Vitalik Buterin Calls for Reassessment of Ethereum's Plasma for Improved Scalability
Summary:
Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin urges teams creating zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines to reconsider Plasma, an earlier Ethereum layer 2 scalability solution. He argues that, while rollups are currently the standard, Plasma offers unexplored potential for increased security. Despite falling out of favour due to ZK-proofs' advances, Buterin contends Plasma's viability as a scalability solution has improved, and encourages a reevaluation of its potential in light of the maturation of ZK-EVMs.
Teams developing zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVMs) should revisit Plasma, an earlier Ethereum layer 2 scalability solution, according to Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin. Plasma transfers all data and computation apart from deposits, withdrawals, and Merkle roots to an off-chain environment. Introduced in 2017, it fell out of favour with the emergence of optimistic and zero-knowledge (ZK)-rollups, which provide superior client-side data storage costs and unmatched security capabilities, Buterin expanded in a Nov. 14 Twitter post.
While he sees rollups as the benchmark, Buterin believes Plasma's potential hasn’t been fully explored, and argues that it could greatly enhance security for chains that would typically be validiums. He sees the fact that ZK-EVMs are becoming a reality this year as the perfect opportunity to reassess Plasma's potential. Just like Plasma, validiums move data and computation off-chain, but with the addition of ZK-proof transaction validation. Plasma uses fraud proofs instead, though these are slower.
Buterin contends Plasma has become more suitable as a scalability solution due to recent advances in ZK-proofs, such as validity proofs. However, he acknowledges Plasma's limitations in non-payment applications prior to the mainstream adoption of ZK-proofs. Buterin envisages diverse tech approaches in the development of the Ethereum layer 2 ecosystem.
Several versions of Plasma have emerged, including Minimal Viable Plasma, Plasma Cash, and Plasma Cashflow. Polygon Labs, a firm with a specific focus on Ethereum layer 2 scaling, deployed Plasma in 2019 and has gone on to incorporate other solutions. Plasma fell out of favour partly due to the Plasma Group, a nonprofit research entity, announcing a halt to its research into Ethereum scalability in early 2020.
Following Buterin's post, OMG Network’s OMG token, which operates on Plasma, surged 28.6% to $0.78 in three hours, per CoinGecko. However, its value has since dropped by 14.3% to $0.67.
Published At
11/15/2023 4:45:31 AM
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