Traditional monolithic execution layers rely on 1000s of block producers and non-producing full nodes, requiring a majority of them to act honestly.

In contrast, layer 2s only require a single honest "Sequencer" to guarantee network integrity.

This asymmetric trade-off suggests that layer 2s will consistently deliver high throughput and significant performance advantages, even when the same hardware is employed by both layer 1 and layer 2. This is due to the inefficiencies of synchronization time between 1000s of nodes and the processing time of the slowest node in monolithic execution layers.

While monolithic execution layers can theoretically optimize performance by utilizing high-end hardware, this approach comes at the cost of limiting the number of nodes that can participate in the network. This reduction in node count can diminish the network's overall security and decentralization.

Layer 2s, on the other hand, are inherently more scalable and can effectively utilize high-end hardware without compromising decentralization.

• For example, ZK execution layers require only a handful of powerful machines to handle transactions, generate proofs, and submit them to the mainnet. These proofs can then be verified on thousands of low-end devices.

• While optimistic execution layers are not as efficient as ZK execution layers, they still offer significant performance advantages over monolithic layers. optimistic execution layers require more than a handful of nodes to recompute the data submitted to the mainnet. because of this, we need to keep hardware requirements in check, so we cannot use supercomputers.

What about the economics of Monolithics and Layer2s?

Monolithic execution layers demand 1000s of nodes to reprocess all transactions, Let’s say a monthly cost of $2000 per node. This translates to a total economic cost of $2 million per month.

In contrast, validity-proven execution layers only utilize a handful of supercomputers (let's say ten), each costing $20,000 per month. This results in a significant reduction in the computational network cost, from $2 million to $200,000 per month.

The proliferation of validity proofs has already started and is inevitable. This is the only currently known way for the blockchain world to achieve global scale. Monolithic blockchains cannot scale.

However, these technologies will take time to develop and implement, which is the only drawback to this approach.

Tl;dr: Validity proofs make execution layers faster, cheaper, and easier to verify than monolithic execution layers and optimistic rollups.

Ref:
The efficiencies of validity proofs — polynya

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