Concerns About Security and Consistency of Ethereum Layer-2 Solutions
Bartek Kiepuszewski, co-founder of L2Beat, has raised concerns about the security and consistency of existing off-chain scaling solutions for Ethereum. He points out that without fraud-proofs, there is a risk of fraud and irregularities.
Focus on Optimism and Manta: What’s Going On?
Kiepuszewski recently highlighted that layer-2 solutions like Manta and Optimism rely on sequencers to post data to the Ethereum mainnet. However, without fraud-proofs, there is no way to verify the accuracy or completeness of the data published by these sequencers.
Kiepuszewski believes that this lack of verification poses a worrying challenge that needs to be addressed to ensure the validity of posted data.
Transactions Posted by Optimism and MantaNetwork
To illustrate his concerns, Kiepuszewski analyzed recent transactions posted by Optimism and MantaNetwork. He found that Optimism sent a full “data blob” containing all layer-2 transactions. On the other hand, MantaNetwork posted the “root hash of a data blob” to CelestiaOrg.
The problem is that Ethereum cannot determine whether these hashes are valid or not, which raises transparency issues for users tracking the mainnet but not operating their own layer-2 nodes.
Ethereum Layer-2s Lack Functional Fraud-Proof Systems
Sequencers play a crucial role in processing and confirming the validity of transactions submitted by users of layer-2 scaling platforms. However, without public fraud-proofs, it becomes unclear what sequencers are publishing on the Ethereum mainnet.
According to L2Beat data, Manta Network has turned off its fraud-proof system while still being developed on Optimism. Additionally, Arbitrum’s fraud-proof system is not yet permissionless as validators need to be whitelisted.
Overall, most leading layer-2 protocols lack a public system to monitor sequencers and ensure the submission of valid details to the mainnet.
Hot Take: The Importance of Fraud-Proof Systems for Ethereum Layer-2 Solutions
The concerns raised by Bartek Kiepuszewski regarding the security and consistency of Ethereum layer-2 solutions highlight the need for functional fraud-proof systems. Without these systems, there is a risk of fraud and irregularities in off-chain scaling solutions.
To ensure the validity of data published on the Ethereum mainnet by sequencers, it is crucial to establish transparent verification processes. This will enhance trust among users and enable effective tracking of transactions on layer-2 platforms.
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