Vitalik Buterin: Builders and More Advanced Forms of Aggregation

Cumulo
Cumulo.pro
Published in
5 min readAug 1, 2023

At the Modular Summit event, blockchain enthusiasts and experts gathered to hear from one of the most influential figures in the crypto space: Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum. His talk on the future of blockchain building on Ethereum, with a focus on the modular blockchain, promised to be exciting, and it did not disappoint.

Aggregation: The Powerful Approach to Scalability in Ethereum.

In his presentation, Vitalik highlighted the importance of aggregation as a powerful concept for improving scalability in Ethereum. He explained how this technique allows multiple elements to be combined into a single entity, which significantly reduces the amount of data that needs to be verified on the chain and therefore lowers the costs associated with operations.

Vitalik highlighted the ERC4337 protocol as an example of how aggregation improves Ethereum. With this protocol, users can send multiple user operations with custom conditions in a single transaction, reducing network overhead and improving efficiency and costs.

Within this protocol, BLS (Boneh-Lynn-Shacham) signatures play a key role, as they are a type of digital signature that allows the aggregation of signatures, significantly reducing the size of the signature data. This results in significant savings in terms of gas costs in the Ethereum network. However, its verification requires a different workflow, aggregating all signatures and performing a single check at the end.

In a broader approach, Vitalik also presented the possibility of using aggregation in ZK rollups, a scalability solution that allows processing a large number of off-chain transactions and then sending a single on-chain proof to verify the validity of all of them. This would also help reduce costs and improve efficiency in the network.

Aggregation promises scalability improvements and cost reductions in Ethereum, but poses technical and economic challenges that need to be addressed, especially in terms of centralisation and trust. Vitalik emphasised the importance of the Ethereum ecosystem working together, encouraging collaboration and standardisation between protocols and wallets to avoid centralisation and keep the network open and decentralised.

Building a Robust Ecosystem of Blockbuilders

Vitalik highlighted the importance of a robust ecosystem of block builders in Ethereum, who play a crucial role in block production and assembly. The need to provide them with support and recognition was highlighted.

The building block ecosystem involves actors such as search engines or relayers, with different strategies to create transaction packages. BLS aggregation allows search engines to specialise in specific protocols or aggregate among themselves, which improves efficiency and saves gas.

To avoid centralisation and censorship, the importance of standardisation and collaboration between different protocols and wallets was emphasised. Vitalik urged all stakeholders to work together to address challenges and make significant progress on Ethereum.

Bob the Builder: Ethereum’s Unsung Hero

In the world of Ethereum, scalability is a huge issue. But who is the real hero behind it all? Who is it that actually builds the blocks and makes all this progress possible?

Bob the Builder, more than just a cartoon character, is a representation of all the builders who work tirelessly to improve and expand the Ethereum ecosystem. But Bob does not work alone. Just like in his TV series, Bob has a team of workers who help him build and maintain the infrastructure needed to keep Ethereum running smoothly.

In this world, Bob is the main builder, but there are also dozens of other workers building pieces of infrastructure that are essential to the functioning of the ecosystem.

The builders are the true heroes of Ethereum, and it’s time we give them the recognition they deserve. So the next time you think of Ethereum and all that has been achieved, remember Bob the Builder and all the builders who make this incredible ecosystem possible.

Final Conclusions

Vitalik Buterin’s talk at the Modular Summit was a fascinating look into the future of building blocks on Ethereum. Aggregation presents itself as a promising solution to improve efficiency and reduce costs in the network, especially in gas-intensive use cases such as privacy protocols. By adopting these aggregation techniques, significant savings could be achieved and facilitate the wider adoption of certain protocols on the Ethereum platform.

Furthermore, the pursuit of proof-of-stake uniqueness is an exciting and ambitious vision for the future of Ethereum, which would enable a highly efficient and decentralised network. Undoubtedly, aggregation techniques and the search for common solutions will be key aspects in the continued development and evolution of Ethereum as a leading platform in the world of cryptocurrencies.

In short, Vitalik Buterin’s talk at the Modular Summit was a call to action for all players in the Ethereum ecosystem. Aggregation and the pursuit of proof singularity are exciting concepts that can drive network scalability and efficiency. However, the success of these techniques will depend on joint work and collaboration between all participants in the Ethereum community.

+ info in https://modular.cumulo.pro/

We are Cumulo

Follow us : Twitter | Medium | LinkedIn | cumulo.pro

Follow us in our news channel

--

--