Lens is an open social network project that, along with Warpcast and Friend.tech, is among the biggest names in the contemporary crypto social scene.
Nowadays, Lens SocialLens Protocol is a decentralized social media network built on Ethereum.View profile” class=”stubHighlight”>Lens relied on an infra combination of Polygon and Momokathe latter being a tailor-made data availability solution, to power its decentralized application ecosystem.
This is why Lens made waves this week by announcing the construction of a new channel, Lens arrayto support your future via zkSync ZK battery frame.
This new network will start as a Layer 2 (L2) solution known as valid and will later evolve into a volition. Many people aren't sure exactly what these solutions are and why they're important, so let's break them down.
The basics of validiums and volitions
By now you are probably familiar with ZK rollups like Starknet, zkSync L2zkSync is an L2 using ZK to scale Ethereum.View profile” class=”stubHighlight”>zkSync Era, and Linea. These L2s execute off-chain transactions and use zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) for on-chain data, i.e. validate and aggregate transactions on Ethereum.
Conversely, when you combine off-chain execution with on-chain data via fraud proofs instead of ZKP, you get optimistic rollups like Arbitration And Optimism.
That said, if you imagine the Ethereum scaling scene as a tree, validiums and volitions are solutions that branch out on the ZK side beyond ZK rollups. They both strive to facilitate high transaction throughput in a decentralized manner, but they approach this challenge differently.
Let's compare them below.
Validiums
Validiums are a type of L2 that uses ZKPs for transaction validation but stores data off-chain in a separate data availability (DA) layer. The main takeaways here:
- Off-chain DA: Unlike ZK rollups, which publish data on-chain, validiums maintain transaction data off-chain at a DA provider. This separation significantly reduces costs since storing data on Ethereum can be expensive.
- Broadband: By offloading data storage, validiums can achieve impressive transaction throughput levels, for example on the order of tens of thousands of transactions per second (TPS).
- Reliable security: Although validiums provide strong cryptographic guarantees for the validity of transactions via ZKPs, their reliance on off-chain data availability introduces an element of trust. Users must trust the DA provider to make data available when needed.
- Use case: Validiums are well suited for applications that require high throughput and can tolerate some reliance on data availability, such as social media, gaming, and non-financial transactions.
Volitions
Volitions are a hybrid scaling solution that combines the best features of ZK rollups and validiums. They allow users or applications to choose between on-chain and off-chain DA for different transactions within the same network. The big ideas:
- Flexible AD: Volitions allow users to choose to use on-chain data availability (like zk-rollups) for high-security transactions and off-chain data availability (like validiums) for less critical transactions. This choice can be made transaction by transaction.
- Scalability and security: By enabling this hybrid approach, volitions can optimize both cost and security, addressing a wide range of use cases without compromising scalability and ensuring users can scale their security needs as needed. depending on the nature of their transactions.
- Use case: Volitions are ideal for complex projects such as decentralized social networks or financial applications that need flexibility to dynamically balance transaction costs, speed and security.
The lens array example
There are a few validiums active in the cryptoeconomy today that you may recognize, such as immutable And So rare.
The Lens team is looking to join the ranks of these projects and become one of the first to launch with the gradual deployment of the Lens Network.
The first phase will see the launch of the chain as a validium, while the second will see the launch of separate public and private validiums to support privacy use cases. The final phase will see Lens Network evolve into a will so that its users can switch between ZK stacking and validium capabilities as they wish.
The mission? Create a new hub for the Lens ecosystem that can scale to support billion future transactions.
Why zkSync ZK Stack
![](https://bankless.ghost.io/content/images/2024/05/image---2024-05-16T135900.811.png)
As mentioned previously, the ZK battery is a framework designed to easily create ZK Chains. It offers several unique benefits that align with Lens Network’s goals:
- Modular architecture: The ZK stack allows for customization, allowing Lens Network to tailor its functionality to specific needs, such as DA options and transaction processing methods.
- High security: Using ZKP ensures that all transactions are cryptographically secure, which is essential for maintaining user trust and network integrity.
- Scalability: The Lens network can handle a massive number of transactions using a combination of validiums and volitions, making it suitable for a social network looking to reach millions of active users.
- Interoperability: zkSync's framework supports interoperability with other chains and applications via hyperbridges, which is crucial to facilitating an integrated social ecosystem.
Overall, as the Lens team completes this L2 transition, it will likely inspire a new wave of projects to take a closer look at what the ZK stack, and validiums and volitions in general, have to offer. The need for cryptographic infrastructure capable of handling complex use cases at high throughput will only grow.
Of course, the end game facilitates apps that are indistinguishable from mainstream apps today when it comes to UX, and Lens Network is just the latest demonstration that this vision is getting closer. In the meantime, keep an eye on the progress of L2 and others who like it.