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Bartek Kiepuszewski, the co-founder of L2Beat, a portal for monitoring Ethereum layer-2 actions, is anxious concerning the safety and consistency of present off-chain scaling options, suggesting that with out fraud-proofs, there’s room for fraud and irregularities.

Focus On Optimism And Manta: What’s Going On?

Taking to X on December 20, Kiepuszewski observed that some layer-2 options, reminiscent of Manta and Optimism, depend on sequencers to put up knowledge to Ethereum. However, with out fraud-proofs, there is no such thing as a solution to confirm that the info printed by the Sequencer on the Ethereum mainnet is correct or full. 

In the co-founder’s view, each time a sequencer posts the batch of transactions on the principle internet, there is no such thing as a layer-1 state or occasion change. Per Kiepuszewski ‘s evaluation, this can be a worrying problem that must be addressed to make sure no matter is posted is legitimate. 

As an illustration, the co-founder cited current transactions posted by Optimism and MantaNetwork, two standard layer-2 scaling options for Ethereum. Kiepuszewski analyzed that Optimism just lately despatched a full “data blob” containing all layer-2 transactions. 

On the opposite hand, it was famous that MantaNetwork reportedly posted the “root hash of a data blob” to CelestiaOrg. The downside, the co-founder went on so as to add, is that regardless of these operations, Ethereum couldn’t decide whether or not their hashes have been legitimate or not.

The co-founder argues that this may very well be a recipe for bother because the lack of transparency on Sequencer’s operations presents a serious concern, particularly for customers monitoring the mainnet however not working their layer-2 nodes. 

Ethereum Layer-2s Command Billions Without Functional Fraud-Proof Systems

Technically, within the present state, Sequencers play an important function in guaranteeing that transactions submitted by customers of any layer-2 scaling platform like Optimism or Arbitrum are processed and confirmed to be legitimate earlier than they’re transmitted to the Ethereum mainnet. 

However, whereas Ethereum layer-2 scaling options presently handle over $15 billion, based mostly on L2Beat knowledge, with out public fraud-proofs, what sequencers publish on the mainnet turns into unclear.

According to L2Beat data, Manta Network has turned off its fraud-proof whereas nonetheless being developed on Optimism. At the identical time, Arbitrum ‘s fraud-proof system continues to be not permissionless since validators have to be whitelisted. 

In all, in most main layer-2 protocols managing tens of millions in complete worth locked (TVL), there is no such thing as a public system to watch sequencers and whether or not they’re submitting legitimate particulars to the mainnet.

Feature picture from Canva, chart from TradingView