I’ve discussed the idea of Stateless Account Abstraction, which has the potential to significantly scale Ethereum. After Some Discussion with Ethereum Light Client Developers, Below, I’m delighted to provide some ideas and updates regarding the architecture proposal.
It’s important to note that these updates represent the current progress and understanding of the Stateless Account Abstraction proposal. Further research, development, and community feedback are essential to refine and validate the architecture for successful integration into the Ethereum network.
Proposal: State Provider for Ethereum in Alternative Mempool Using ZK-SNARKs via Peer-to-Peer Network
Introduction:
In the context of Ethereum’s stateless Account Abstraction (AA) model, this proposal presents a state-provider entitydesigned to efficiently provide state data for transactions entering the alternative mempool. The solution leverages Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (ZK-SNARKs) and a peer-to-peer network to generate proof of tx state within an aggregatable sub-vector commitment . By adopting this approach, we aim to enhance the scalability of Ethereum by enabling near-instant synchronization and trustless proof of state for stateless transactions.
An aggregatable subvector commitment (aSVC) scheme is a vector commitment (VC) scheme that
can aggregate multiple proofs into a single, small subvector proof. In this paper, we formalize aSVCs and give a construction from constant-sized polynomial commitments. This construction is unique in that it has linear-sized public parameters, it can compute all constant-sized proofs in quasilinear time, it updates proofs in constant time and it can aggregate multiple proofs into a constant-sized subvector proof. Because the concrete proof sizes are small due to the use of pairing-friendly groups. We can use this aSVC to obtain stateless smart contracts with very low communication and computation overheads. Specifically, our constant-sized, aggregatable proofs reduce each block’s proof overhead to a single group element, which is optimal. Furthermore, the utilized subvector proofs speed up block verification and smaller public parameters further reduce block size.
ZK-SNARKs for State Proof:
To provide a trustless and efficient proof of state, we employ ZK-SNARKs, a cryptographic primitive that allows a prover to generate a succinct proof of the validity of a statement without revealing any sensitive information. By using ZK-SNARKs, the state provider can generate proofs of state integrity that can be verified by any participant in the peer-to-peer network, ensuring the trustworthiness of the provided state.
Peer-to-Peer Network:
The proposed solution requires a decentralized peer-to-peer network to distribute the state provider functionality. Peers in the network collaborate to validate and generate ZK-SNARKs proofs for the requested state information. This distributed approach ensures fault tolerance, and resilience, and enhances the scalability of the state provider.
Proof Generation and Validation:
When a stateless transaction enters the alternative mempool, it includes a reference to the required state information. The state provider peers collaborate to generate a ZK-SNARKs proof that verifies the validity and integrity of the specified state against the Mainnet. This proof is then shared with the requesting node, allowing it to verify the state without relying on direct interaction with the Ethereum Mainnet.
To add a stateless light client to verify transactions coming from the alternative mempool, we can incorporate a lightweight client capable of verifying ZK-SNARKs proofs and validating the state information provided by the state provider. Here’s how the stateless light client can be integrated into the proposed solution:
Stateless Light Client:
ZK-SNARKs Proof Verification:
The stateless light client is equipped with the necessary algorithms to efficiently verify ZK-SNARKs proofs. When a transaction is received from the alternative mempool, the client checks the accompanying ZK-SNARKs proof provided by the state provider. It verifies the proof’s validity without the need to access the full state data.
Interaction with State Provider:
The stateless light client interacts with the state provider in the peer-to-peer network to request the required state information for validating the transaction. The client only needs to access the state data relevant to the transaction it is verifying, in accordance with the isolation principle outlined in the proposal.
Decentralized Verification:
The stateless light client operates in a decentralized manner by collaborating with other peers in the network to validate the transaction. It communicates with multiple peers to cross-validate the ZK-SNARKs proof and ensure its correctness.
Trustless State Validation:
The stateless light client performs trustless validation of the stateless transaction by relying on the ZK-SNARKs proof and state data provided by the state provider. This process ensures that the client can verify the transaction’s validity without requiring a full node’s resources or maintaining the entire state data.
Synchronization and Propagation:
The stateless light client can keep track of the stateless transactions in the alternative mempool, synchronizing and propagating validated transactions with other nodes in the network. This ensures consistency in the stateless transaction pool while reducing the burden on full nodes.
Efficiency and Scalability:
The stateless light client’s lightweight nature allows it to efficiently verify transactions and participate in the network’s validation process. By offloading some of the verification tasks from full nodes to the stateless light clients, the overall scalability of the Ethereum network is improved.
Data Availability Assurance:
To ensure data availability for the stateless light client, the state provider network and peer-to-peer network should be designed to handle potential cases of data unavailability or malicious behavior. Proper incentive mechanisms and data redundancy strategies should be in place to maintain the availability of state information.
Integration with Existing Clients:
The stateless light client can be integrated with various Ethereum client implementations to provide stateless transaction verification capabilities. It can complement the existing infrastructure and contribute to the overall decentralization and scalability goals.
Discussion
Scalability and Synchronization:
By utilizing the proposed state provider and its peer-to-peer network, near-instant synchronization of state data can be achieved. As stateless transactions enter the alternative mempool, the distributed peers collaborate to provide efficient and trustless proof of state. This approach helps alleviate the scalability challenges associated with the growing transaction volume on the Ethereum network.
Security and Privacy Considerations:
To ensure the security and privacy of the state data, the state provider network employs robust encryption algorithms and secure communication protocols. ZK-SNARKs provide a high level of privacy by not revealing any sensitive information during the proof generation process. Regular audits and thorough security measures are necessary to ensure the overall integrity of the system.
Integration with Ethereum:
The proposed state provider entity and its associated peer-to-peer network can be seamlessly integrated with the Ethereum infrastructure. Smart contracts can interact with the state provider to verify the ZK-SNARKs proofs before executing stateless transactions. To ensure isolation and prevent interference with stateless transaction validations, each special contract (Factory, Paymaster, Signature Aggregator) is also restricted in its storage access.
Conclusion:
The proposed state provider for Ethereum in the alternative mempool, leveraging ZK-SNARKs and a decentralized peer-to-peer network, offers a promising solution to enhance scalability and enable near-instant synchronization and proof of state for stateless transactions. By maintaining isolation, separating state from verification and execution, and employing ZK-SNARKs for proofs, the system ensures trustless and efficient validation of stateless transactions, while maintaining the privacy and security of the involved contracts. Further research, development, and testing are required to refine the design and evaluate its feasibility in real-world scenarios. The proposed solution holds the potential to address the scalability challenges faced by the Ethereum network and advance the stateless AA model.
By incorporating a stateless light client capable of verifying ZK-SNARKs proofs and validating the state information from the state provider, the proposed solution gains an additional layer of trustless and lightweight transaction verification. The stateless light client plays a crucial role in offloading some of the verification tasks from full nodes, enhancing scalability, and enabling efficient stateless transaction validation within the alternative mempool. Further development, testing, and integration efforts are necessary to realize the full potential of the stateless light client in the Ethereum ecosystem.