The ZK Fast Track | Andrew & Uma of Conduit & Succinct
Dec 4, 2024
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Uma Roy, co-founder of Succinct, and Andrew Huang, co-founder of Conduit, dive into their game-changing collaboration, OP Succinct. They discuss how this new zkEVM ensures 1-hour finality, shaking up traditional optimistic rollups with their 7-day delays. The guests explore the implications of Rust-based zkVM technology and its potential to resolve Ethereum's fragmentation issues. Additionally, they highlight the evolving landscape of zero-knowledge rollups and their role in improving blockchain efficiency and scalability.
The introduction of OP Succinct integrates a fast finality approach with ZK roll-ups, significantly reducing transaction delays from seven days to one hour.
As costs for implementing ZK technology decrease, more projects may transition from optimistic to ZK roll-ups, enhancing scalability and efficiency in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Future success of native ZK roll-ups on Ethereum relies heavily on improving latency and proving costs to support real-time transactions effectively.
Deep dives
Lower Costs and Greater Accessibility for ZK Technology
The cost curve for zero-knowledge (ZK) technology is steadily decreasing, making it increasingly accessible for projects to adopt it. As these costs come down, older optimistic roll-ups face a challenge as users become more willing to pay for additional transaction costs associated with ZK roll-ups. This shift hints at a future where high-throughput chains may integrate ZK capabilities with relative ease. As this technology matures, the initial financial burden of implementation will diminish, benefiting more users over time.
The Roll-up Landscape: Evolution from Optimistic to ZK
The current ecosystem of optimistic roll-ups appears to be transitioning toward ZK roll-ups, which are perceived as the 'end game' for improving scalability and efficiency. Innovations such as OP Succinct enable a relatively simple upgrade pathway from optimistic to ZK roll-ups, potentially revolutionizing how developers approach roll-up technology. This newfound interoperability can significantly enhance user experiences by enabling seamless communication between various roll-ups. This technological shift promises to not only expand the roll-up landscape but also enhance the Ethereum ecosystem's overall efficiency.
Fast Finality: Addressing Fragmentation in Ethereum
The introduction of fast finality with ZK technology addresses significant fragmentation issues within the Ethereum ecosystem. By reducing withdrawal periods from seven days to one hour, ZK roll-ups allow for cheaper and more efficient capital flow between different chains. This quicker time frame facilitates projects' needs to move assets efficiently and securely, thus supporting a more integrated and cohesive layer two environment. As interoperability becomes standard among roll-ups, Ethereum can evolve into a more unified system.
Latency and Proving Costs: The Future of ZK on Ethereum
For native ZK roll-ups to be successful on Ethereum's mainnet, latency and proving costs must further improve significantly. Current estimates suggest that the cost of proving transactions is already manageable, but the latency for real-time proving remains a hurdle that needs addressing. Achieving a sub-12-second threshold for generating proofs could pave the way for broader adoption of native ZK roll-ups, thereby enhancing Ethereum's efficiency and scalability. The overall direction points toward a future where rapid proving times can unlock new functionalities within Ethereum.
Navigating Sentiment and Narrative in the Ethereum Ecosystem
Despite the current downturn in Ethereum's price and sentiment, experts believe in the long-term viability of the roll-up centric roadmap for scaling the network. Experts emphasize that the macro view should remain optimistic, as horizontal scaling solutions like ZK roll-ups could facilitate a robust environment for decentralized computing. This belief hinges on a fundamental understanding that Ethereum's fragmentation and challenges are merely transitional phases towards a greater objective of scalability and interoperability. While the environment may feel challenging now, the innovations currently in motion suggest a bright future for Ethereum and its roll-up infrastructure.
Last month, Andrew Huang (Conduit) and Uma Roy (Succinct) announced OP Succinct, a groundbreaking collaboration that blends Succinct’s SP1 zkVM with Conduit’s Rollup-as-a-Service platform. This new zkEVM promises 1-hour finality, breaking away from the traditional 7-day delays seen with optimistic rollups.
In this episode, we unpack what makes OP Succinct a game-changer and how it challenges the conventional ZK rollup landscape. Why is this Rust-based zkVM approach so different? Is ZK rollup tech finally ready for prime time? And could fast finality and the end of fraud proofs be the key to solving Ethereum’s fragmentation problem?
0:00 Intro 2:52 zk Rollups Past vs. OP Succint 5:48 OP to zk Rollups Tradeoffs & Timeline 12:39 Benefits of 1-Hour Challenge Period 15:34 Scaling the Rollups 18:12 Endgame Vision 20:47 Cost of Proving Must Go Down? 21:55 Conduit’s Distribution Role 25:55 AggLayer vs. zk & Adoption 29:57 zk Rollup on ETH L1 Constraints? 35:53 Ethereum’s Negative Sentiment 51:04 Closing & Disclaimers
