Lei Yang: MegaETH achieves 55,000 transactions per second, Ethereum’s scaling strategy pivots back to layer one, and the challenges of layer two security

Key takeaways

• MegaETH leverages Ethereum for its superior blockchain execution atmosphere.
• A stress check on MegaETH achieved 55,000 transactions per second.
• Layer two options that replicate layer one companies face safety challenges.
• Ethereum’s power is essential for the complete good contract ecosystem.
• Ethereum’s scaling technique is shifting from layer twos to enhancing layer one.
• Latest adjustments in Ethereum’s roadmap signify a logical pivot.
• Regulatory pressures are pushing some rollups in the direction of centralization.
• Ethereum could return to greater transaction prices as exercise shifts again to layer one.
• Present low transaction prices are resulting from exercise migration to layer twos.
• The vitality spent on layer two growth is important for Ethereum’s evolution.
• Layer twos advanced from sharding, permitting for range and experimentation.
• The zk-based optimistic fraud proof system ensures transaction correctness.

Visitor intro

Lei Yang is cofounder and CTO of MegaLabs, the crew constructing MegaETH, Ethereum’s high-performance Layer 2 with sub-10 millisecond block occasions and 100,000 transactions per second. He earned his PhD in Pc Science from MIT in 2024, with analysis on blockchain consensus and networking that achieved an end-to-end system at 80,000 transactions per second from 2018 to 2019.

Why MegaETH chooses Ethereum

• Mega makes use of Ethereum as a result of it permits for essentially the most performant blockchain execution atmosphere.

  — Lei Yang

• The explanation why mega makes use of ethereum just isn’t due to like fanboyism however as a result of it allowed us to construct essentially the most performant doable blockchain.

  — Lei Yang

• MegaETH achieved 55,000 transactions per second throughout a mainnet stress check.

• We did a stress check on mainnet so everybody was in a position to do it the place we did 55,000 transactions per second.

  — Lei Yang

• The stress check demonstrated MegaETH’s capability for dealing with excessive transaction volumes.

• We noticed it and that was actually superior… this trains actually quick and has unbelievable compute and it could possibly deal with loopy ranges of exercise.

  — Lei Yang

• MegaETH’s efficiency metrics are dependable because of the mainnet atmosphere intently emulating precise launch situations.

• If we flip the change it’s precisely the factor we’re gonna run-in mainnet it’s like the identical server similar ip deal with similar configuration similar admin keys precisely the identical.

  — Lei Yang

The evolution of Ethereum’s scaling technique

• Ethereum’s scaling technique is shifting from counting on layer twos to enhancing the capabilities of layer one.

• The unique model imaginative and prescient is is now not working ethereum itself must scale within the authentic model principally we have been offloading a number of this to l twos and that’s type of now not vital as a result of the l one is scaling.

  — Lei Yang

• The current adjustments in Ethereum’s roadmap signify a logical pivot slightly than a values pivot.

• I consider this as a pivot not a values pivot however let me use the p phrase a pivot when it comes to the street map itself when it comes to what was initially envisioned with the rollup centric street map and the place we are actually.

  — Lei Yang

• The shift in the direction of extra centralized options by some rollups is a disappointing however comprehensible response to regulatory pressures.

• I believe it’s a tragic realization of like moloch gained nearly in some methods proper now we have to be sincere everybody has completely different incentives… there have been stage one roll ups that advised me they didn’t need to change into stage two level clean and the reason being as a result of it was the regulatory atmosphere they like to be extra centralized.

  — Lei Yang

• Ethereum will ultimately see a return to greater transaction prices as exercise shifts again to layer one.

• I believe it’s a little bit of an overreaction to say that ethereum will now not want l twos… we’ll in a short time get again to a world the place like there’s $200 transactions on e file one.

  — Lei Yang

The position of layer two options

• Constructing a layer two that replicates layer one companies is technically uninteresting and poses safety challenges.

