The Most Promising Layer Two Solutions for Blockchain Scalability
Feb 07, 2024
Michael Brooks
Welcome to another insightful episode of "The Scaling Edge," where our host, Michael Brooks, delves deep into the world of blockchain technology with a special focus on layer two solutions. In this episode, we are honored to have Dr. Ravi, the esteemed CEO of Zev, as our guest to shed light on the intricacies and advantages of layer two blockchain solutions.
Key Points Discussed:
1. Introduction to Layer Two Solutions: Dr. Ravi kicks off the conversation by explaining what layer two solutions are and why they are becoming increasingly important in the blockchain ecosystem.
2. Benefits of Layer Two Chains: Discover the key advantages of using layer two chains, including significantly reduced gas fees and faster transaction speeds, which are crucial for scalability and user experience.
3. Rollups: Our guest breaks down the concept of rollups and how they play a pivotal role in layer two solutions, enhancing throughput without compromising on security.
4. Bridges: Learn about the function of bridges in connecting layer one and layer two blockchains, facilitating the seamless transfer of assets and information.
5. Custom Tokens on Layer Two: Dr. Ravi discusses the process and benefits of creating custom tokens on layer two platforms, highlighting the potential for innovation and tailored solutions for businesses.
6. Deployment of Stablecoins: The conversation touches on the strategic deployment of stablecoins on layer two and how it can lead to more stable and efficient transactions.
7. Rollup as a Service: Explore the emerging concept of rollup as a service, which could democratize access to layer two solutions and empower developers.
Extended Insights:
- Dr. Ravi shares his professional journey and how he came to be at the forefront of layer two solution development. - The potential impact of layer two solutions on the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and how it could reshape financial services. - Challenges and considerations when implementing layer two solutions, and how Zev is addressing these issues. - The importance of user education and adoption in the transition to layer two platforms. - A look at the broader implications of layer two solutions for the scalability and sustainability of blockchain networks.
Remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon to stay updated with our latest episodes. If you enjoyed this deep dive into layer two blockchain solutions with Dr. Ravi, please leave a like and comment below with your thoughts or questions. Join us next time on "The Scaling Edge" for more cutting-edge discussions on technology and innovation.
Welcome to another insightful episode of "The Scaling Edge," where our host, Michael Brooks, delves deep into the world of blockchain technology with a special focus on layer two solutions. In this episode, we are honored to have Dr. Ravi, the esteemed CEO of Zev, as our guest to shed light on the intricacies and advantages of layer two blockchain solutions.
Key Points Discussed:
1. Introduction to Layer Two Solutions: Dr. Ravi kicks off the conversation by explaining what layer two solutions are and why they are becoming increasingly important in the blockchain ecosystem.
2. Benefits of Layer Two Chains: Discover the key advantages of using layer two chains, including significantly reduced gas fees and faster transaction speeds, which are crucial for scalability and user experience.
3. Rollups: Our guest breaks down the concept of rollups and how they play a pivotal role in layer two solutions, enhancing throughput without compromising on security.
4. Bridges: Learn about the function of bridges in connecting layer one and layer two blockchains, facilitating the seamless transfer of assets and information.
5. Custom Tokens on Layer Two: Dr. Ravi discusses the process and benefits of creating custom tokens on layer two platforms, highlighting the potential for innovation and tailored solutions for businesses.
6. Deployment of Stablecoins: The conversation touches on the strategic deployment of stablecoins on layer two and how it can lead to more stable and efficient transactions.
7. Rollup as a Service: Explore the emerging concept of rollup as a service, which could democratize access to layer two solutions and empower developers.
Extended Insights:
- Dr. Ravi shares his professional journey and how he came to be at the forefront of layer two solution development. - The potential impact of layer two solutions on the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and how it could reshape financial services. - Challenges and considerations when implementing layer two solutions, and how Zev is addressing these issues. - The importance of user education and adoption in the transition to layer two platforms. - A look at the broader implications of layer two solutions for the scalability and sustainability of blockchain networks.
Remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon to stay updated with our latest episodes. If you enjoyed this deep dive into layer two blockchain solutions with Dr. Ravi, please leave a like and comment below with your thoughts or questions. Join us next time on "The Scaling Edge" for more cutting-edge discussions on technology and innovation.
Speaker 1:
What kind of coins are on Layer 2 right now?
Speaker 2:
So like an optimistic roll-ups, a lot of players like you know Manta Network, and then you know some of the existing chains like Aster. Moving to ZK Roll-ups, this is something this whole Layer 2 concept like. If you talk about the traditional Layer 2, then you have Polygon, you have Arbitrum, you have Optimism, you have ZK Sync. These are some of the very popular chains which are as Layer 2.
