Authenticity Verification Services (AVS) combines the scale of Web2 with the trust mechanisms of Web3, ushering in the next iteration of the internet. This article provides a brief overview of EigenLayer’s Authenticity Verification Services (AVS) ecosystem.
While blockchain can settle transactions efficiently, attempting to offload all computations to smart contracts is challenging due to limitations in latency and throughput. Even with Rollup solutions, there is still a gap in meeting comprehensive needs such as front-end hosting, oracles, and databases.
Smart contracts need to interact with the account layer, and paying gas fees for every transaction can be costly, necessitating careful design. For example, the latest version of Uniswap v4 utilizes a Hook mechanism, allowing for externally deployed contracts to offer highly customized features to liquidity providers and users, such as limit orders, dynamic fee structures, custom oracles, and TWAMM (Time-Weighted Average Market Maker).
The future of blockchain computing may involve a hybrid architecture that separates computation and storage into a transient layer and a persistent layer. Blockchain serves as the persistent layer with high security guarantees, maintaining shared state among multiple validators. Lower validator requirements ensure decentralized participation, minimizing audits, protecting critical data like transaction logs and identities. AVS introduces a transient layer maintained by a decentralized operator network providing hardware like GPUs, ZK validators, solid-state drives, etc. The operator network offers specialized services including execution engines, virtual machines, oracles, distributed key generation, etc.
Web2 relies on centralized cloud service providers for storage and computation, leading to lower security and vulnerability to audits. Despite redundancy efforts by services like AWS, sensitive information such as bank accounts still requires government custody.
In contrast, AVS services are supported by a subset of Ethereum operators who stake their cryptocurrency to prove their honesty and reliability. Even if the transient layer’s state is compromised, users’ funds on the persistent blockchain layer remain secure.
The core promise of AVS is to provide trust guarantees for any computation, whether on-chain or off-chain, offering a Web3 trust assurance. Its architecture supports verifiable cloud services and verifiable computation.
Firstly, verifiable cloud services. Versatus introduced the AVS cloud service named “Allegra”, providing censorship-resistant, transparent infrastructure for dApps at 50% lower costs compared to traditional cloud service providers. These applications are hosted on the AVS node network, eliminating single points of failure.
In the future, we may witness a new class of applications, distinct from traditional DApps entirely residing on the chain. Versatus coined them “Unstoppable Apps” and introduced a new framework similar to the familiar HTTPS standard.
Applications like decentralized social media that require content recommendations have become possible. AVS achieves this by supporting advanced algorithms that continuously update user feeds based on their browsing history, creating dynamic experiences when accessing on-chain media NFTs.
Do we need “trust” for such services? Just as we expect quality from physical services, every trust computation in software is essential. Unlike tangible goods with visible quality, trust in software relies on the invisible processes behind each function. Algorithms that affect our lives lack transparency. For example, the recent leakage of Google’s search engine optimization (SEO) algorithm clearly misled the public regarding webpage rankings.
So, how high is the cost of this “trust”? Since we are still in the early stages, calculating the additional costs of operating AVS software is challenging. EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan estimated that achieving cryptographic economic security for financial transactions would require an additional 0.1% operating cost.
Aside from “trust,” the second key advantage of AVS is “verifiable computation.”
The AVS node network can perform off-chain computations with support for cryptographic economic/ZK proofs (usable as application inputs), providing possibilities for experiments and interactions with AI agents.
For instance, Uniswap v4’s Hook mechanism can integrate with a decentralized matching engine hosted on dedicated AVS nodes. This operator pool efficiently matches thousands of trade requests with counterparties, creating batch transactions settled on-chain.
AVS operators cannot steal user funds, only matching transactions based on user-defined intent. This architecture allows operators to process intents, integrate AI-driven results, manage dark pools, and develop applications with variable fees, enhancing functionalities.
AVS provides a neutral, accessible, and unstoppable network service. It offers developers a robust node network capable of handling any specialized computation on demand, simplifying the development process without starting from scratch. Currently, there are 1459 AVS operators and 16 AVS services, with EigenDA ranking first with 264 active operators.
AVS unlocks a wide range of possibilities covering multiple areas, divided into three major categories:
Verifiable Web2 infrastructure
Web3 infrastructure
Rollup services
Firstly, trustless Web2 services include content delivery, key management, and decentralized computing. For example, Witness chain utilizes the global AVS “Watchtower” service to provide location proofs by analyzing network latency. Mishti generates private keys from biometric technology through a distributed node set, combining MPC and Threshold signatures with AVS to provide smoother login measures and strengthen privacy. Additionally, AVS is changing decentralized computing, providing innovative technologies like off-chain matching engines for traders. Cedro Finance is preparing to launch an AI agent layer enabling LPs to dynamically calculate CEX and DEX prices for timely liquidity provision.
Secondly, Web3 infrastructure. AVS empowers the fundamental principles relied upon by blockchain and Rollup by ensuring security in the DA layer, providing ZK-supported oracles, and deploying easy-to-integrate monitoring systems, strengthening the Web3 ecosystem.
For example, in the decentralized validation processes of Lagrange and Brevis, queries are executed and verified on the AVS network off-chain, then reintegrated into contracts. Inspired by the Danksharding roadmap, the innovative DA solution EigenDA developed by EigenLayer’s operators provides enterprise-grade solid-state drives for data storage, achieving storage speeds of up to 10 Mbps in testing, with a goal of reaching 1 Gbps with more operators joining.
Lastly, Rollup services protected by AVS include cross-chain bridges, interoperability solutions, fast settlement layers, shared sequencers, re-staked Rollup, etc. NEAR is currently developing a fast finality layer NFFL using AVS to prove cross L2 Rollup states.
In conclusion, AVS is a revolutionary cryptographic economic layer above blockchain, enabling developers to build trustless applications using any programming language.
