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One of the most innovative blockchain runtimes ever created.
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The space of blockchain runtimes hasn’t stopped innovating during the bear market. We have seen relatively success with trends such as L2s that improve the scalability of the Ethereum ecosystem, zk-blockchains that focus on privacy and scalability as a core building blocks or even completely new ecosystems such as the Move-blockchains. Seeing this trend, there are two key questions that jump off the page:
1) How many blockchains are going to be relevant to enable the mainstream adoption of Web3 architectures?
2) What is the next fundamental architecture improvement in blockchain runtimes?
The two points are somewhat related as we need to keep evolving the core architecture of blockchains to unlock new use cases. From the newcomer projects I have seen in the market, Celestia has been one of the most fascinating in terms of the boldness of the vision and the quality of the execution. In principle, Celestia tries to change the core architecture of blockchains by decoupling the consensus and execution layers and make it more modular.
When comes to blockchain runtimes, the pioneering monolithic approach was the initial blueprint for crafting these digital ledgers. It championed the idea that a blockchain should serve as a Swiss Army knife, capable of executing myriad tasks. This all-encompassing approach includes transaction processing, verification of correctness, and the , obviously, consensus. However, this monolithic architecture ushered in its own set of challenges, most notably concerning scalability while maintaining the sacred tenet of decentralization.
The Modular Blockchain Approach
Contrasting with the traditional blockchain architectures, modular blockchains represent a paradigm shift away from the monolithic norm. Instead of expecting a single blockchain to bear the weight of all responsibilities, modular blockchains are designed to specialize in specific functions. Notably, these forward-thinking modular systems introduce the concept of disentangling consensus from transaction execution. In practical terms, one blockchain focuses on executing transactions, while another takes on the mantle of consensus.
Monolithic blockchains grapple with a host of issues stemming from their catch-all nature:
1. Demanding Hardware: Monolithic chains can indeed scale up their transaction throughput, but at a considerable hardware cost. This elevated demand for processing power imposes a significant burden on network nodes.
2. Validator Bootstrapping: Introducing a new monolithic blockchain necessitates the cumbersome process of bootstrapping a secure set of validators, adding to the complexity of maintaining a reliable consensus network.
3. Restricted Autonomy: Applications deployed on monolithic chains must adhere to the predefined rules governing the chain itself. These rules extend to programming models, forking capabilities, and adherence to the prevailing community culture, among other constraints.
Enter Celestia
Enter modular blockchains, offering a solution by disentangling these functions across a multi-layered modular framework. This separation of concerns within the stack unleashes newfound flexibility, allowing for various configurations. For instance, one plausible arrangement bifurcates the four functions into three distinct layers.
The foundation layer, encompassing Data Availability (DA) and consensus, aptly earns its title as the “Consensus and DA Layer” (or simply, the DA layer). Meanwhile, transaction settlement and execution each find their own dedicated layers higher up in the hierarchy. This approach empowers each layer to specialize in performing its core function optimally, thereby augmenting the system’s overall throughput. Furthermore, this modular model facilitates the integration of multiple execution layers, such as rollups, which can leverage the same settlement and DA layers.
Celestia’s Data Availability Layer
Celestia shines as a pioneering data availability (DA) layer, providing a scalable antidote to the data availability conundrum. Given the permissionless nature of blockchain networks, Celestia’s DA layer must furnish a mechanism for the execution and settlement layers to verify transaction data availability in a trust-minimized fashion.
Two pivotal features underpin Celestia’s DA layer: Data Availability Sampling (DAS) and Namespaced Merkle Trees (NMTs). DAS empowers lightweight nodes to verify data availability without the onerous task of downloading entire blocks, while NMTs enable the execution and settlement layers of Celestia to selectively access transactions that pertain solely to their operations.
We will continue diving into Celestia’s components in future posts.
Why Celestia is a Blockchain You Should Know About: Part I was originally published in IntoTheBlock on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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