In the dynamic landscape of blockchain technology, scalability remains a significant hurdle, especially for widely used networks like Ethereum. Taiko emerges as a groundbreaking solution, presenting itself as a decentralized ZK-Rollup designed to augment throughput on the Ethereum Mainnet.
What is Taiko?
Taiko stands as a decentralized ZK-Rollup equivalent to Ethereum, positioned as a layer 2 scaling solution. It addresses Ethereum's scalability challenge by relocating computation and state-storage off-chain. Built on the Cosmos-SDK and utilizing Tendermint, Taiko operates as a Type 1 ZK-EVM, emphasizing maximum compatibility with Ethereum. Open source and available on GitHub, Taiko encourages free use and modification of its source code with a permissive license. Emphasizing decentralization and permissionlessness, Taiko involves nodes, proposers, and provers that anyone can participate in.
Key Features of Taiko:
- Decentralization and Transparency: Taiko ensures decentralization by writing all block data necessary to reconstruct the post-block state to the Ethereum mainnet (Layer 1). This public accessibility allows anyone to know the latest chain state and add new blocks to Taiko.
- Public Data for Proof Generation: Taiko's proof generation process demands that all executable data be publicly saved in sequence. This enhances transparency and verifiability, as provers can generate proofs for a block using publicly known data.
- Efficient Block Creation: Taiko focuses on making block creation and proposal processes fast and efficient. It provides a level playing field for anyone to add blocks, fostering competition among proposers based on factors like transaction fees and Maximal Extractable Value (MEV).
- Splitting Block Submission Process: To enhance efficiency, Taiko divides the block submission process into two parts, separating the selection and validation of transactions from the proposal and finalization of blocks.
Leveraging Zero-Knowledge Proofs to bundle transactions, Taiko maintains a transparent record on Ethereum's Layer 1. It strives to make block creation accessible to a broad range of participants. This initiative aligns with the Ethereum Foundation's Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) team, contributing to a broader community effort.