The Integration of Layer-1 Ecosystem Development and zkEVM Technology

In the blockchain industry, there are numerous Layer-1 projects, such as mainstream public chains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as emerging public chains like Polygon and Solana. Despite intense competition, new public chains with unique advantages continue to emerge, and technology is continuously iterating. In the future, most Layer-1 public chains, including Aptos and Sui, may adopt zkRollup technology based on zkEVM, and a fully chain-compatible zkRollup solution may ultimately emerge.

Aptos/Sui Public Chains and Move Smart Contract Language

In 2022, the most attention-grabbing emerging public chains are Aptos and Sui, which originated from the Diem project. These projects were initiated by former Meta (Facebook) engineers and inherit several features of Diem, differing from existing public chains in terms of performance, programming languages, and mechanisms.

Aptos and Sui use the Move programming language to redefine the "module structure," allowing assets such as tokens, NFTs, and smart contracts to be succinctly defined using a single data module. This feature is not available in Ethereum's EVM. For example, the resource-based methods of the Move language can effectively prevent reentrancy attacks, which have been a serious issue in the EVM ecosystem.

However, whether Aptos and Sui can become mainstream public chains depends not only on their technical advantages but also on the innovation capabilities of on-chain projects. At present, although these new public chains are technologically advanced, they seem to lack sufficient user traffic and application ecosystems.

To capture the massive traffic of the EVM ecosystem, Aptos and Sui may gradually embrace the EVM ecosystem and Layer 2 networks, especially by adopting advanced zkRollup technology based on zkEVM.

Building zkEVM-based zkRollup on Aptos/Sui

In the long term, zkRollup may become an efficient and secure scaling solution. Theoretically, zkRollup can be deployed on any network that can verify its proofs, so building a zkEVM zkRollup on Aptos/Sui is feasible.

The advantages of this method are:

1. Attract developers and users from the EVM ecosystem.
2. Reduce the cost for developers to migrate products from the EVM ecosystem to Aptos/Sui.
3. Provide users with lower trading fees and a better user experience.

Key components for building zkEVM-based zkRollup include:

1. Sequencer: Receives transactions and executes them, generating execution records.
2. zkProver: Verifies execution records and generates zero-knowledge proofs.
3. Custody Contract: Managing the flow of assets between Aptos/Sui and zkRollup.
4. Verify Contract: Verify the proof provided by zkProver.
5. Governance Contract: Management Authority and Asset Type.

The Future of Fully Chain-Compatible zkRollup

The future Web3 network ecosystem may consist of a multi-chain coexistence pattern, where cross-chain asset interaction will become a key demand. Traditional cross-chain bridge solutions may face challenges of complexity and security in a multi-chain environment.

Fully chain-compatible zkRollup may become the ultimate solution for cross-chain applications. Based on the general-purpose zkEVM-based zkRollup, combined with cross-chain interoperability protocols (such as LayerZero, HyperLane, etc.), a fully chain-compatible zkRollup can be formed.

This fully chain-compatible zkRollup will have the following characteristics:

1. Aggregate the liquidity of all chain assets.
2. As the full-chain execution layer.
3. Ensure the correctness of transactions through zero-knowledge proofs.
4. Achieve fully programmable interactions of cross-chain assets and information.

The fully chain-compatible zkRollup provides a broad space for future application development, which may give rise to innovative applications such as decentralized exchanges, GameFi, and SocialFi that gather users from across the entire chain, promoting the blockchain ecosystem to develop in a more open and interconnected direction.