Lei Yang: MegaETH achieves 55,000 transactions per second, Ethereum’s scaling strategy pivots back to layer one, and the challenges of layer two security

Key takeaways

MegaETH leverages Ethereum for its superior blockchain execution surroundings.
A stress take a look at on MegaETH achieved 55,000 transactions per second.
Layer two options that replicate layer one providers face safety challenges.
Ethereum’s energy is essential for the whole sensible contract ecosystem.
Ethereum’s scaling technique is shifting from layer twos to enhancing layer one.
Current adjustments in Ethereum’s roadmap characterize a logical pivot.
Regulatory pressures are pushing some rollups in direction of centralization.
Ethereum could return to larger transaction prices as exercise shifts again to layer one.
Present low transaction prices are on account of exercise migration to layer twos.
The power spent on layer two growth is important for Ethereum’s evolution.
Layer twos developed from sharding, permitting for range and experimentation.
The zk-based optimistic fraud proof system ensures transaction correctness.

Visitor intro

Lei Yang is cofounder and CTO of MegaLabs, the group constructing MegaETH, Ethereum’s high-performance Layer 2 with sub-10 millisecond block instances and 100,000 transactions per second. He earned his PhD in Laptop Science from MIT in 2024, with analysis on blockchain consensus and networking that achieved an end-to-end system at 80,000 transactions per second from 2018 to 2019.

Why MegaETH chooses Ethereum

Mega makes use of Ethereum as a result of it permits for probably the most performant blockchain execution surroundings.

— Lei Yang
The explanation why mega makes use of ethereum isn’t due to like you understand fanboyism however as a result of it allowed us to construct probably the most performant doable blockchain.

— Lei Yang
MegaETH achieved 55,000 transactions per second throughout a mainnet stress take a look at.
We did a stress take a look at on mainnet so everybody was capable of do it the place we did 55,000 transactions per second.

— Lei Yang
The stress take a look at demonstrated MegaETH’s capability for dealing with excessive transaction volumes.
We noticed it and that was actually superior… this trains actually quick and has unbelievable compute and it will probably deal with loopy ranges of exercise.

— Lei Yang
MegaETH’s efficiency metrics are dependable as a result of mainnet surroundings carefully emulating precise launch situations.
If we flip the change it’s precisely the factor we’re gonna run-in mainnet it’s like the identical server similar ip deal with similar configuration similar admin keys precisely the identical.

— Lei Yang

The evolution of Ethereum’s scaling technique

Ethereum’s scaling technique is shifting from counting on layer twos to enhancing the capabilities of layer one.
The unique model imaginative and prescient is is now not working ethereum itself must scale within the authentic model principally we have been offloading quite a lot of this to l twos and that’s type of now not essential as a result of the l one is scaling.

— Lei Yang
The latest adjustments in Ethereum’s roadmap characterize a logical pivot moderately than a values pivot.
I consider this as a pivot not a values pivot however let me use the p phrase a pivot when it comes to the highway map itself when it comes to what was initially envisioned with the rollup centric highway map and the place we are actually.

— Lei Yang
The shift in direction of extra centralized options by some rollups is a disappointing however comprehensible response to regulatory pressures.
I believe it’s a tragic realization of like moloch gained nearly in some methods proper we now have to be sincere everybody has completely different incentives… there have been stage one roll ups that instructed me they didn’t need to change into stage two level clean and the reason being as a result of it was the regulatory surroundings they like to be extra centralized.

— Lei Yang
Ethereum will finally see a return to larger transaction prices as exercise shifts again to layer one.
I believe it’s a little bit of an overreaction to say that ethereum will now not want l twos… we are going to in a short time get again to a world the place like there’s $200 transactions on e file one.

— Lei Yang

The function of layer two options

Constructing a layer two that replicates layer one providers is technically uninteresting and poses safety challenges.
It’s fairly uninteresting to attempt to construct and replicate actual primitives offered by the layer one… it’s truly very laborious to construct a safe layer two and if all you need from a layer two is type of simply undertake ethereum safety as is then I believe you’re higher off like constructing out layer one.

— Lei Yang
The power spent on growing the layer two roadmap isn’t wasted however important for Ethereum’s evolution.
I actually don’t suppose just like the power we spend on this substrate is is is wasted or one thing as a result of I believe mega is just doable as a result of ethereum was chasing this layer two centric highway map for a couple of years.

— Lei Yang
Layer twos developed from the idea of sharding, permitting for better range and experimentation in Ethereum’s ecosystem.
The unique concept is that ethereum would run run and function all of the shards… why don’t we simply delegate it to a couple groups in order that we get some range some competitors some experimentation.

— Lei Yang
Layer two options have built-in mechanisms to make sure censorship resistance and consumer exit choices.
The ensures you have got first the layer two can’t censor you within the sense that in case you are in case your transactions are being maliciously excluded from the layer two… you’ll be able to all the time return to the layer one and submit your connection there and the the layer two sequence will probably be pressured to incorporate your connection.

