Sovereign: Provides SDK for Rollups, drop the barrier to entry for zk-SNARKs technology

Recently, a cryptocurrency project focused on building rollups completed a $7.4 million seed round funding, with a valuation reaching "eight figures". The project is developing a software development kit (SDK), aimed at helping developers create secure and interoperable zk-SNARKs rollups. Below is a detailed introduction to the project.

Sovereign is an open and interconnected rollup ecosystem aimed at enabling all developers to deploy seamless, interoperable, and scalable rollups that can run across various blockchains. To this end, they have developed the Sovereign SDK, a framework for creating secure and interoperable sovereign zk-rollups.

The Dilemma of Blockchain Application Expansion

limitations of L1 public chains

Currently, there are three main ways to scale blockchain applications: L1 public chains tailored for specific applications, optimistic rollups, and zk-rollups. Although L1 public chains designed for applications are relatively simple to design and deploy, they face significant drawbacks. Each L1 needs to recruit its own validators and convince them to stake enough funds to secure the blockchain. Due to the high cost of funds, this approach is only suitable for a few applications with ample resources.

The shortcomings of Optimistic Rollups

The emergence of Rollups allows developers to extend existing blockchains using new logic, rather than launching new blockchains. This significantly lowers the development threshold for application chains. However, mainstream optimistic rollups currently face issues. To alleviate the burden of a shared validator set, optimistic rollups use fraud proofs to prevent misconduct. This results in longer "finality delays", and transactions may be rolled back due to fraud proofs. As a result, bridging between optimistic rollups becomes slow, expensive, and carries higher risks.

Advantages of Zk-Rollups

In contrast, zk-rollups are considered the dominant scaling solution of the future. They retain the advantages of optimistic rollups while avoiding long finality delays. Users do not have to wait days to confirm transactions; as soon as the validity proof is generated (which usually takes only a few seconds), they can be confident that the transaction is complete. However, building zk-rollups is still a complex task that requires the long-term commitment of specialized cryptographic engineers.

Sovereign SDK Solutions

The Sovereign SDK aims to provide support for zk-rollups similar to what the Cosmos SDK does for L1 public chains. It offers a variety of foundational components typically provided by blockchains, such as p2p networks, databases, and RPC nodes, allowing developers to focus on the business logic of their own blockchain. Additionally, it provides a series of default modules that operate efficiently in zero-knowledge environments, including token deployment, verified data storage, and bridging modules.

One important feature of the Sovereign SDK is that it simplifies complex zk-SNARKs details. Developers do not need to be cryptography experts; they can simply write applications using common programming languages like Rust (with C++ support possibly coming in the future), and the SDK will automatically compile them into an efficient zk virtual machine.

Main Features of Sovereign SDK

1. Seamless Interoperability: Achieve efficient bridging between Sovereign SDK rollups on shared L1 using a new type of bridging technology based on proof aggregation.

2. Security and Scalability: By customizing each component for zk-rollups, the Sovereign SDK provides excellent performance by default, with proof delays of only a few seconds.

3. Cross-Chain Compatibility: Sovereign SDK Rollups can run on any blockchain because they delegate the responsibility of validating proofs to end users, rather than the underlying L1 public chain.

Project Development Roadmap

The development of the Sovereign SDK is divided into three stages:

1. Research Phase (Ongoing): Design the default storage module, cryptoeconomic model, and core API, and develop the research prototype.

2. Initial Deployment Phase: Deploy p2p network, RPC nodes, core API, and default storage and sorting modules.

3. Hardening Practice Stage: Conduct code cleanup, testing, fuzz testing, and auditing, while developing the first use case of the SDK.

Sovereign Labs' vision is to enable blockchain to support billions of users. To achieve this goal, they are committed to dropping the barriers to the use of zero-knowledge technology, allowing developers to build Rollups without needing to be cryptography experts. At the same time, they insist on keeping the SDK completely free and open-source, and building each technical component to the highest standards to ensure that the verifiability of end users is not sacrificed.