Setting the Stage
Hello and welcome to the first edition of Metaspect’s Weekly Digest series!
Covering key developments and trends within the evolving web landscape. Bi-weekly insights for enterprises leveraging blockchain technology.
Outline:
Notable Business Integration
Essential Cryptoeconomic Concept
Frontier User-Facing Product or Tool
Enjoy!
PS: Keep an eye out for the “The Dawn of a New Consumer Web” deep dive.
1. Google Cloud Partners With LayerZero
On September 19th, Google Cloud became the default oracle provider on the omnichain interoperability protocol, LayerZero:
Validation
Think of Google Cloud's oracle as a digital sentinel, ensuring the security of LayerZero's cross-chain messaging. Similar to how Google verifies HTTPS certificates for websites, it now validates the authenticity of every LayerZero message by default.
Outcome
Some community members worry that the reliance on Google Cloud as the default oracle provider might introduce centralization risks.
However, LayerZero's CEO, Bryan Pellegrino, has emphasized that decentralization remains a core principle and in alignment with its modular approach, with users having the freedom to choose Google Cloud or alternative verifying parties to meet their specific security requirements.
Google’s Journey: A Snapshot
- In April 2023, Google formed a multi-year partnership with Polygon Labs, allowing Polygon developers to leverage Google Cloud infrastructure.
- In November 2022, Google Cloud became a Solana validator, actively participating in the Solana blockchain network.
- In October 2022, Google launched the Blockchain Node Engine, a service for hosting blockchain nodes, enhancing its involvement in blockchain infrastructure.
- In January 2022, Google announced the establishment of a dedicated blockchain and distributed computing division, underscoring its dedication to exploring and advancing blockchain technology.
2. Blobspace
From blockspace to blobspace, EIP-4844, slated for January 2024, is set to introduce the first milestone towards full ethereum sharding.
Milestone
This milestone will separate L1 processing and L2 execution through a new blockchain-based resource market, enabled by blob-carrying transactions.
Blobs serve as temporary chunks of transaction data, checked and shared on Ethereum’s consensus layer, without being permanently stored in the transaction history.
Furthermore, blobspace has a distinct fee market, shielded from the one on mainnet, among other factors:
Find more details here.
Outcome
Reduce L2 gas costs by 10-100x depending on blobs usage.
Improve throughput toward ~1000 transactions per second on Ethereum.
3. Frame
Frame is an up-coming Ethereum L2 rollup, spear-headed by the most widely known developer @0xCygaar, aimed at democratizing the NFT ecosystem by prioritizing creators and collectors.
Essence
Enforced Royalties at the protocol level.
Allocating L2 gas fees to the Frame Creator's Fund, rewarding contributions from creators, developers, and community members.
Up to 20x cheaper transactions than mainnet.
Safeguarding assets through @delegatedotxyz integration.
Outcome TBC
Testnet is currently being finalized.
If you're keen on building with Frame, you can already get involved via Twitter, Discord, or by filling out the form here.
More info to be released.
Closing the Stage
Thanks for reading. Before sharing my final thoughts for each section...
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Final Thoughts
Expect similar infrastructure overlap in the future as parties continue to enhance reliability and overall user experience (eg. LayerZero) or expand services in emerging markets (eg. Google).
Blobspace is an incremental step toward Full Danksharding, benefiting users and builders alike. More on this in another post.
An intriguing protocol whose potential is still being uncovered. Keep an eye on it.
Feel free reach out via Twitter or Linked-In or share your own thoughts here:
Have a wonderful week!
/Edward
Founder & Consultant at Metaspect
Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered investment or financial advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.