With the return of the bull market and the approval of the Ethereum ETF, the Ethereum ecosystem has gained tremendous attention and discussion, with the L2 project Taiko being at the forefront. After Vitalik included Taiko’s genesis block and praised its technical roadmap, his recent article “Layer 2s as cultural extensions of Ethereum” mentioned Taiko again, stating that every Ethereum L2 has its unique “soul,” and Taiko emphasizes “seamless user experience,” “community-driven,” “security-first,” and “Based (multi-dimensional “based” on Ethereum)”.
In previous large-scale events, Vitalik has shared his views on the development of Ethereum L2. His viewpoints include ZK as the future of Ethereum, taking a long-term perspective that Ethereum L2 needs multi-proofs, and Taiko, which has frequently received praise from Vitalik, is among the first projects to put these ideas into practice.
As a Type-1 zkVM, Taiko is not only the first team in the industry developing Based Rollup but also the first project to implement the concept of multi-proofs. It is dedicated to further improving system security and robustness while supporting efficient and low-cost processing of complex computations and large-scale transactions.
The outstanding technical strength and innovation capabilities have made Taiko a leader in the Ethereum L2 innovation race and have raised high expectations for its mainnet launch and airdrop in May 2024. To mark this milestone, Vitalik packed a header block with a height of “1” on the network, with metadata containing the names of each Taiko core contributor, expressing his anticipation for the mainnet launch and gratitude for the team’s crucial support in achieving decentralized community leadership and network launch.
As Taiko approaches its mainnet launch, another important milestone, the Token Generation Event (TGE), is also entering the countdown phase.
This article aims to delve into Taiko, exploring its core advantages and ecosystem construction strategies from a technical perspective, and understanding Taiko’s vision of “building a truly decentralized, permissionless, and fully inheriting Ethereum’s security features with an efficient and low-threshold L2 architecture.”
Taiko has gained recognition in the competitive L2 field due to its star-studded entrepreneurial team and outstanding technical innovation capabilities. It is well known that the core team of Taiko is composed of almost the same members as the Loopring project, the first ZK-Rollup deployed on Ethereum. In 2020, Loopring became the first Chinese project to be listed on Coinbase. Taiko’s co-founder and CEO, Daniel Wang, not only founded Loopring but also has rich Web2 experience, having served as the technical leader of JD.com, Google’s technical director, and senior software engineer. With his Web2 + Web3 dual-track record, Taiko has attracted attention from the beginning, and the project has a solid technical foundation from product design to implementation.
From a technical architecture perspective, Taiko is divided into three main modules:
Multi-Prover: It utilizes various integrated proof systems such as zkVM and SGX to directly compile and run Ethereum virtual machines based on Rust, generating zero-knowledge or TEE proofs to verify the accuracy and integrity of Ethereum block execution. Through Multi-Prover, Taiko can extend Ethereum without changing existing smart contracts and dApps, while inheriting Ethereum’s security, decentralization, and compatibility.
Layer 2 Rollup Node: It is responsible for managing and executing transactions on Layer 2 while interacting with Ethereum Layer 1 (L1). Through Layer 2 Rollup technology, Taiko can increase Ethereum’s transaction throughput, reduce transaction costs, and maintain decentralization and security.
Taiko Protocol: It defines and enforces the rules of Layer 2 Rollup to ensure transaction correctness and network security. Through smart contracts and decentralized verification, the Taiko Protocol achieves efficient scalability of Ethereum while maintaining its decentralization and security features.
Taiko aims to become a Type-1 zkVM. zkVM is a ZKP-based general-purpose computing platform that can verify the correctness of computations without revealing execution details. It supports off-chain processing of computationally intensive tasks and only submits verification results to the blockchain, greatly improving the scalability of the blockchain. Compared to other solutions, Type-1 zkVM is fully equivalent to Ethereum, as it can run directly on the Ethereum chain. However, it requires high technical expertise, so there are not many projects in the industry pursuing the implementation of Type-1 zkVM, and Taiko is one of them. Based on Taiko, developers and users can experience Ethereum securely with lower transaction fees and without making any changes to Ethereum.
