In the new cycle, each chain is still competing for performance. In the post-infrastructure era, how can the performance chain break through?

 

Does RWA require a dedicated chain?

 

The competition for infrastructure has entered the second half, and the communities and ideologies of various general solutions in the first half are gradually maturing in the market.

 

1. Let me first briefly review the basic performance chain that is still active in the first half of this cycle.

 

  • Ethereum has many sufficiently efficient execution layers in the short term through off-chain expansion (but it also buries a mine of liquidity and distraction for the ecosystem)

  • Solana, as the performance chain in the previous cycle, often holds the crown in this round of Meme cycle

  • Although Ton is based on traffic social networking, its native expansion solution of dynamic sharding still demonstrates unique competitiveness in high-performance, low-cost scenarios.

  • The modular infrastructure (Celestia, EigenLayer) also attempts to decouple the execution layer and break through the bottleneck of single chain performance.

  • The Move infrastructure has shown strong vitality in the new cycle with its parallel execution architecture and cheaper on-chain Gas.

In this cycle, I still see a lot of general infrastructure being launched, but in terms of the details of the plan, many of them are not much different from the previous general infrastructure.

 

It’s hard to imagine how these solutions can compete with previous performance chains.

 

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However, performance (TPS, latency, cost) is still the core competitive indicator. One sign I see in this cycle is that infrastructure is beginning to make breakthroughs at the hardware level.

 

I have written about MegaETH and Solayer in my previous posts. They represent the [hardware acceleration] infrastructure of the EVM and SVM systems respectively.

 

Pharos @pharos_network, which is going to be introduced in this post, has also made efforts in hardware acceleration. I have read the introduction of its documentation. There are quite a lot of superimposed concepts, involving: modularization, re-staking, expansion solutions, hardware acceleration, etc.

 

This article will simplify the complex and start a discussion

 

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2. How to understand the architecture of Pharos?

 

The above picture shows the three network layers defined in their official documents, L1-Base, L1-Core and L1-Extension, and each layer has different extensions, which seems a bit complicated to me.

 

We can simply understand Pharos as a Layer 1 with native sharding, which can be divided into two parts: the main network and the extended network (SPN)

 

2.1 Main network core: hardware acceleration and node modularity

 

Pharos’ hardware acceleration is also different from other solutions.

 

First of all, Pharos’ mainnet has three types of node definitions, among which the verification node is the backbone of the consensus mechanism and runs under the Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) Proof of Stake.

 

On this basis, the modular design of nodes allows validator operators to use different computing resources, such as supporting GPU, TEE, FHE accelerator, ZK accelerator, smart network card and other heterogeneous hardware to improve the parallel capability and security of the network.

 

At the same time, due to these factors of node modularization, the Pharos virtual machine has the conditions for parallel execution (Pharos VM supports both EVM and WASM smart contracts)

 

At the node level, we need to briefly expand on the consensus mechanism.

 

(1) First, its block time is not fixed. Pharos allows all consensus nodes to propose proposals at the same time, rather than using the traditional linear framework.

 

The left side of the picture below shows the traditional linear framework, and the right side is the model adopted by Pharos

 

(2) In addition, Pharos introduces a flexible node adaptation method to adapt to various workloads and network conditions.

 

(3) For example, a less active node can make proposals less frequently, which further improves the network’s fault tolerance compared to the traditional Byzantine fault tolerance mechanism.

 

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2.2 Expanding the Network (SPN): Modularity, Restaking, and Interoperability

 

In a nutshell: SPN is the native shard of Pharos, supports modular construction and maintains the security of SPN itself through re-staking, and each SPN is interoperable

 

It can be said that the structural design of Pharos is a combination of the existing models of the current Ethereum system and some improvements have been made.

 

(1) Improvements in expansion solutions: Unlike Ethereum’s off-chain expansion solution, Pharos uses a [sub-chain] native expansion similar to TON.

However, it is lighter than the subchain solution.

 

(2) Re-staking is a seamless integration of external re-staking protocols such as Babylon and Eigenlayer in addition to Pharos’ own token $P

 

SPN can maintain its own business security through re-pledged equity assets or choose the computing power orientation that suits its own node according to the situation.

 

(3) The interoperability of the expansion solution is easy to understand, so I won’t go into details.

 

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2.3 In general, Pharos is a [main network with modular nodes as the core + execution layer expansion based on modular construction based on re-staking]

 

Modularity is a frequently used term here. In SPN, Pharos also provides a modular stack for customizable execution environments.

 

Developers can extend the SPN, Rollup and sidechain solutions in the ecosystem through customizable consensus, execution, settlement and data availability layers on Pharos

 

Therefore, similar to other expansion solutions, SPN and other modular expansion solutions in the framework are used for specific application needs, rather than reinventing a relatively independent wheel.

 

(Due to the performance defects of the Ethereum system, a universal expansion solution has emerged)

 

Simply put, it is equivalent to the popular application chain/application Rollup logic.

 

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3. In the post-infrastructure era, consensus comes first

 

The universal base layer is like a blank sheet of paper. Before 22 years ago, there were not many chains for application developers to choose from. However, after 22 years, the stack led by Cosmos has promoted the emergence of various universal layer chains.

 

At this time, application developers need to consider: which chain to use?

 

There are two classic examples of this cycle that I have seen:

(1) After Ton’s mini-games became popular, the team that made mini-games on Telegram

(2) Applications developed on Starknet

 

In hindsight, for an application development team, choosing either option has a huge decision cost.

 

For infrastructure, it is important to find a consensus label in the ecosystem and develop it as the main line.

 

For example, Solana is DePIN, Base is AI, and during Trump's tenure, the era of crypto white terror has passed, and RWA, a track that emphasizes compliance background, has become the main development line of this cycle.

 

  • (The above figure shows that the growth slope of the RWA track is increasing)

 

 

As RWA is the "battlefield" of this cycle, Pharos also puts the main line of the ecosystem on it.

 

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I have talked a lot about the RWA track this month. One question is whether RWA needs to build a chain.

 

I think it is very similar to the idea above that the infrastructure is a blank sheet of paper, and logic can be directly applied

 

In the end, the core is a question:

 

Which bureau should RWA ecosystem participate in?

 

(1) The institutional business chain announced by Plume and Ethena a few days ago provides the Western answer to the RWA ecosystem

 

(2) Pharos gave the Eastern answer

 

In September 23, Ant Chain launched a new Web3 brand ZAN at the launch conference in the Bund

 

Pharos’ background comes from Ant’s ZAN. Compared with a Layer1 with the attributes of a large company, Pharos gives me a more Web3-native feeling.

 

The development of the RWA track is inseparable from the regional background. Since the (Hong Kong Web3 Declaration) in 2023, the actions of domestic large companies to deploy Web3 in Hong Kong have become unstoppable. The first layout is definitely the most predictable RWA sector.

 

There are old-fashioned "domestic public chains" such as CFX in the front and new infrastructure forces with regional characteristics such as Pharos in the back. They are very likely to become the value carriers of the local RWA concept.