Modular March EP 3: The Next Modular DA Launch and Avail Trinity
In today’s Modular March presentation, we’re diving into a topic brought to light by Ethereum foundation researcher, Justin Drake. Interoperability has long been a stumbling block in the path to a unified DeFi space. Traditional bridges and their limitations, the high costs associated with proof aggregation, and the challenges of achieving true atomic composability have fragmented the landscape. Yet, amidst these challenges, Ethereum has been pushing towards a world of shared sequencing. In this presentation, we discuss Nodekit’s unique consensus mechanism that ensures quick finality and minimal reorganizations, which is essential for the reliability of atomic operations across chains. As we explore the future of blockchain interoperability and the role of shared sequencing and hyperstructures, it’s clear that projects like NodeKit are pivotal. Lets learn about shared sequencing together.
Modular March EP 1: Unifying the Modular Ecosystem with Union Build
Today, we delve into the zk side of things with Karel, founder of Union Build, a project focused squarely on bringing together modular chains as part of the modular expansion. At its core, Union leverages the principles of modularity and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to enhance the way different blockchain networks communicate and interact with each other. Union's initiative is distinguished by its adoption of the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, a decision that underscores its commitment to a secure, scalable, and decentralized cross-chain communication framework. As Union pushes forward, its work towards a future where chains can send and verify proofs of transactions to each other using ZKPs stands out as a promising development. This "proof of proof" concept aims to significantly reduce the resources needed for interoperability, enabling a much larger scale of interconnected chains and applications. Such advancements are vital in moving towards a modular, scalable, and inclusive future, powered by advanced cryptographic techniques and a steadfast commitment to open, decentralized principles. With partnerships lined up with Scroll to bring IBC to EVM, we think Union will play a role in bringing together the modular eco.
Modular March EP 4: Modular Appchain Design Choices with Cartesi
One of the biggest things we are leaning into is the design choices behind the certain builders decisions. We really want to understand why projects are choosing execution environments in specific modular architectures. In today’s video we sit down with Cartesi’s co-founder Felipe to gather insights for builders. We take a dive into the differences between app specific rollups and general purpose chains and how choosing a modular stack composition based on the usecase. Felipe sheds light on the “cone of innovation,” a model created by Cartesi which illustrates the dynamic interplay between computational capacity and data availability. By emphasizing the importance of tailored execution environments, Felipe highlights the need for careful consideration of various factors such as computational intensity, developer resources, and privacy concerns. The optionality of execution environments and the strategic decisions behind them play a pivotal role in shaping the future of modular blockchain applications. One of the core reasons were here is to give builders a choice.
Modular March EP 5: Value Accrual in The Modular Thesis with Tarun Chitra
The value accrual model in the modular stack is akin to that of the rise of the early internet. According to Tarun, founder of Gauntlet and a prominent angel investor, we will see more and more specialized usecases for applications which are highly expressive. As a result of this, the need for a modular stack becomes more and more apparent. We really enjoyed this conversation which drew inspiration from the evolution of the internet and computing to paint a clearer picture of the modular future. We’ve been quite deep in the technical weeds during Modular March (exactly where we want to be), so it was refreshing to host a discussion that goes beyond technicalities and instead touches on the practical application layer of modular blockchains. Hope you enjoy and feel free share with your friends who are trying to answer the question “why modularity?” & “where does the value accrue in the modular stack?” for the future of blockchain scaling.
Modular March Episode 6: Modular Security with Movement Labs
We were speaking to a liquid fund in Denver who just wouldn’t deploy capital into DeFi products on EVM because of the risk of re-entrancy bugs and other exploits. However, what they did mention was they wanted to deploy into Movement’s upcoming L2 and they are actively deployed on Aptos, because of the security of the MOVE programming language. When we heard this, we knew our bullish conviction in Movement since summer of last year was going to pay off. In today’s Modular March presentation we speak with Rushi Manche, co-founder of Movement Labs, and ask him “Why Movement?” like, really, why? He took us through why he’s so bullish on M2, along with the MoveVM. Rushi’s energy and ambition is rooted in addressing some of the most pressing issues facing blockchain adoption today: enhancing security, reducing transaction fees, and creating an open framework for developers to build. Initially created by the minds at Facebook for the Diem project, MOVE programming language stands out for its security and robustness… But, is it really the best tech? As you know, we’ve set out in modular march to not be a shillfest, rather to seek the truth amongst the noise and learn alongside you. We do just that in today’s presentation. Enjoy!
Modular March Episode 7: Chain Abstraction for The Modular Future with Near
In a world of 1000s of rollups and chains, the problem to tackle is unification of these otherwise isolated execution environments. In today’s Modular March presentation, we sit down with NEAR founder Illia to take a look at their data availability layer, account aggregation, and chain abstraction toolkit. We ask Illia about the potential of NEAR DA, how sharding really works for the L1, and his plans to grow adoption for the DA solution compared to others on the market. However, what was particularly interesting to us was this idea of account aggregation whereby enabling a single wallet to participate across multiple crypto experience, NEAR is building a better end user experience. Illia went on to illustrate his larger vision for chain abstraction of the modular future and how he sees this playing out in the near future. NEAR will continue to play an important role in connecting the modular expansion at the user facing level, in today’s presentation you’ll learn how they plan to do this.
