https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/evm-equivalence?s=w
April 28, 2022 5:46 AM (GMT+8)
Dear Bankless Nation,
The paradigm of EVM equivalence will unlock the next phase of Ethereum’s growth.
DeFi Summer 2020 hit Ethereum’s limits to scale. Since then, the network effect of the EVM has fractured into many different directions. New L1s and even many L2s have broken from the EVM standard in order to produce scale.
But the era of EVM equivalence is upon us, and it will allow Ethereum to pick up where DeFi Summer left off.
A new Cambrian explosion of innovation is on the horizon.
We just need EVM equivalence to unlock it.
Sponsor: Polygon Studios—Fostering culture across Gaming, NFTs, and the Metaverse
Bankless Writer: David Hoffman
EVM Equivalence
minimal dif’
when the Ethereum L1 stops, and the L2 rollups begin.
on and scaling Ethereum itself.
they share every aspect of its network effects.
all
EVM compatibility is dead.generalizabilityand therefore pick the same standard as everyone elsesee ZK-rollups
In order to fully extend the full might of Ethereum to the L2s, we’ll need more than mere EVM compatibility.
We need EVM equivalence.
introduced EVM equivalence last year
finally, an L2 which can run Uniswap!
The earliest rollups accomplished this by completely recreating Uniswap, with custom code on top of a custom-built rollup.
This just wasn’t enough.
**massive supporting cast of toolsthey broke for the custom-built rollup**
theEVM itself is the same
David Mihalwho helped me understand this
“Open-source code is like a city. It’s emergently created, bottom up, from the contributions of many developers who see problems and build solutions. Over time, the city becomes optimized, robust, and efficient…
…EVM-ish chains are like the Las Vegas version of Paris; they’re trying to artificially replicate something that came organically”
Open-source software is a public good, maintained and upgraded by respective communities.
Developers that use open-source software run into all sorts of problems while using it; some trivial, some critical, and everything in between. Some developers spend time fixing these problems, and then lobby the community to accept their inputs. If the community sees value, then the contribution is merged. A new standard is created, and the piece of software grows in utility and robustness.
so long as everyone is working on the same foundation.
Every developer builds in their own direction and discovers their specific contributions to add to the collective. Over time, a highly robust public good is produced by the shared contributions of thousands of developers.
are still contributing to the same foundation that Ethereum stands on.
Geth forks that deviate from the reference version are deviating from the largest network effects in Web3. The further that one-off copies move in a different direction, the more labor and resources are required to keep up with the progress of the core network.
pelotondrafting
If you want to fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
basically effortless
But when the leader is tired and the pace slows, there are plenty of fresh contributors who have been drafting inside the peloton to take their place.
collaborative flywheel
EVM equivalence is the bottom-up emergent city-like public good. EVM Compatibility on the other hand, is a one-off copy of that.
but only one way to adhere to it.
Producing an EVM-equivalent L2 ecosystem is critical to retaining the network effects of composability and interoperability!
and also Ethereum itself.
A single line of code means more when it’s deployed on an ORU.
If you write the code once, but it seamlessly works on 1,000 compatible chains, then the value of what you have just produced is far greater.
EVM Equivalence takes the EVM network effects to a whole new level.
Non-EVM-equivalent ORUs will not benefit from these shared network effects. The lack of a ‘minimal-diff’ design philosophy in non-EVM-equivalent ORUs breaks the relationship between the network of Ethereum + EVM equivalent ORUs, and L2s that are not EVM equivalent.
The gigantic wave of Ethereum network effects is compounded by every new addition of an EVM equivalent ORU. If you’re not surfing on this wave, you’re going to have to swim hard to catch up.
protocol layer itselfreally
Because EVM-equivalent ORUs are 'minimally differentiated’ from Ethereum, they offer Ethereum a testbed for new EIPs in a live production environment.
Right now, EIPs are tested with Ethereum testnets. EIPs are tested many times on testnets to ensure that nothing breaks when it’s finally integrated to the Ethereum L1.
There is always risk with this because testnets are not ‘minimally differentiated’ from Ethereum. Implementing an EIP into Goerli or Koven is not the same as implementing an EIP into Ethereum; the difference being the size, significance, and nature of the economic activity on top of Ethereum, that testnets cannot emulate. There is always some ‘unknown’ when implementing an EIP into Ethereum.
EVM equivalences offer a solution.
When an EIP gets successfully implemented on an EVM equivalent ORU, it gives strong assurances to the base chain that the same EIP could be successfully integrated without bugs. EVM equivalent ORU’s give a live production environment with real economic activity and real capital at stake for EIPs to be tested. EIPs can be tested at the ORU layer, without risk of something breaking and impacting the entire rest of the system.
When the L2s ubiquitously adopt the same EIP, it signals to the Ethereum L1 that it’s desired by the community and it’s safe to integrate into the L1.
sense & respond paradigm of Web3
Because each ORU is its own sovereign economy, it will implement various EIPs independently and asynchronously from the rest of the ecosystem, according to the wants and desires of its users.
entire
There will be many forks of Optimism on Ethereum! As they all come to accept the same EIPs, it will signal to the main L1 that the EIP is desirable and safe.
The significance of EVM equivalence: Ethereum breaks free from being bound by its L1 shackles. What ‘Ethereum’ is, becomes capable of extending outwards into the L2s. The dividing line between the Ethereum L1 and the EVM equivalent L2s becomes extremely blurred. There isn’t any point in which the Ethereum L1 stops and its EVM equivalent L2 begins.
“Nature abhors a vacuum”
Nature is really good at filling voids. The more evolutionarily fit an organism is, the more space it fills. Animals consume food and reproduce to the maximum extent the environment allows. All plants are expressions of fractals, because fractals are algorithms that maximize surface area. Increased plant surface area adds to its ability to capture sunlight on its leaves, and nutrients from its roots.
One of the most biodiverse areas in the world is the Amazon rainforest, <2% of light reaches the ground, because the trees are so efficient at capturing sunlight.
The last miletransportation hub
really good
Even inside a single organism, fractals are fundamental patterns for increasing the scale and efficiency of the organism. Lungs are responsible for capturing oxygen and distributing to the bloodstream; the circulatory system is responsible for distributing this oxygen and other nutrients to the furthest reaches of the organism.