Author: Haotian
Why is @ZircuitL2 considered a maverick layer2? 1) It is built on the OP Stack Codebase but does not belong to the OP Superchain camp? 2) It is an OP-Rollup chain but does not highlight fraud proofs, and its name and technical details are strongly marked by ZK? 3) It is not associated with the AVS security consensus mechanism, yet it has airdropped to $Eigen stakers, etc. Next, let me briefly share my understanding of the Zircuit chain:
1) OP Stack clearly provides a fast-starting layer2 technical framework, but many chains including Metis, Mantle, and Zircuit have used the OP Stack Codebase framework without joining the Superchain strategic route.
The reason is simple, although the Superchain will enjoy the resource gains of the OP Superalliance, it will also be limited in technical autonomy and flexibility, such as fraud proofs. Many OP Stack camp layer2s have not yet fully launched their Fraud Proof proof systems, and the connection with their choice of framework dependence and neglect of autonomous development will be very large.
Zircuit is a typical case, although it is marked as an OP-Rollup Type on L2beat, its overall technical architecture and brand tone give a strong ZK perception, and many people will categorize it into the ZK-Rollup domain.
The reason for preferring the ZK technical framework is mainly that the support of ZK technology can make the OP-Rollup framework more reliable, after all, an OP-Rollup without a real Fraud Proof proof system in operation can hardly be called a secure and reliable chain, but with a ZK Proof proof system, the trust environment for state changes built on ZK technology can well compensate for its defects in optimistic challenge proofs. Therefore, in a strict sense, it should belong to the hybrid Rollup.
In fact, the architectural design of this type of hybrid Rollup is not new, and Metis, another emerging layer2, is also based on this to highlight differentiation, providing users with a fast withdrawal exit channel through the ZK-Rollup Router, without having to wait for the 7-day challenge period.
2) Recently, Vitalik praised Starknet's performance in Blob Gas pricing mechanism optimization and block state compression, which is actually another optimization direction for layer2 to enhance cross-chain interoperability: to enhance its own data structure and performance processing details.
Because the future upgrade path of the Ethereum mainnet will tend towards ZK-SNARKs lightweight, if the layer2 chain can be proficient in applying ZK technology at the bottom, it will have enhanced performance in data structure, state compression, message passing, etc., and will be closer to the future Rollup-Centric grand strategy.
So, as a rising star, Zircuit has made a lot of technical optimizations in the details from the very beginning of its launch, such as:
1. Sequencer-level Security Enhancement (SLS): Many layer2 chains suffer from Sequencer centralization, MEV, and other troubles, so that DeFi financial application protocols have not been able to develop stably in the layer2 environment.
In view of this, Zircuit has innovatively designed a preventive security architecture for the Sequencer, where transactions in the Mempool will undergo malicious transaction detection, and malicious transactions will be isolated with a layer of multiple release conditions to ensure the smooth and secure execution of normal transactions; this method of adding a layer of security pre-check in the Sequencer component can identify potential MEV behavior and provide a fairer execution environment for DeFi applications.
2. Modular Proof Proof System: Compared to OP-Rollup chains, ZK-Rollup paradigm layer2 chains have a clear Finality advantage, but at the same time they will also incur additional costs for computing, generating, and verifying Proofs, and this part of the cost is not within the scope of reducing layer2 Gas through Blobs blocks on the mainnet, so ZK-Rollup layer2 needs to find a way to reduce the cost of ZK Proofs.
To this end, Zircuit has taken two paths to optimize costs: Template Proofs and Proof Aggregation: Template Proof is a transitional solution that uses a simplified proof template to maintain the verification of basic state updates, without the need to generate a complete proof for each Batch to reduce costs; Proof Aggregation will collect multiple unverified proof tasks and generate proofs through specific circuits and general circuits in parallel, and finally aggregate these proofs into a single proof for unified verification.
Obviously, this setup of specific dedicated circuits to adapt to different proof types of the Proof system can effectively reduce the cost of ZK proof generation and verification. This is similar to Starknet's use of the STARK system and zkSync's use of the recursive system, which can effectively reduce ZK overhead.
3. AI-Enabled layer2: As a relatively new layer2 chain, Zircuit is naturally suitable for the integration of AI model inference, AI Agent and other AI elements. This is reflected in the AI model analysis of suspicious transactions and automatic isolation or suspension of protocols in special situations in the SLS sequencer.
That's it.
As for why Zircuit is collaborating with @Eigenlayer to airdrop, it's hard to see anything from a purely technical perspective, and I'd rather understand it as Zircuit's layer2's strategic support for Eigenlayer's output of Ethereum AVS security.
Looking at the big picture, AVS as a fast security consensus infrastructure may be able to help Zircuit's SSL system quickly integrate into other layer2 ecosystems at some point.
