Espresso Systems and Catalyst Collaborate to Improve Interoperability
Today, we are glad to welcome Catalyst as the first application to commit to the Espresso Sequencer ecosystem. Catalyst is a cross-chain AMM platform focused on connecting modular blockchains. In committing to leverage the Espresso Sequencer, Catalyst lays the foundation for secure and seamless cross-rollup interoperability. Over the coming months, Catalyst plans to prioritize deploying on rollups that use the Espresso Sequencer. Catalyst’s aim is to make it easy for developers and users alike to safely access liquidity, and more, from multiple rollups using the Espresso Sequencer.
As we’ve written about in the past, one of the key motivations for developing the Espresso Sequencer is to help defragment the quickly growing modular blockchain ecosystem. By enabling a diverse set of blockchains to share an ordering layer, rollups can gain improved atomicity with each other. For example, a user can specify that a transaction on one rollup should only be included if a transaction on another rollup is simultaneously included. Through proposer-builder separation and support of builders, this functionality can be extended even further, granting users atomic execution guarantees.
Catalyst is developing a leading cross-chain AMM, and can currently be tried out on testnet. They are building a novel solution for cross-chain swaps utilizing their unit of liquidity model, a universal redemption mechanism of liquidity from any chain. As a result, any chain that integrates Catalyst can easily move value to/from any other Catalyst-enabled chain. By removing friction of cross-rollup swaps, Catalyst will lead to increased economic activity for rollups on the Espresso Sequencer.
Catalyst can further generalize its functionality using logic-dependent swaps. This lets users define specific outcomes for their transactions, for example: ‘only swap my 1,000 USDC on chain A if I get at least 1 ETH on chain B in return’. The Espresso Sequencer complements this feature, by enabling atomic transaction inclusion. This allows block builders to give atomic execution guarantees to end users and makes cross-chain arbitrage in a single block possible.
The Espresso Sequencer also improves the user experience for cross-chain applications like Catalyst in other ways. Owing to the fact that blockchains using the Espresso Sequencer share the same consensus, it is impossible for one chain to reorg independently from another, as long as they both use the Espresso Sequencer for consensus. This means that attempting a double spend by reorging one of two chains in the Espresso Sequencer involved in a swap is impossible. Another benefit of sharing a consensus set is that cross-chain swaps can have very low latency, and, as mentioned earlier, can even execute atomically in the same block with the help of a block builder guarantee.
We are glad to bring these benefits to Catalyst, the rollups they deploy on, and their end users.
If you are developing an application that you think would benefit from the Espresso Sequencer, too, then we’d like to hear from you. Head to our website at www.espressosys.com and get in touch via the “Participate” link!
About Catalyst: Catalyst is a leading provider of permissionless liquidity for modular blockchain ecosystems. Its mission is to enable scalable and secure solutions for users to access any application on any chain. Its liquidity layer connects any new modular chain to hubs like Ethereum and Cosmos.
About Espresso Systems: Espresso Systems are the developers of the Espresso Sequencer, supporting the decentralization, scaling, and interoperability of rollups in the Ethereum ecosystem and beyond. Espresso Systems has raised over $30mm from backers like Electric Capital, Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Polychain Capital.
