Light Clients (Part 3): Trust Issues? Avail light clients have you covered

Welcome to the final chapter of our three-part series, where we will delve into the tangible applications and implications of Avail's Data Availability light clients. In the first two parts of our series, we laid the foundation of understanding these light clients and their unique advantages. In part 1, we explained the evolution of blockchain light clients and in part 2, we discussed how Avail Data Availability Light Clients overcome the challenges of monolithic blockchains.

Armed with an understanding of the innovative technology that underpins Avail, we're ready to explore its potential to reshape the blockchain landscape. This discussion will center on how Avail's light clients address scalability challenges, eradicate the need for complex bridges, and enhance the developer experience, bringing it closer to the intuitiveness of web2 development.

Addressing Scalability and Security

The separation of data availability and computation in Avail's modular design has massive implications for scalability. By optimizing these two processes independently, Avail increases the throughput of data, effectively tackling one of the most persistent challenges in blockchain: performance bottlenecks.

This separation, enhanced by Avail's unique approach to combining light clients, data availability sampling, erasure coding, and KZG commitments, allows for significantly larger block sizes without overwhelming the network. Avail's light clients, empowered by data availability sampling over the peer-to-peer network, can verify data availability without needing to download entire blocks. This not only provides an additional layer of security but also keeps the network resilient from block size increases.

Developers are free to choose their own execution environment, and write applications that handle execution independently from the execution activity of other applications using Avail. This minimizes fear of performance issues and gas spikes caused by other applications.

To see just how far we can scale block sizes on Avail, check out our post on How Avail Scales.

Zero-knowledge Proof Verification

Alongside the scaling benefits that arise when separating data availability from execution, Avail also redefines the concept of proof verification. Unlike traditional shared chain enshrined rollups that perform costly on-chain verification, Avail offers a novel alternative for Sovereign Rollups (SRUs). Avail enables client-side proof verification, and the opportunity to shift away from smart contract verified chains. This makes for particularly exciting architecture choices when chains that use ZK proofs for execution correctness also use Avail for data availability.

These sovereign rollups built on Avail have the ability to empower the light clients of their chain to perform Data Availability Sampling (DAS). With DAS, light clients embedded inside every device participating in a ZK sovereign rollup chain’s ecosystem can ensure both proof of data availability, and proof of execution correctness. No longer does verification need to be outsourced to a smart contract.

This client-side verification is not only cheaper but also highly trust-minimized, making it an attractive option for developers and users alike. Users can verify the system's data availability by using an Avail light client to generate availability guarantees, and using an execution light client to verify execution correctness with ZK proofs. This is why we’re excited to see how the next generation of ZK rollups take advantage of Avail.

Redefining Interoperability

What makes Avail powerful is that any chain can post their data and use Avail, regardless of their execution environment.

Avail's approach transcends the limitations of traditional virtual machines. By enabling developers to build their chains atop a modular stack with Avail at the base, developers benefit from an agnostic environment that merges security, flexibility, and scalability. This, combined with the application of cryptographic primitives to ensure data availability, fosters a network of interconnected chains capable of seamless interaction.

Leveraging the ability to create state validating bridges, Avail brings about a significant innovation. It allows developers to build applications that interact with numerous independent, sovereign chains, and compose functionality from these diverse chains to provide a unified experience to users. This is done without depending on the trust of an honest majority of nodes, thus reinforcing the robustness and adaptability of the system.

Improving Developer Experience

Avail's modular design not only solves scalability issues but also significantly improves the developer experience of building with blockchain components. Developers are given the freedom to ideate, iterate, and make decisions around how they want to develop.

The modular approach simplifies the integration of different functionalities from multiple chains, eliminating the need for complex bridges or intermediaries. It offers developers a similar environment to building web2 applications using microservices, granting them the freedom to utilize the best tools at their disposal. This translates to developers having the ability to integrate specific functionalities from sovereign chains built for various tasks, without having to construct the entire functionality from scratch. Much like a web2 developer integrating Stripe for payment processing, Avail enables blockchain developers to effortlessly incorporate services from different sovereign chains into their applications.

Avail's light clients play an indispensable role in this scenario. They provide a trustless, decentralized and efficient way for developers and users to interact with the network of sovereign chains, serving as lightweight APIs analogous to the ones used in web2 microservices. This ensures seamless and secure access to the required functionalities offered by these sovereign chains.

As mentioned above, ZK sovereign rollups that take advantage of data availability light clients have the ability to enable any device with the hardware of modern light clients to independently verify each block. This means that when it comes time for an update to the chain’s execution, all chain operators need to do is ask each client to download an update (just as we do in web2), rather than redeploy a whole new smart contract.

Embracing the Future

This ease of development, combined with the trustless engagement provided by light clients, allows developers to concentrate on building their applications, knowing their users can access the necessary data and services securely, regardless of their device capabilities. With Avail, blockchain developers are truly positioned to build a new generation of decentralized applications that are as robust, efficient, and user-friendly as their web2 counterparts.

Just as the transition to microservices has revolutionized web2 development, Avail is poised to effect a similar transformation in the blockchain space. It equips developers with the tools to surmount traditional blockchain constraints and address the scalability trilemma by harnessing the potential of sovereign chains and light clients.

By fostering effortless integration and cooperation among distinct chains, Avail lays the groundwork for a new breed of decentralized applications. This modular strategy envisions a future where the conventional distinctions between Layer 1 and Layer 2 become obsolete, paving the way for a more collaborative blockchain environment that is equipped to address challenges across diverse applications, with millions of users.

Avail Paves the Way

In this three-part series, we've undertaken an in-depth exploration of Avail's Data Availability light clients, dissecting their underlying technology and the transformational effect they have on the blockchain industry. We have delved into how Avail's unique architecture provides developers with a framework reminiscent of web2, paving the way for the creation of interconnected, scalable, and efficient applications. These applications not only overcome the limitations of traditional blockchain architectures, but they also make it significantly easier for developers to work in the blockchain space, bringing it closer to their experiences with web2 development.

As the blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, integrating Avail's solutions will play a critical role in defining the future of decentralized applications and fostering an ecosystem that is both inclusive and interconnected. As developers, the opportunity to bring your experiences and tooling from web2 to web3 is here – and Avail is ready to guide you on this journey.

In our commitment to shaping the future of blockchain development, we look forward to collaborating with sovereign rollup tooling partners. If you're looking to enhance your projects and are interested in integrating with Avail, email us at info@availproject.org, or reach out on Twitter. Together, we can shape the future of blockchain development, bridging the gap between web2 and web3, and creating a more accessible and intuitive environment for developers everywhere.