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Background

The Ethereum Scalability Challenge 🏗️​

Ethereum faced scalability issues due to its limited transaction throughput and high gas fees. This led to the development of a rollup-centric roadmap focused on scaling Ethereum using Layer 2s.

The Role of Rollups​

Rollups aim to increase Ethereum's transaction capacity by processing transactions off-chain and then submitting batched results to the Ethereum mainnet. However, traditional rollups face challenges:

  • 🐢 Slow Finality: It takes at least 12s for Ethereum block confirmations and 12 minutes for finality.
  • 🔒 Security Trade-offs: Some solutions compromise on security for speed.
  • 🌐 Fragmented Liquidity: Different rollups have isolated liquidity pools and users.
  • 🎯 Centralization: Centralized sequencers can be point of failure for rollups.

Based Rollups: A Step Forward ⚡​

Based rollups offer a promising solution to many of these challenges.

Key Features of Based Rollups​

Based rollups are a type of rollup that:

  • 🔄 Have transactions sequenced by Ethereum validators
  • 🔗 Inherit Ethereum's security directly
  • 🤝 Unlock synchronous composability between different based rollups
  • 💰 Align economic incentives with Ethereum L1

The Speed Challenge for Based Rollups​

Despite their advantages, based rollups still face a critical issue:

  • ⏳ Slow Confirmation Times: Based rollups are limited by Ethereum's block time (12 seconds), leading to slower transaction confirmations than desired for many applications.

Preconfirmations: The Latency Solution 🚀​

To address the speed limitations of based rollups, the concept of preconfirmations was introduced.

What are Preconfirmations?​

Preconfirmations provide near-instant transaction assurances by leveraging a network of Ethereum validators. Here's how they work:

  • ⚡ Offer ~100ms transaction confirmations, drastically reducing wait times
    • Validators quickly process and sign off on incoming transactions
    • These signatures serve as immediate assurances before the block is published to the L1
  • 🛡️ Backed by economic security from Ethereum validators
    • Validators stake ETH as collateral, ensuring honest behavior
    • Breaking preconf promises can result in slashing of staked assets
  • 🌐 Maintain neutrality and decentralization
    • Multiple validators participate, preventing single points of failure
    • Open participation ensures no central authority controls the process
  • 🔄 Bridge the gap between transaction submission and block confirmation
    • Users receive rapid feedback on transaction validity
    • Rollups can process transactions with confidence before L1 finality

Requirements for a Preconfirmation Protocol 🛠️​

To build an effective preconfirmation protocol for based rollups, several key requirements must be met:

  1. Validator Network: 🌐

    • A network of Ethereum validators willing to participate in preconfirmations
    • Open system allowing any eligible validator to join

  2. Economic Incentives: 💰

    • A system to reward validators for honest participation
    • Penalties (e.g., slashing) for malicious behavior (safety faults) or non-performance (liveness faults)

  3. Security Guarantees: 🔒

    • Cryptographic proofs of validator commitments
    • Mechanisms to ensure the integrity of preconfirmations

  4. Standardization: 🔧

    • On-chain registry of participating validators
    • Common interfaces for validator software

  5. Capital Efficiency: 💼

    • Mechanisms to allow validators to participate without locking up additional capital
    • Potential integration with restaking protocols

By addressing these requirements, a preconfirmation protocol can provide the necessary infrastructure to enable near-instant, secure transaction confirmations for based rollups, significantly enhancing the user experience and efficiency of the Ethereum ecosystem.

UniFi AVS: Pioneering Preconfirmations 🦄​

UniFi AVS steps in as the first instantiation of a preconfirmation protocol for based rollups.

By combining EigenLayer's restaking capabilities with Commit-Boost's standardization, UniFi AVS creates a robust, efficient, and secure preconfirmation system for based rollups.

This unique combination allows UniFi AVS to offer:

  1. 🟢 Permissionless validator participation
  2. 📊 On-chain registry for transparency
  3. ⚖️ Slashing mechanisms for accountability
  4. 🔗 Seamless integration with based rollups
  5. ⚡ Near-instant, secure transaction confirmations

Learn how in the following sections 👉