Parallelized Ethereum Virtual Machines: A Potential Solution for Blockchain Disruptions Caused by Inscriptions
Summary:
Several blockchain networks have been disrupted due to inscriptions, a type of digital collectible created on the blockchain. The large volume of these cheaply-made collectibles led to increased fees and instability. However, Polygon's co-founder Branden Farmer suggests that parallelized Ethereum Virtual Machines might offer a solution. Parallel processing could increase blockchain throughput and more accurately distribute increased fees during periods of high usage. Initial advancements toward this method in the form of "Block-STM" have already shown promising improvements in network performance.
The efficiency of several blockchain networks including Arbitrum, zkSync, and Avalanche has been disrupted, and in some instances, even caused to crash, due to digital collectibles known as inscriptions. These are created by inputting data into the calldata or witness sections of a blockchain transaction. However, Branden Farmer, who co-founded Polygon, believes that Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVMs) operating parallelly could provide a solution.
Initially appearing on the Bitcoin network, inscriptions became possible after the Taproot upgrade in 2021. This allowed Bitcoin users to insert data into a transaction's "witness" field, which in turn made it possible to create digital collectibles such as images and tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. The introduction of these new collectibles was met with mixed reactions, with some users seeing them as advantageous for the network, while others viewed them as "spam".
The interest in inscriptions started expanding beyond Bitcoin and soon, they were being fabricated on Ethereum sidechains as well as layer-2s like Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Polygon. Instead of being incorporated into the witness field of Bitcoin transactions, these inscriptions were added to the "calldata" field on an EVM-based network. As calldata does not get stored in a smart contract's state, this allowed for the creation of the collectibles at a much lower cost than that for producing a normal nonfungible token (NFT).
However, the low cost of creating these inscriptions led to escalated fees and instability on various blockchain networks. This was due to the high volume of inscription transactions congesting the networks. On December 15, due to an overwhelming amount of inscription spam, Ethereum layer-2 Arbitrum was inactive for over 70 minutes. Additionally, throughout December, these inscriptions resulted in decreased performance or exceptionally high fees on six other blockchains.
Farmer believes that the solution lies in parallelized EVMs. He explained to Cointelegraph that by enabling unrelated transactions to be processed quickly, the throughput of blockchains can be augmented. This faster processing might enable blockchains to deal with the spam.
Normally, EVMs operate sequentially, processing each transaction in a block in order. However, using parallelization, unrelated transactions can be processed at the same time instead of sequentially.
This simultaneous processing allows the network to allocate gas fees to areas dealing with each other. For instance, if a large number of people are using Uniswap concurrently, the fees may be high because their transactions are interrelated and have to be processed in order. Meanwhile, others who are trying to create NFTs are not likely to be affected by this surge in Uniswap usage. Similarly, if there's a flood of inscription creations, inscribers may face increased fees, but this would not significantly impact other users.
Parallelism could also result in a heightened throughput, says Farmer. The Polygon team is already working on "Block-STM", seen as a preliminary step towards parallelization. This has already resulted in improved performance, indicating potential for the network to handle spam more effectively.
Designed initially by Solana developers, parallelization is now being employed across several blockchains to enhance performance. These include Polygon as well as Aptos and Monad. The Ethereum ecosystem is uniquely employing this technique by integrating parallelization with the expansion of block space through layer-2 ecosystems such as Polygon 2.0.
Published At
1/20/2024 12:16:53 AM
Disclaimer: Algoine does not endorse any content or product on this page. Readers should conduct their own research before taking any actions related to the asset, company, or any information in this article and assume full responsibility for their decisions. This article should not be considered as investment advice. Our news is prepared with AI support.
Do you suspect this content may be misleading, incomplete, or inappropriate in any way, requiring modification or removal?
We appreciate your report.