystem. For developers, deploying products on the high compatibility zkEVM-based zkRollup of Aptos/Sui is almost indistinguishable from deploying on Ethereum or other EVM-compatible chains, with no major modifications to code and design required. This means that developers from the EVM ecosystem can migrate applications to the Aptos/Sui ecosystem at a very low cost.

For users, zkRollup can provide lower or even negligible transaction fees, and offers an experience close to traditional applications in terms of interaction speed and fee models.

To build a zkEVM-based zkRollup on Aptos/Sui, the following key components are needed:

1. Sequencer: Responsible for receiving transactions on zkRollup, executing transactions through nodes with EVM, and ensuring EVM compatibility.

2. zkProver: A proof generator with zk-EVM that can verify if execution records comply with EVM rules and generate zero-knowledge proofs.

3. Smart Contract: Deploy multiple contracts on Aptos/Sui, including asset custody contracts, proof validation contracts, and governance contracts.

The Future of Omnichain zkRollup in the Web3 Network

The future Web3 ecosystem is likely to be a multi-chain coexistence pattern, so cross-chain asset transfers and interactions will become key demands. Traditional cross-chain bridges face challenges in efficiency and complexity as the number of chains increases, which creates conditions for the emergence of Omnichain zkRollup.

Omnichain zkRollup is expected to become the ultimate solution for cross-chain and even full-chain applications. It is based on a general-purpose zkEVM-based zkRollup, combined with a full-chain interoperability protocol, which can aggregate the liquidity of assets across the entire chain and act as the execution layer for the full chain. Through zero-knowledge proofs, it can ensure the correctness of transactions and enjoy a level of security comparable to that of the entire chain.

On the Omnichain zkRollup, users can achieve fully programmable interactions of assets and information from various chains. This provides vast space for innovative applications, such as decentralized exchanges that aggregate all chains, cross-chain GameFi and SocialFi platforms, etc. In the future, more diversified, varied, and borderless applications will become possible, bringing infinite possibilities to the Web3 ecosystem.