The BCR architecture built on Multi-proofs further enhances Taiko’s advantages in cost, efficiency, and security. As a key innovation of the Taiko Protocol, the core of the BCR framework (Based Contestable Rollup) lies in “competition.” Anyone can become a proposer and submit block proposals, and any verifier who disagrees with the state transition result can submit security-level challenge proofs to change the L2 block state and make choices between correct and erroneous forks. Proposers need to pack user transactions and generate zero-knowledge proofs, and multiple proposers can compete to submit blocks. Verifiers are responsible for verifying the blocks and zero-knowledge proofs submitted by proposers, and multiple verifiers can compete to validate blocks. This process not only ensures the decentralization of the generation and submission process of each block but also increases the security of the network.
Multi-proofs are the core concept for implementing the BCR framework. This concept was first proposed by Vitalik and is seen as an important direction for future Ethereum upgrades. Vitalik believes that single-proof solutions cannot handle the bug problems hidden in complex code of zkEVM. With multi-proofs, multiple proof types are generated for a single block. Even if one type of proof encounters issues, other types of proofs can continue to ensure the normal operation of the system and promptly detect any incorrect state transitions.
As the first project to implement the concept of multi-proofs, Taiko believes that multi-proofs in ZK can be transformed into using multi-SNARKs + multi-Clients, which means using multiple ZK-SNARK proofs from different Ethereum nodes. This will lay the foundation for the diversity of SNARKed nodes in future Ethereum L1. In addition, Taiko also adopts the Halo 2-KZG proof system, enabling efficient and low-cost processing of complex computations and large-scale transactions. Currently, Taiko has launched the Raiko multi-prover, an integrated environment that can build, run, and benchmark ZK-VM targets. It currently supports SP 1, Risc 0, and SGX and is working on integrating Jolt and Powdr.
Furthermore, during the “Multi-proofs for rollups” Twitter Space event held on December 13, 2023, Vitalik had an in-depth discussion and expressed high praise for another core innovation of Taiko, BBR (Based Booster Rollup).
Before understanding BBR, let’s briefly understand Based Rollup. Based Rollup, also known as L1-sequenced Rollup, was first proposed by Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, in March 2023. It is a type of Rollup where the sequencing is entirely driven by the underlying L1. This design outsources the sequencing rights to L1 validators, and the consensus layer, data availability layer, and settlement layer are all Ethereum, with only the execution layer built onRollup is a Layer 2 scaling solution that simplifies the complexity of transactions, reduces latency and operational costs, and inherits the security and decentralization of Ethereum. Its design eliminates the need for additional security mechanisms or consensus algorithms to ensure the validity and order of transactions, making it an attractive L2 option.
The idea of BBR (Based Rollup) was born out of the Taiko team’s further thinking about Based Rollup, with the aim of adding out-of-the-box native Ethereum L1 DApp extension capabilities to further enhance its advantages. BBR seamlessly integrates with L1 and is fully compatible with Ethereum’s existing architecture. It can enhance any type of aggregation and its dual-layer structure separates transaction execution and storage, ensuring both efficiency and decentralization. This solution, which is very close to the native Ethereum extension, improves transaction execution and storage efficiency. DApps only need to be deployed once and can be automatically extended to all L2s. If additional block space is needed, more “booster rollups” can be added without any additional configuration work.
Compared to other OP or ZK-based L2 projects, Taiko’s series of technological innovations have brought unique and positive experiences for ecosystem participants.
One notable feature of Taiko is its permissionless nature, where anyone can propose or validate a block. This design, which outsources the sorting rights to L1 validators, not only makes Taiko a true Layer 2 that inherits Ethereum’s decentralization, but also allows anyone to become a proposer, further increasing the decentralization of the system and promoting a healthier network operation.
For developers, Taiko extends Ethereum at the technical and protocol levels using Ethereum’s own operation mode. It is not only more secure and efficient, but also allows for unlimited scalability with a single deployment. This saves time and manpower costs, reduces transaction fees, and provides stronger scalability.