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to the Scaling Edge. This is the Internet Talk program that focuses on the hard-won lessons. The battle-hard entrepreneurs here to share their value with you. I am your host. Michael Brooks Max is here, hey, hey, what's going on, guys? We have Dr Ravi here. He is a co-founder and CEO of Zeeve. They're a RAS Enterprise Grade infrastructure which is powering Web 3. That is true. Web 3 is still alive. It's still alive. It was brought back to life by Dr Ravi. Dr, thank you for being a part of our program. Thank you for being on Scaling Edge. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got here?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, thanks, michael Pleasure. You know connecting with you. So Zeeve is a blockchain infrastructure as a service platform. We help, you know, startups native startups, as well as enterprises who are looking to launch their own chain or want to do something in Web 3. So we provide the necessary infrastructure, whether it be nodes or APIs or roll-ups or their custom chains, and that doesn't really answer my question at all.
Speaker 1:
I said tell me a little bit about yourself and how you guys. I'm sorry, why should I care about what is RAS stand for R-A-A-S? I know it's that stand.
Speaker 2:
Yes. So first to answer your question, my name is Ravi and I've been into IT space for almost 25 years now. Started my journey with the dot com and, you know, have been in IT after that I've been part of e-commerce and then, you know, fintech and for the last seven, eight years I've been into the Web 3 space, so coming to roll-up as a service. So roll-ups is a very exciting, you know, concept. So what we have seen is that, you know, when blockchain started picking up if you see, taking Ethereum as an example, a lot of you know startups and enterprises started building their smart contracts. A lot of wallet transactions started happening and that leads to a lot of congestion on the network. And whenever there's a congestion, you know, people compete for confirming or submitting and confirming their transactions, and that's where, you know, the gas fee goes up. So that becomes a challenge. So that is what we call a scalability challenge with blockchains.
Speaker 2:
Now, if you see, from an overall perspective, there are three factors which we call scalability trial and error, where you have, you know, decentralization, because the core concept of blockchain is that it should be sufficiently decentralized. And then the second concept is security. And the third is scalability the challenge the way the architecture is is a blockchain architecture is, and the underlying internet is that all three cannot be managed at the same time. So that's where you know the concept came in that why not separate out the scalability from security and decentralization? And that's where the this concept of layer two came in, Ethereum being a layer one blockchain which will continue to be focused more on security and decentralization. But then you do require layer two chains which can take off all the computational or resource intensive transactions off chain.
Speaker 1:
Our audience? Is it necessarily like a blockchain? You know geniuses like you are. Why should they care about everything that you're saying? What value is there in it?
Speaker 2:
So well, there is that. You know now with layer twos you can do transactions pretty much similar to the transaction throughput is pretty much similar to web two. So you can have the same kind of experience. You're not burdened with a lot of gas fee, burden with congestion.
Speaker 1:
How can you get around the gas fee?
Speaker 2:
So because when you operate on a layer 2, then all the transitions are pretty much happening on layer 2.
Speaker 1:
And that's where the gas fee drops. Again, you got to pretend like we're not as smart as you on this. So what is layered Like? If I want to go send somebody ETH, how do I get away from paying a gas fee?
Speaker 2:
So you're not actually getting away completely from paying the gas fee, but the gas fee reduces tremendously, so it almost becomes like a gas less of very low transaction fee. And just because you are doing the transactions outside Ethereum and then bundling those transactions and then putting the proofs of those transactions on Ethereum, so you're not actually doing transaction on Ethereum. You're like creating a transaction, doing off chain, creating a batch or a roll up, and then putting the proofs of those roll up onto the chain.
Speaker 1:
So that way, since you're doing it off, so what you're saying is you're bundling a whole bunch of let's call it USDT, which runs Tether, which runs on ETH. So what you're saying is you're bundling and all these people are doing all these transactions. You're bundling those transactions, sending them as if they were sent and then doing one big transaction which effectively lowers the net cost of the of that. Well, but then people don't get their digital asset right away. How long does that process take?
Speaker 2:
and who's holding it. It's almost instantaneous. Okay, so, when roll up started, with optimistic roll ups there is a withdrawal delay of seven days, but with ZK roll ups it's pretty much instantaneous.
Speaker 1:
Layer two is off chain. That's on your ledger right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so it's off chain in terms of like outside Ethereum, but it itself is a blockchain. The layer to itself is a blockchain in itself. So it has got all the components of blockchain. Like you know, it has got a virtual machine, it has got a sequencer which is going to sequence the transactions, it has got a prover which generates these troops.
Speaker 1:
That has got all the pieces you can deploy a smart why don't we just create a coin on on layer two, and then we don't have to worry about gas fees. You can, yeah, so the gas fee.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so a lot of people are moving to layer to now wherever they are feeling. So a lot of payment companies, a lot of gaming companies who feel that you know they are having a lot of transactions and and it's difficult to manage the gas fee which is increasing with a lower transaction throughput, so they are moving to layer to and they are always making it much easier much less, you know, gas fee and much higher transaction throughput.