Modular March Episode 8: Modular Appchains-As-Service With Gelato
The explosion of modular appchains is happening. Head over to Celenium, Celestia’s main block explorer, to see the chains using Celestia for modular DA. These are typically happening through RaaS providers who offer a seamless setup process. Today we are focused Gelato’s approach to modular appchains, and specifically how founder Luis sees similarities in how Web2 & Web3 scale. We learned how Web3 is drawing inspiration from the evolution of web2 infrastructure, and whereby applying the principles of modularity, we can address scaling challenges effectively. Another interesting, yet relatively experimental concept is zero gas appchains. Its a bit confusing to us how this would really work in practice, so we asked Luis about the edge cases and possibilities of spam attacks. He answered quite well. We also dove into the modular framework which Gelato provides for builders, allowing them to be selective in their modular chain design based on the specific usecase at hand. Overall, we enjoyed this presentation and hope you do as well!
DeFi By Design EP #126: Restaking and Liquid Staking in the Cosmos Ecosystem Unpacked
Restaking has grown significantly in the EVM land mindshare, yet people don't realize Cosmos has had restaking for a very long time. Liquid staking has also grown significantly in Cosmos thanks to help of several key players. Today, we'll explore the solutions Persistence One has to offer, and their recent launch of stkDYDX (liquid staked DYDX). The app chain philosophy of Cosmos allows for customization at the chain level, catering to specific needs and offering flexibility in validator selection. In this episode, we discussed the convergence of Cosmos and Ethereum, emphasizing Cosmos' pioneering concepts like IBC and chain abstraction. We also talked about the challenges faced by Cosmos in building network effects and ecosystems across its multiple chains were candidly addressed, providing a balanced perspective on the platform's growth. Moving on to Persistence, we touched on Persistence's focus on building an ecosystem for liquid staking tokens and its introduction of liquid staking in Cosmos, showcasing their commitment to innovation within the Cosmos network since day 1. We then delved into the differences in staking behavior between Cosmos and Ethereum as well as the challenges and trade-offs in the Cosmos ecosystem.
Modular March EP 2: Are Shared Sequencers Just Another L1? With NodeKit
In today’s Modular March presentation, we're diving into a topic brought to light by Ethereum foundation researcher, Justin Drake. Interoperability has long been a stumbling block in the path to a unified DeFi space. Traditional bridges and their limitations, the high costs associated with proof aggregation, and the challenges of achieving true atomic composability have fragmented the landscape. Yet, amidst these challenges, Ethereum has been pushing towards a world of shared sequencing. In this presentation, we discuss Nodekit’s unique consensus mechanism that ensures quick finality and minimal reorganizations, which is essential for the reliability of atomic operations across chains. As we explore the future of blockchain interoperability and the role of shared sequencing and hyperstructures, it's clear that projects like NodeKit are pivotal. Lets learn about shared sequencing together.
DeFi By Design EP #124: Where Fluent Fits in The Modular Thesis
The future is Modular. With the rise of specialized solutions in the blockchain development landscape, we will see more onboarding of devs and better UX for users. In today's podcast we talk with Dino, co-founder of Fluent, a company that is spearheading the development of a zkWasm L2. One of the key aspects of Fluent's platform is its support for two distinct categories of applications: shared apps and sovereign apps. This versatility is made possible through their FluentBase framework, which empowers developers to build standalone custom state machines and applications, allowing for a ton of epic use cases onchain. Furthermore, Fluent's vision extends beyond its own chain, as the team aims to seamlessly facilitate the deployment of innovative sovereign apps 'under the Fluent umbrella' so to speak. In addition to their technical prowess, Fluent is dedicated to inspiring developers to engage with their platform by providing incentives and aligning with market needs. Their emphasis on value accrual and the belief that providing valuable functions is NOT a race to the bottom as some have been saying in the modular stack. With a focus on modularity and a public testnet recently announced, Fluent is poised to play a strong role in the modular thesis.
EP #123: Data Availability in The Modular Stack Explained
As you know, we've become quite the modular blockchain activists and have been focusing on modular rollups quite a bit recently. Today's podcast is a deep dive into how Celestia's Data Availability Sampling (DAS) is changing the way we think about onchain data publishing verification. This modular approach allows for the customization of blockchains for specific use cases, aligning with the philosophy of the "internet of blockchains" and making it easy to launch modular rollups. We'll also delve into Celestia's introduction of the innovative light node, which addresses the challenge of efficient data verification without requiring users to download large amounts of information. This approach aims to ensure end-user verifiability while accommodating the potential growth of the Celestia block size in the future. As one of the pioneers of Modular Blockchains, COO Nick White explains his thesis on the above and what modularism, not maximalism means to him. So, join us in uncovering Celestia's modularity and innovative solutions to data verification are driving its unique position in the blockchain space, offering a new paradigm for building and customizing blockchains for diverse applications and use cases.
