Unveiling the New Future of ZK-Rollup: Taiko – Pioneering the Challenge of zkEVM

The Future of ZK-Rollup: Taiko - Pioneers in zkEVM

Ethereum is a product of significant progress in promoting human collaboration and individual autonomy. As a globally recognized settlement network, Ethereum fundamentally changes the concept of digital ownership and data immutability. Its permissionless nature allows individuals around the world to conduct seamless cross-time zone, cross-border transfers freely and unencumbered.

The main advantage of the system is its focus on decentralization and security, placing these factors above speed and scalability. However, when a public blockchain lacks scalability, high transaction fees and limited throughput can hinder developers, users, and various applications from fully utilizing the network’s capabilities. This scalability limitation ultimately limits Ethereum’s overall potential.

To fully realize its potential, Ethereum must overcome scalability limitations and become a network that can support a large dApps ecosystem. To achieve this goal, Ethereum is actively researching Rollups as a highly optimized scaling solution, with a particular focus on Ethereum-equivalent ZK-rollups as the most viable choice for developers.

If you are somewhat familiar with the latest developments in the Ethereum zero-knowledge field, then you may be familiar with some well-known projects such as Polygon, Starkware, Scroll, and zkSync. However, there is a newcomer, a relatively low-key but equally promising competitor that is rapidly rising. Taiko is such a zero-knowledge extension virtual machine (zkEVM) project, aiming to become a fully decentralized Ethereum-equivalent ZK-rollup and striving to establish its position in the field.

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Let’s explore the essence of Taiko and learn more about its unique features.

Taiko Introduction

Taiko was founded in early 2022, taking its name from the Japanese word for “drum”. It was founded by Daniel Wang (CEO) and Brecht Devos (CTO), both of whom are seasoned experts in the field. Daniel and Brecht previously worked together at Loopring, an application-specific ZK-rollup that was first deployed on Ethereum in 2018. After leaving Loopring in 2021, Daniel initially planned to build a decentralized social network, but soon realized that existing infrastructure could not support such an application. Daniel and Brecht joined Taiko with their experience at Loopring, along with a team of over 20 outstanding blockchain developers, ZK researchers, and native crypto operators distributed across more than 16 countries. Their goal is to jointly build a truly decentralized Ethereum-equivalent ZK-rollup.

Taiko, unlike its competitors, is a general ZK-rollup project that aims to build a Type-1 zkEVM to provide a seamless experience for developers.

But what is a Type-1 ZK-rollup, and what is its importance?

Type-1 zkEVM

In Vitalik Buterin’s classification of ZK-rollups, Type-1 ZK-rollups prioritize compatibility with the EVM over fast proof generation. This means that Type-1 ZK-rollups do not make any modifications to the existing Ethereum system, using the same hash function, state tree, transaction tree, precompiles, and consensus logic adopted by Ethereum. Due to this feature, Type-1 ZK-rollups can be seen as equivalent to the EVM and are therefore referred to as zkEVM.

Image from Taiko

The advantage of Type-1 zkEVM is that it can make full use of the development tools and infrastructure already established by Ethereum, including clients. While Type-2/2.5 zkEVMs are also considered to be EVM-compatible, they alter certain parts of the Ethereum stack, which may have adverse effects on gas costs or Keccak hash functions. Depending on the type of project, these changes may have a negative impact on security mechanisms or the efficiency of smart contracts. Therefore, Type-1 zkEVM may be more suitable for projects that are sensitive to gas cost changes or require the security of Keccak hash functions to be validated through real-world testing.

However, the EVM itself was not specifically designed for ZK-friendly operations, which leads to a significant amount of computation required to generate zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). Currently, generating a single ZKP for an Ethereum block may take several hours, but there is potential for improvement through parallel operation of the proof generator (the entity responsible for creating ZKPs) and long-term development of hardware acceleration solutions like ASICs.

Technical Overview

Taiko aims to be a Type-1 zkEVM, specifically designed to seamlessly execute Ethereum smart contract code without any modifications. This will allow developers to easily transition existing applications to Layer 2 without implementing new code.

Taiko consists of three main components:

1. zkEVM: zkEVM verifies the correctness of EVM computation through validity proof. Taiko can run EVM directly without any modification. It is very beneficial for developers to leverage battle-tested code from the Ethereum network and keep it in its original state using existing development tools. Developers can easily migrate existing Solidity contracts to Taiko without having to compile them into different languages or adjust the framework. In addition, Taiko-client is built on Geth, ensuring compatibility with future Ethereum protocol upgrades.

2. Layer 2 rollup node: Taiko nodes are responsible for collecting and executing user transactions on the L2 chain. These nodes oversee the management and status progress of the rollup chain.

3. Taiko protocol: The Taiko protocol defines and enforces rollup rules and determines potential participants. Smart contracts deployed on Ethereum Layer 1 serve as a data availability mechanism and verify ZKP.

These components work together to ensure smooth compatibility with Ethereum Layer 1, providing users and developers with a familiar experience.

Decentralization

In addition to prioritizing EVM compatibility, Taiko also places great emphasis on decentralization. Many rollup networks initially prioritize performance and gradually introduce decentralization, but Taiko plans to use decentralization from the beginning, with proposal submitters (serializers) responsible for block submissions and decentralized verifiers to generate ZKP. This approach highlights Taiko’s strong commitment to decentralization, as there are currently no other rollup networks that use a decentralized serializer.

Taiko’s focus on decentralization ensures a solid foundation for dApps while remaining loyal to Ethereum’s core values. The team also revealed their plans to launch a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), with more details to be discussed in the future.

Taiko’s Status

On June 7, 2023, Taiko achieved an important milestone in pursuing decentralization and Ethereum-equivalent zkEVM by launching the alpha-3 testnet named Grímsvöt. This testnet plays a critical role in testing the network design and component stack comprehensively, with its main goal being to decentralize proposers and verifiers while developing support for Layer 3 technology. As outlined in Taiko’s development roadmap, the team has scheduled multiple testnets, each focused on testing specific components of the technology stack in preparation for mainnet launch in Q1 2024.

Image source: Taiko

Additionally, Taiko Labs announced a successful $22 million funding round. Sequoia China led a $10 million seed round in Q3 2022, while Generative Ventures led a recent $12 million Series A. Other investors in the two rounds included IOSG Ventures, GSR, and GGV Capital, as well as several angel investors from the Ethereum community. The funds will be used to establish an ecosystem investment fund to attract dApps and developers to the ecosystem.

Summary

Undoubtedly, Type-1 zkEVM provides the smoothest experience for developers familiar with Ethereum, making it the least frictional to build applications on Layer 2 networks. In the short term, Taiko undoubtedly has an advantage in providing the easiest way for developers to migrate applications to Rollup. However, this compatibility comes at the cost of efficiency, and as developers become more familiar with ZK-rollups, they may be more inclined to build applications on Type-3 and Type-4 ZK-rollups with higher performance. However, this may not happen soon, as most developers still prefer to develop on EVM-compatible chains, and speed is critical in the blockchain industry, with many developers willing to stay in their familiar area and focus on other aspects of the application, leaving the migration to rollups temporarily on the back burner.

Taiko continues to pursue a grand goal, standing out as a unique project, aiming to achieve excellent results. With ongoing alpha testing, Taiko has made significant progress in becoming a platform that is both accessible and user-friendly for Ethereum developers and users. It upholds Ethereum’s core values while providing scalability and efficiency, which will have a significant impact on the future of Ethereum. The project is expected to promote wider adoption, cultivate a thriving ecosystem, and play a critical role in shaping Ethereum’s development trajectory.

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