Modular Blockchain: The Infrastructure Driving the Evolution of the Web3 Ecosystem

Modular blockchain, as the next generation of Web3 infrastructure, is becoming an important development direction in the blockchain industry. It enhances performance and adapts to diverse application scenarios by redefining the blockchain architecture and dividing it into independent and composable modules. This article will delve into the concept, components, and current development status of modular blockchain.

Definition and Composition of Modular Blockchain

A modular blockchain divides the blockchain architecture into independent modules such as the execution layer, data availability layer, consensus layer, and settlement layer. These modules can be modified and expanded according to needs, and flexibly combined to meet the requirements of different application scenarios.

From the user's perspective, the workflow of a modular blockchain is roughly as follows:

1. The execution layer ( collects and processes user transactions in batches like layer two networks such as Arbitrum ).
2. The data availability layer ( stores and maintains the compressed transaction data submitted by the execution layer on the Ethereum mainnet ).
3. The consensus layer provides security guarantees for the execution layer.
4. The settlement layer is responsible for confirming the finality of state transitions.

The current state of development of the execution layer

The execution layer primarily addresses the scalability issues of the Blockchain, improving transaction throughput and reducing costs. Currently, mainstream execution layer solutions include:

• Optimistic Rollups: such as Optimism, Arbitrum, etc.
• ZK Rollups: such as Starknet, zkSync, Scroll, etc.
• Parallel trading solution: such as Fuel

With the development of execution layer products, Rollup as a service products have emerged, such as Sovereign Labs, Stackr Labs, etc., building a tree-like execution layer structure with a single Hub and multiple Rollups.

The future execution layer still has many unresolved issues, such as decentralized sequencers, zkEVM, and parallel transactions.

The Current State of Development of Data Availability Layer

The Data Availability Layer primarily addresses the issues of data storage and processing in the Blockchain. Ethereum introduces new Blob transaction types and additional data layers through proposals such as EIP-4844 to reduce storage costs.

Other specialized data availability layer products such as Celestia and Polygon Avail have made innovations in technologies like sampling and encoding. In addition, there are projects focused on data storage such as Greenfield and Arweave.

The Current Development Status of the Consensus Layer

The consensus layer is dedicated to achieving the reuse of consensus mechanisms. Currently, there are mainly two approaches:

1. Joint mining based on PoW, such as Quai Network and others.
2. PoS-based staking reuse, such as Cosmos ICS, EigenLayer, etc.

Among them, EigenLayer proposed the concept of Restaking, allowing the reuse of staked ETH to secure other networks.

Conclusion

Modular blockchain improves scalability and flexibility by breaking the blockchain into independent and composable modules. As various layer solutions continue to mature, modular blockchain is expected to become an important infrastructure driving the evolution of the Web3 ecosystem. In the future, we can expect to see more innovative modular combination solutions that bring new opportunities for the development of blockchain technology.