Vitalik Buterin Has an Idea for a Very Secure Blockchain

The founder of the Ethereum network, Vitalik Buterin, recently suggested a means of building an absolutely secure blockchain. He was making comments on the long-drawn debate between ZK rollups and optimistic rollups. Buterin then proposed a hybrid that can infuse the best parts of both experiences.

The Rollup Debates

Rollups are solutions built on Layer 2 of the blockchain and are geared at improving the blockchain’s scalability. Rollups are capable of combining a number of transactions and posting the end result. At Ethereum’s best right now, it can handle 20 to 30 transactions per second, whereas rollups will increase the speed of those transactions by many folds.

There exist two primary types of rollups to wit ZK rollups and Optimistic rollups. On one hand, Optimistic rollups are of a non-pessimistic nature that takes all transactions as correct till they are proven to be not. All transactions are combined into one piece while their authenticity is not checked.

Optimistic rollups then give a period of time for the authenticity of transactions to be disputed by anyone. ZK, on the other hand, checks the authenticity of each transaction. Although ZK’s proofs are usually secure, generating them is also usually expensive.

Buterin’s proposed plan is to take the best that both rollups have to offer and merge them. He proposes the building of a rollup that would have the combination of Optimistic and ZK rollups. 

Sub-Platforms Spring Up zkEMVs

The plan has it that one blockchain will publish a block and wait for 24 hours before it submits a challenge. If it happens that no challenge comes up against the block then a ZK proof would proceed to publish the block.

If there is a challenge to its authenticity, however, then a decision will have to be made by consultation between zero knowledge rollup, optimistic rollup, and blockchain governance. Disputes that ensue between ZK and optimistic rollups will be solved by the governance.

Rollups are presently hot points of discussion in the Ethereum space. Polygon has recently unveiled a zero knowledge-based Ethereum virtual machine. It is designed to be compatible with any Ethereum mainnet-compatible smart contract.

Matter Labs and Scroll equally announced the launch of their zkEMVs after Polygon announced its own.