Monolithic Blockchain Report (August, 2023)

1. Researcher Comment

I think it's true that monolithic blockchains and layer 1 chains have gotten a lot less attention compared to modular blockchains. However, research on DAG-based consensus continues to be conducted by the people who created the blockchains in Aptos, Sui, and Diem, and they continue to solve the problems of scaling on a single shard while solving the problems of existing DAGs one by one.

Also, in the case of Sei Network, which launched its mainnet in August, although it did not adopt DAG, it achieved very significant scalability by modifying the Tendermint consensus, so I think we should continue to pay attention to monolithic blockchains.

The frequency with which blockchains collaborate with existing Web2 giants has also increased dramatically. This not only reflects the overall growth of the blockchain market but also means that blockchain technology is becoming more familiar to many people and is slowly gaining recognition. We hope that the traditional industry and the blockchain industry can work together to create more meaningful products.

2. Major Updates

2.1 Trading-specific layer 1 blockchain SEI Network successfully launches mainnet on August 15th

Sei Network, a monolithic blockchain specialized in trading, successfully launched its mainnet on August 15, 2023. Sei is famous for having the fastest TTF (time to finality) among existing blockchains, and the reason why Sei's blockchain is fast is that it simplifies the part where nodes propagate transactions twice through Intelligent Block Propagation and shortens the consensus process of Tendermint through Optimistic Block Processing. In addition, by parallelizing transactions, Sei has achieved significantly faster transaction speeds than other blockchains, including the existing Cosmos Appchains. Even more impressive is that they've further reduced their TTF ahead of the mainnet launch, which you can read more about in our article on the Sei Network.

2.2 Aptos Labs Partners with Microsoft to Bring Microsoft AI, Cloud, and Other Infrastructure Services to the Aptos Network

Source: Aptos

In addition to the above-mentioned Sei, Aptos, one of the fastest blockchains with a TTF, has partnered with Microsoft, which is significant because it's not just a typical partnership where Aptos uses Microsoft's cloud, Azure, but a partnership that leverages Microsoft's AI technology. According to Aptos Labs, Microsoft's AI models will be trained on Aptos-validated data and information to provide a variety of tools for users and developers to easily onboard to the Aptos blockchain. In addition, Aptos' programming language, MOVE, will be implemented to GitHub's co-pilot service to support outside development.

2.3 Avalanche launches HyperSDK Program

Source: Avalanche

Avalanche is a blockchain platform that aims to create a multi-chain ecosystem like Cosmos and Polkadot. Recently, Avalanche released a new blockchain building framework called Hyper SDK. While the existing Avalanche (C-chain) is known for its EVM support, the new Hyper SDK is based on WASM and uses Rust as a smart contract language. Since WASM is already actively used in the Cosmos community, and Rust is also used by major chains such as Solana, a solid developer community has been created. It appears that the Avalanche ecosystem also chose Rust for this reason. With Hyper SDK's adoption of WASM, the Rust ecosystem is poised to expand even further, making this a significant development in the blockchain space.

As the name suggests, HyperSDK is a framework for building very fast blockchains, so it will be interesting to see how the Avalanche ecosystem grows after the official launch of HyperSDK.

3. Fundraising

For this information, please refer to DefiLlama's raises page.

3.1 Zeta Chain(Source)

Zetachain is a layer 1 blockchain that focuses on interoperability between blockchains, going beyond just messaging and focusing more on enabling cross-chain smart contracts. Although built on the Cosmos SDK, it is EVM-compatible, and smart contracts deployed on Zetachain can read or write messages from other chains connected to Zetachain, so applications on Zetachain can securely access assets on other chains connected to Zetachain.

Due to this uniqueness, on August 16th of this year, ZetaChain raised about $27 million in investment from Blockchain.com, Jane Street, CMT, GSR, and other VCs in Yushu. Can ZetaChain break new ground in cross-chain?

3.2 Linera (Source)

Linera is a protocol created by Mathieu Baudet, who previously wrote papers on Meta's crypto wallet service Novi and payment infrastructure FastPay, and is one of the famous Meta-derived blockchains alongside Aptos and Sui. Of course, it shares similar DNA with Aptos and Sui, but the difference is that it has a different consensus and chain structure than Aptos and Sui, and it has created an SDK before releasing its own blockchain. Recently, it is noteworthy that they are taking a very different course by holding a developer school to test their SDK. As mentioned, the Linera SDK is still in the testing phase, so there are no direct examples of using it, but according to Linera's whitepaper, Linera will introduce a new type of blockchain called microchain, which can be broadly categorized into single-owner chains, permissioned chains, and public chains. Unlike other projects, the blockchain was designed from the ground up with a multi-chain structure in mind.

This was their second seed round, the last one was led by a16z and raised $6M, bringing the total to $12M in seed rounds alone. Although it is not as big as Aptos and Sui, which are from the same meta, it is expected to build a blockchain using a different methodology than them.

4. More Reads

4.1 Projects Updates

• Aptos Labs Partners with Microsoft to Provide Microsoft AI, Cloud, and Other Infrastructure Services to Aptos Network

• Sei Network, a layer 1 blockchain specialized in trading, successfully launched its mainnet on August 15

• Japan's SBI VC launches Web3 business with AvaCloud.

• Aptos Foundation Signs Gaming Partnership with Neowiz Intel

• Aptos Establishes New Digital Asset Standard (DA) for Aptos Network

• Solana Pay, a Solana-powered payment solution, is now available on Shopify as a new payment option.

• Aptos partners with Mavrex to expand its multi-chain gaming infrastructure.

• Avalanche launches HyperSDK Program (HyperSDK Smart Contract, but named program for ease of understanding).

4.2 Suggested Reads

• Build it Super Simple: Introducing Single Boradcast Consensus on a DAG

This is a research paper published by Chainlink Research, which has been doing a lot of research on consensus lately, and they have come up with a highly scalable DAG-based consensus (Byzntine Broadcast With Commit-Adopt) that simplifies the complexity and latency issues of traditional DAG-based consensus and removes the constraints of DAGs. For monolithic blockchains that need to maximize performance on a single shard, here's a good read.

• The Hidden Costs of Modular Systems

Multicoin Capital, a leading VC that supports the monolithic blockchain framework, points out the problems with modular blockchain systems. According to Multicoin Capital, modular systems increase complexity for developers, are slower, and increase transaction costs for users, ultimately making them unsuitable as a methodology for advancing blockchain. A good read if you're a proponent of monolithic frameworks.

Thanks to Kate for designing the graphics for this article.