• It’s fairly uninteresting to attempt to construct and replicate actual primitives offered by the layer one… it’s truly very onerous to construct a safe layer two and if all you need from a layer two is type of simply undertake ethereum safety as is then I believe you’re higher off like constructing out layer one.

  — Lei Yang

• The vitality spent on growing the layer two roadmap just isn’t wasted however important for Ethereum’s evolution.

• I actually don’t suppose just like the vitality we spend on this substrate is is is wasted or one thing as a result of I believe mega is just doable as a result of ethereum was chasing this layer two centric street map for a couple of years.

  — Lei Yang

• Layer twos advanced from the idea of sharding, permitting for higher range and experimentation in Ethereum’s ecosystem.

• The unique concept is that ethereum would run run and function all of the shards… why don’t we simply delegate it to some groups in order that we get some range some competitors some experimentation.

  — Lei Yang

• Layer two options have built-in mechanisms to make sure censorship resistance and person exit choices.

• The ensures you could have first the layer two can not censor you within the sense that in case you are in case your transactions are being maliciously excluded from the layer two… you possibly can at all times return to the layer one and submit your connection there and the the layer two sequence shall be compelled to incorporate your connection.

  — Lei Yang

Financial sustainability in blockchain

• Chain charges should not a viable enterprise mannequin for Mega $ETH.

• I don’t suppose prefer it’s cool that you just guys can do 11,000,000,000 transactions per second I don’t suppose you guys are attending to a sustained stage of natural 11,000,000,000 transactions per second anytime quickly.

  — Lei Yang

• Financial sustainability for blockchain programs ought to prioritize person accessibility over short-term revenue from charges.

• I believe that’s truly brief time period pondering as a result of the way in which mega grows is by letting everybody come and use my id for as low-cost as humanly doable.

  — Lei Yang

• The present method to blockchain income era must evolve past merely launching tokens.

• You kinda have to construct some kind of like actual enterprise mannequin and we kinda got here all the way down to stablecoins earlier than no less than that’s that’s what now we have now.

  — Lei Yang

• The mechanism of incomes yield from stablecoins on the Mageve platform permits for reinvestment into the chain with out harming finish customers.

• What we principally stated is hey we’re gonna have like this native secure coin usdm and when functions use usdm we earn the tibo yield for that proper that goes into the maggie eve stability sheet…

  — Lei Yang

The way forward for rollups and governance

• Stage two rollups require a dedication to immutability in governance logic, which poses vital dangers.

• Stage two principally says do away with the safety council code is to control you want for all times immutability… you’re principally saying one piece of the design of the roll up of the layer two goes to be fastened endlessly for the lifetime of the universe for the lifetime of ethereum.

  — Lei Yang

• Reaching stage two in rollups could take longer than beforehand anticipated, doubtlessly past two years.

• I don’t suppose it’s accountable to assert that we are going to attain stage two inside a 12 months or possibly even inside two years.

  — Lei Yang

• Trusting the safety council in stage one can result in potential misuse of energy.

• You additionally need to belief that the safety council just isn’t going to misuse your energy as a result of yeah inside a 12 months we… do see ourselves in stage one however truly it’s not most likely not good for for us to assert ourselves to to label like a mega eth as a stage one.

  — Lei Yang

• AI might play a vital position in verifying software program correctness, which is important for reaching stage two.

• I believe the factor that AI does the very best is the stuff that’s onerous to provide however straightforward to confirm… proofs of software program code.

  — Lei Yang

The affect of AI on blockchain

• The following billion customers of blockchain know-how would possibly truly be AI brokers.

• One different risk right here that has extra just lately risen to my consideration right here is that the subsequent like billion customers would possibly truly be ai brokers.

  — Lei Yang

• The poor person expertise in crypto for people may very well profit software program brokers.

• Should you consider that a number of the purpose we haven’t had extra crypto adoption has been the ux is horrible… all of the ux issues now we have are literally advantages for little software program brokers.

  — Lei Yang

• We should always begin prioritizing agent customers in blockchain experiences.