Since its inception, Taiko has never stopped thinking about L2 and pursuing innovation. From Multi-proofs and Based Rollup to BBR and Type-1 zkVM designs, Taiko has been an active explorer in the L2 field, attracting investments from top industry institutions.
In March 2024, Taiko announced a $15 million Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $37 million, including investments from prominent institutions such as Sequoia China, Generative Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Hashed, Token Bay Capital, and the Ethereum Foundation.
Taiko has always been committed to deep thinking and continuous innovation in Layer 2 networks. With the acceleration of the mainnet launch and ecosystem development, Taiko seeks to collaborate with leading projects in the industry and mobilize community participation to enhance the diversity and vitality of its ecosystem.
In May, Taiko attracted widespread attention. Firstly, the launch of the mainnet garnered significant attention. Taiko has been developing since 2022 and has had over 1.1 million independent wallets, over 30,000 decentralized proposers, and over 14,000 decentralized validators during the testnet phase. After seven testnets, Taiko officially launched its mainnet on May 27.
Another highlight was the upcoming launch of the Taiko token after the mainnet launch. With its technological innovation, support from reputable institutions, and high praise from Vitalik, Taiko is seen by many as a highly potential player in the Ethereum L2 field.
On May 23, before the mainnet launch, Taiko’s Genesis Airdrop activity sparked widespread discussion in the community. According to Taiko’s tokenomics model, the total supply of TAIKO tokens is 1 billion, with 5% of tokens allocated for the Genesis Airdrop to block proposers, block validators, users interacting with the testnet, users participating in Galxe activities, and users making contributions on eligible repositories on GitHub. The TAIKO airdrop claims will take place on the Taiko mainnet L2, with no token lock-up or vesting period.
Following the airdrop, Taiko launched an airdrop query page, and users quickly shared their airdrop experiences on social media. According to AEVO Premarket, the current price of TAIKO is around $5.
However, it is difficult to satisfy everyone with large-scale airdrops, and there were users expressing their dissatisfaction with Taiko’s Genesis Airdrop. In response to community sentiment, the Taiko team updated its official FAQ, stating that over 300,000 addresses claimed over 50 million airdrop tokens. As one of the recipients of the airdrop, Loopring announced that it will distribute 2.5 million TAIKO to the community.
Furthermore, the Genesis Airdrop is only the first phase, with 5% of the total token supply allocated. There will be 10% of tokens reserved for future airdrops, such as the Trailblazers event, where participants can earn exclusive rewards by participating and minting faction badges on the mainnet.
In terms of ecosystem development, Taiko has made significant progress before the mainnet launch. According to the official Taiko website, there are already 100+ projects in the Taiko ecosystem, including wallets, NFT markets, oracles, DeFi, and AI applications.
With the official launch of the mainnet and the accelerated ecosystem development process, Taiko will attract more high-quality projects to join and announce collaborations, such as Pyth, Etherscan, Pancakeswap, and Layer Zero.
The rich ecosystem benefits from Taiko’s low development threshold, thanks to its technical advantages. As a Type-1 zkVM L2 solution, Ethereum dApps can seamlessly migrate to the Taiko ecosystem, and developers often don’t have to worry about deployment or code adjustments.
Taiko also provides a range of support policies for ecosystem development. Developers can access practical tools and tutorials by regularly checking the official website’s updated documentation. Taiko has also launched an ecosystem grant program to discover innovative potential and provide support in funding, operations, and technology to developers interested in building applications based on the Taiko ecosystem, further promoting ecosystem prosperity.
In conclusion, although the official launch of the mainnet is just the beginning of a new journey for Taiko, the performance of various dimensions after the mainnet launch still needs to be observed and validated. However, with its multiple technological innovations, impressive funding, and team background, Taiko has the potential to sustain its development. With multiple advantages, it continues to attract the attention of the community.
For crypto projects, technological innovation is the foundation, and ecosystem development is a key factor in long-term success. Therefore, listening to community feedback, implementing effective incentive measures, and providing a transparent and diverse ecosystem participation experience are important throughout the project’s lifecycle. With the launch of the mainnet and the achievement of various milestones, it is expected that innovative explorers like Taiko will continue to drive the upgrade and development of Ethereum L2.
