Eclipse is using Solana’s virtual machine to launch an Ethereum L2

Eclipse will use Solana’s virtual machine for execution, Ethereum for settlement, Celestia for data availability and Risc Zero for proving

article-image

Vladimir Kazakov/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Eclipse will use Solana’s tech stack for its upcoming mainnet launch, the Ethereum layer-2 network project announced. Eclipse’s mainnet is expected to go live before the end of the year.

By design, a blockchain stack contains four different layers: execution, settlement, consensus and data availability.

Blockchains, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, carry out all these tasks in a single layer. This means that when a transaction is made, the blockchain executes, settles, reaches consensus, and ensures data availability all within the same layer. 

Modular blockchains, on the other hand, are designed to focus on specific tasks. 

Neel Somani, founder of Eclipse, notes that he believes all layer-2s — validiums, optimiums and zk-rollups — should be considered “modular blockchains.” 

“At a minimum, they’ve all separated execution from settlement,” he said. 

Notably, Eclipse will use Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) for execution on its upcoming mainnet. The execution layer is the blockchain layer that holds the code and rules of a transaction; it enables transaction signing and smart contract execution. 

On Ethereum, for example, transactions are executed sequentially. On Solana, however, there is a parallel execution environment. This means that more transactions can be processed at a lower cost. 

“That’s probably the biggest difference,” Somani said. “Another benefit is the ‘local fee markets,’ meaning if one application gets a ton of activity, it doesn’t impact fees for other apps. It is a smaller set of ‘opcodes,’ and it’s register-based which makes [zero-knowledge] proving easier.”

Elsewhere, Eclipse will use Risc Zero for proving. Settlement, like most rollups today, will take place on Ethereum — meaning that it will utilize Ethereum’s security properties to validate transactions. Data availability (DA) will be derived from Celestia. 

Read More: Why data availability sampling matters for blockchain scaling?

Unlike many rollup solutions today, Celestia’s DA layer utilizes Data Availability Sampling (DAS) over having a Data Availability Committee (DAC), meaning there are fewer trust assumptions. 

That said, the team at Eclipse will continue to keep a close eye on Ethereum’s EIP-4844 upgrade and consider migrating to Ethereum’s DA in the future. 

“It’s become clear that the single-threaded EVM is not sufficient to scale Ethereum, which is why apps are turning to their own app-specific rollups,” Somani told Blockworks. “Yet even the most sophisticated designs like Arbitrum are now seeing fee spikes — and it’s all because of the lack of parallelism and local fee markets.”


Don’t miss the next big story – join our free daily newsletter.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Hilton Metropole | 225 Edgware Rd, London

MON - WED, MARCH 18 - 20, 2024

Crypto’s premier institutional conference returns to London in March 2024. The DAS: London Experience:  Attend expert-led panel discussions and fireside chats  Hear the latest developments regarding the crypto and digital asset regulatory environment directly from policymakers and experts   Grow your network […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Pack your bags, anon — we’re heading west! Join us in the beautiful Salt Lake City for the third installment of Permissionless. Come for the alpha, stay for the fresh air. Permissionless III promises unforgettable panels, killer networking opportunities, and mountains […]

recent research

Frax report cover.jpg

Research

Frax saw continued development in its frxETH liquid staking derivative and Fraxlend money market throughout 2023. Frax V3 introduces an RWA strategy to drive utility to the protocol's cornerstone product, the FRAX stablecoin.

article-image

MicroStrategy discloses the purchase of 16,000 bitcoin throughout November

article-image

Digital asset firms face potential new regulatory landscape under Treasury’s proposed authority expansion

article-image

Uniswap Labs will be providing trading APIs to Talos investors through Fireblocks

article-image

DYDX supply will climb by up to 80% after the Friday unlock, but a couple factors make a massive sell-off appear unlikely

article-image

Switzerland-based Pando Asset, which has crypto products trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange, now looks to the US

article-image

Binance does not hold the required licenses to advertise and serve customers in the Philippines, the country’s securities regulator said