Understanding Layer 2 Risks | L2BEAT | Bartek Kiepuszewski

*Apologies for the audio quality for the Host. Had to use laptop mic due to technical issues.

Audio from the June 14, 2022 installment of “Polygon Alpha” with Bartek Kiepuszewski - Blockchain Architect at MakerDAO and Founder of L2BEATPolygon Alpha Podcast - https://polygon.technology/YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/PolygonTVSpotify - Follow the show on Spotify!RSS feed for Apple Podcast - https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/863588.rss

Transcript - Coming soon!

- L2BEAT was created to provide transparent and verifiable insights into emerging layer two (L2) technologies which, in line with the rollup-centric Ethereum scaling roadmap are aimed at scaling Ethereum.

- Rollup-centric Ethereum scaling roadmap: https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/a-rollup-centric-ethereum-roadmap/4698 - There are two primary (and somewhat independent) mechanisms that L2 chains can use. - First, the L2 state can be verified by L1 through either Validity Proofs or Fraud Proofs. This mechanism is most important as it ensures that L2 validators cannot cheat and include invalid transactions in a L2 block, e.g. mint coins out of thin air or steal your coins. - The second use of L1 is as a Data Availability layer for L2 transactions so that, if there is a dispute, users could independently re-create the L2 state and ensure continued system operation or trustlessly exit to L1.

- An L2 chain can periodically "commit" its state to L1 by submitting the hash of its current state root. A state root is just a number, e.g: 0x77905a71f4b32221.... We need a mechanism to ensure that this number corresponds to the actual L2 state.

- One way to do so is by providing a zero-knowledge cryptographic Validity Proof (zkProof) that will be verified by the L1 smart contract. If the verification passes, users can be sure that the state root is a result of executing valid transaction set.

- The other mechanism is to allow any honest L2 chain observer to raise an alarm if they think that the supplied state root is incorrect and provide a Fraud Proof. Such a proof allows the L1 contract to trustlessly verify that the state root was incorrect. In such case it will be automatically removed and the chain will roll back.

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Host: Justin Havins aka Crypto TexanAV Engineer: MalkaviaM

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