Possible future for Atom: Single slot finality provider (brainstorming)

Introduction:

As you know, Ethereum recently unveiled its roadmap for ETH 3.0, in which it plans to achieve the single slot finality. This is a goal that we already easily achieve with Tendermint thanks to the delegated proof of stake (DPoS). This mechanism allows a satisfactory decentralization of staking while entrusting the validation to professional actors. The latter validate the consensus by requiring the agreement of two-thirds of the voting power to confirm a block and move on to the next. This ensures perfect interoperability between the different channels using this infrastructure, thanks to a binary reading of the blocks in the Cosmos ecosystem (valid or invalid) and non-probabilistic.

The Cosmos Hub, thanks to Tendermint, represents today what Ethereum hopes to achieve with the single slot finality. Although I do not have sufficient knowledge to guarantee the feasibility of such a development, I think that the Cosmos Hub, and more broadly Tendermint, could play a role in this new research and potential emerging competition, that I describe here as the single slot finality providers, which would integrate into the Ethereum network to achieve finality even before verification by Ethereum consensus.

This idea is purely speculative. Not having the technical skills to assess its feasibility, I think however that other people, more qualified, could either invalidate this brainstorming or make it real if the idea proves feasible. It is anyway worth waiting for Ethereum to offer a relatively open form of single slot finality on its network.

How it works:

  • The L2 or users submit their tx to an ssf provider
    who takes care of providing a finality to the transaction
  • The SSF provider executes a verifiable proof
    within the framework permitted by Ethereum (ZK Snark)
  • Ethereum validators will have to verify the proofs
    issued by the dispute single slot finality providers

Advantage:

  • Instant finality in Ethereum allowing direct connection
    with IBC thanks to SSF
  • The Ethereum consensus still allows settlement
    by verifying the proofs issued by SSF providers
  • Possibility of choosing your single slot finality operator
    leading to competition in performance and decentralization
  • The cosmos hub and these validators are perfectly positioned
    to produce a quality service making it potentially a leader in this field

The objective of the cosmos has never been to compete with Ethereum, but simply to propose what it can’t do because of its great decentralization, today I think we can go further than just proposing an alternative, we can offer the ability to Ethereum to achieve what Tendermint has been doing perfectly since 2014, that is to say, the production of a certain consensus promoting interoperability.

The ticker is Atom.

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