• Possibly we must always begin actually prioritizing agent customers in a few of our blockchains expertise.

  — Lei Yang

• Brokers can function with limitless vitality to experiment with completely different transaction paths, not like people who could quit after a couple of makes an attempt.

• I believe to assist brokers you want… you want the block area to be sufficiently low-cost in order that they’ll attempt to error… brokers have immense quantity of vitality… human don’t are simply attempt to errors.

  — Lei Yang

The position of proximity markets in blockchain

• Microscopic auctions in Ethereum’s block ordering are impractical for programs with very low block intervals.

• What it essentially breaks for us is as a result of our block interval is so small as a result of in our case the blocking interval is ten milliseconds… operating auctions at this type of effective granularity utterly breaks down.

  — Lei Yang

• We consider {that a} proximity market mannequin is simpler than microscopic auctions for transaction ordering.

• What we’re attempting to realize… we name it the proximity market… you run these choices at this type of interval and determine a bunch of those that.

  — Lei Yang

• Collocating with the sequencer permits for optimized buying and selling algorithms to function with minimal latency.

• May have the the seat to collocate with the sequencer and when you do this then they’ll take no matter algorithm they need to run and run them on these seats that are principally digital machines which might be proper subsequent to the sequencer so the quotes we get from our cloud supplier is down to 1 millisecond…

  — Lei Yang

• The motivation construction ought to encourage high-frequency merchants to bodily find close to the sequencer to reinforce market liquidity.

• The explanation so that you can have a ten millisecond block interval is so that you can construct environment friendly liquid markets… they need to come to the sequencer so this I believe is each an incentive construction and in addition I believe a extra sensible method for us to have like environment friendly precedence allocation when you could have actual time buying and selling.

  — Lei Yang

MegaETH’s technique for fostering innovation

• Mega $ETH’s method to fostering its personal app ecosystem is important to keep away from redundancy throughout chains.

• We can not find yourself in a scenario the place we simply have a bunch of repeat functions that exist on each different chain… what’s the level of us spending the previous three years of our lives attempting to construct this factor if there’s actually nothing new that may exist on this prepare.

  — Lei Yang

• Mega $ETH is actively looking for founders to construct distinctive functions to reinforce its ecosystem.

• What we did is we principally simply began looking for founders and persuade founders to… construct cool shit to be frank.

  — Lei Yang

• There’s a vital mind drain in crypto, with many potential founders leaving for AI resulting from poor person expertise.

• I believe a number of these founders that would have come and constructed superior apps couldn’t do it final cycle as a result of the ux was rubbish and this cycle they simply left to ai.

  — Lei Yang

• If we stay credibly impartial and don’t actively encourage growth, we danger ending up with no new functions.

• My larger worry is the builders are gone… you truly might be extremely impartial as a result of in the event you do this we simply don’t find yourself with any extra apps.

  — Lei Yang

The way forward for token distribution and possession

• The present method to token distribution out there is flawed and inequitable.

• I believe that was a an issue that we we noticed and we thought that it was simply not perfect as a result of you’d like crypto is exclusive as a result of so much…

  — Lei Yang

• Value discovery has shifted from public to non-public markets, resulting in unequal entry for public contributors.

• I believe it was fairly superior… a number of worth discovery moved to non-public markets and the top outcome was like public contributors weren’t essentially getting equal entry to to belongings.

  — Lei Yang

• The standard mannequin of possession in tech doesn’t apply to crypto, the place customers need to be house owners of the functions they use.

• I believe it’s completely effective that’s not precisely the identical case in crypto the place folks have traditionally been like I wanna be an proprietor within the functions I exploit it’s simply it felt very unfair.

  — Lei Yang

• The method of permitting customers to take part in possession has confirmed profitable, as evidenced by excessive participation charges in funding rounds.

• We principally simply doubled down with that thesis… 80% of echo customers tried to take part… ended up oversubscribing by like 25x.

  — Lei Yang