Speaker 1:
Wow, well, that's kind of cool. To be honest, I didn't even know about layer to. What kind of coins are on layer to right now?
Speaker 2:
Like an optimistic rollups. A lot of players, like you know, month on network and then you know some of the existing chains, like Aster is moving to ZK rollups and then so this is something this whole layer to concept like. If you talk about the traditional layer to, then you have polygon, you have arbitra, you have optimism, you have zk sync. These are some of the very popular chains which are as layer to and stable coins on layer to.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so all the stable, so stable coin, the way it works is like that. So that's basically deployers. There's smart contracts on various chains. So today you have that are available natively on polygon or arbitra or optimism. So the stable coins are are available on. The same goes for us. Dc circle has also deployed their contracts on some of these layer to change.
Speaker 1:
So. So how does one access that right? So right now we integrate with fire blocks for our company, right?
Speaker 2:
right.
Speaker 1:
So how do we access layer two to minimize our gas fees?
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So it's like you know, instead of deploying your smart contracts on Ethereum, you can deploy your contracts on polygon. Or let's say you're doing some transaction, let's say you're using NFT marketplace open. See, you're using Uniswap, so you can choose polygon or optimism as your chain and then do the transactions on that chain. So the gas fee you'll find a huge difference as far as the gas fee is concerned.
Speaker 1:
So you're saying if, if, if we use polygon and we say we're using USDT on polygon, even if we received it through ETH regular, or we can change how it's being sent, despite how we received it.
Speaker 2:
So you need to use a bridge, because you know if you have received, let's say, usdt on Ethereum network yeah then you need to bridge that to convert that into USDT on polygon network. So there are bridges to do that.
Speaker 1:
Wow, how do the bridges work?
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So bridges is basically connecting to chains. So let's say you have got 100 USDT on Ethereum, yeah, and you want to convert that into 100 USDT on polygon. So your 100 USDT on Ethereum will be logged through the bridge and then you know 100 USDT on polygon will be minted fresh, right, and then you can use those USDT on polygon. And if you do the reverse transaction, then you know your 100 USDT that you minted freshly on polygon will be burned and your 100 USDT on Ethereum will be unlocked. So this is how typically a bridge process works. Of course, there are a lot of new advancements that have happened in how the bridge technology works, but I've given you are there.
Speaker 1:
Gas fees on the bridge.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so there will always be some gas fee that will be applicable but again you know, it's comparatively quite low.
Speaker 1:
But you could essentially, if you're accepting a lot of USDT, bundle it all at once, use the bridge to move it over because the gas fee is not a percentage, it's a transaction fee Use it to bundle it and move it over to polygon and then send it out individually from a bridge. That sounds like a process. So how does your system work and help support that process?
Speaker 2:
So what we are providing is that anyone who wants to launch their layer 2, because now we are seeing a lot of startups, enterprises are planning to launch their own layer 2s so we are, our platform enables them to you know, deploy, manage, monitor their layer 2 chains. So that is what roll up as a services. You know, we provide roll up as a service. That means you can launch your own roll up using our platform. So we have abstracted the entire complexity of launching your own custom blockchain. You made it so simple, so seamless that you know it's easy for you made it simple and seamless for any company out there.
Speaker 1:
I would like to start Max coin right. Max, you cool with that?
Speaker 2:
Let's do it.
Speaker 1:
And then we create a coin around Max. It'll be like. It'll be like the what's that? One coin that everybody went to Elon Musk's nuts for you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:
No, it's going.
Speaker 1:
Instead of the Doge dog, it'll be Max's face on it and Elon will be holding it up like that. So we have we have Max coin and we want to launch it and create that coin back in how we want to back it. We launched that. We use your platform to launch the coin. Is that what you're saying On?
Speaker 2:
yeah, you can do that on level two.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, because on layer two it's your custom blockchain. You can have your native token. You can have Max coin as the native token on that and then you know all the transactions that happen on your layer two. You can people will pay the gas fee in Max coin In your native coin.
Speaker 1:
Yes, and that's, and that's how. That's how Max buys his yacht. Oh yeah, with the gas fees, you're going to need it because yachts burn a lot of gas, but as long as I get to hang out with you, I'm cool. Um Ravi, this is very exciting. So if people want to find you and they want to learn more about Zeev, how do they get a hold of you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so they can always log on to our website. There's a live chat and there's a set up a call form where you can set up a calendar invite with me, or one can connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter I'm completely available on both the channels and then we can set up a chat.
Speaker 1:
This has actually been a lot more interesting than I thought and it's been kind of fun and digging. This was quite informative. We're going to throw those links in the in the show notes, along with the website, and just want to say appreciate you being a part of our program today. Thank you for being on the scaling edge and we will talk to you soon. Cheers.