— Lei Yang

Financial sustainability in blockchain

Chain charges usually are not a viable enterprise mannequin for Mega $ETH.
I don’t suppose prefer it’s cool that you simply guys can do 11,000,000,000 transactions per second I don’t suppose you guys are attending to a sustained degree of natural 11,000,000,000 transactions per second anytime quickly.

— Lei Yang
Financial sustainability for blockchain techniques ought to prioritize consumer accessibility over short-term revenue from charges.
I believe that’s truly brief time period considering as a result of the best way mega grows is by letting everybody come and use my id for as low cost as humanly doable.

— Lei Yang
The present method to blockchain income technology must evolve past merely launching tokens.
You kinda have to construct some form of like actual enterprise mannequin and we kinda got here all the way down to stablecoins earlier than at the very least that’s that’s what we now have now.

— Lei Yang
The mechanism of incomes yield from stablecoins on the Mageve platform permits for reinvestment into the chain with out harming finish customers.
What we principally mentioned is hey we’re gonna have like this native steady coin usdm and when functions use usdm we earn the tibo yield for that proper that goes into the maggie eve steadiness sheet…

— Lei Yang

The way forward for rollups and governance

Stage two rollups require a dedication to immutability in governance logic, which poses vital dangers.
Stage two principally says eliminate the safety council code is to manipulate you want for all times immutability… you’re principally saying one piece of the design of the roll up of the layer two goes to be fastened without end for the lifetime of the universe for the lifetime of ethereum.

— Lei Yang
Reaching stage two in rollups could take longer than beforehand anticipated, probably past two years.
I don’t suppose it’s accountable to say that we’ll attain stage two inside a 12 months or perhaps even inside two years.

— Lei Yang
Trusting the safety council in stage one can result in potential misuse of energy.
You additionally need to belief that the safety council isn’t going to misuse your energy as a result of yeah inside a 12 months we… do see ourselves in stage one however truly it’s not in all probability not good for for us to say ourselves to to label like a mega eth as a stage one.

— Lei Yang
AI may play an important function in verifying software program correctness, which is important for reaching stage two.
I believe the factor that AI does the perfect is the stuff that’s laborious to provide however straightforward to confirm… proofs of software program code.

— Lei Yang

The impression of AI on blockchain

The following billion customers of blockchain expertise may truly be AI brokers.
One different chance right here that has extra lately risen to my consideration right here is that the following like billion customers may truly be ai brokers.

— Lei Yang
The poor consumer expertise in crypto for people may very well profit software program brokers.
Should you consider that a number of the motive we haven’t had extra crypto adoption has been the ux is horrible… all of the ux issues we now have are literally advantages for little software program brokers.

— Lei Yang
We should always begin prioritizing agent customers in blockchain experiences.
Possibly we should always begin actually prioritizing agent customers in a few of our blockchains expertise.

— Lei Yang
Brokers can function with limitless power to experiment with completely different transaction paths, in contrast to people who could quit after a couple of makes an attempt.
I believe to assist brokers you want… you want the block house to be sufficiently low cost in order that they’ll try to error… brokers have immense quantity of power… human don’t are simply try to errors.

— Lei Yang

The function of proximity markets in blockchain

Microscopic auctions in Ethereum’s block ordering are impractical for techniques with very low block intervals.
What it basically breaks for us is as a result of our block interval is so small as a result of in our case the blocking interval is ten milliseconds… working auctions at this sort of nice granularity utterly breaks down.

— Lei Yang
We consider {that a} proximity market mannequin is more practical than microscopic auctions for transaction ordering.
What we’re attempting to attain… we name it the proximity market… you run these choices at this sort of interval and resolve a bunch of those that.

— Lei Yang
Collocating with the sequencer permits for optimized buying and selling algorithms to function with minimal latency.
Can have the the seat to collocate with the sequencer and when you do this then they’ll take no matter algorithm they need to run and run them on these seats that are principally digital machines which can be proper subsequent to the sequencer so the quotes we get from our cloud supplier is down to 1 millisecond…

— Lei Yang
The motivation construction ought to encourage high-frequency merchants to bodily find close to the sequencer to boost market liquidity.
The explanation so that you can have a ten millisecond block interval is so that you can construct environment friendly liquid markets… they need to come to the sequencer so this I believe is each an incentive construction and in addition I believe a extra sensible method for us to have like environment friendly precedence allocation when you have got actual time buying and selling.

— Lei Yang

MegaETH’s technique for fostering innovation

Mega $ETH’s method to fostering its personal app ecosystem is important to keep away from redundancy throughout chains.
We can’t find yourself in a scenario the place we simply have a bunch of repeat functions that exist on each different chain… what’s the level of us spending the previous three years of our lives attempting to construct this factor if there’s actually nothing new that may exist on this prepare.

— Lei Yang
Mega $ETH is actively in search of founders to construct distinctive functions to boost its ecosystem.
What we did is we principally simply began looking for founders and persuade founders to… construct cool shit to be frank.

— Lei Yang
There’s a vital mind drain in crypto, with many potential founders leaving for AI on account of poor consumer expertise.
I believe quite a lot of these founders that might have come and constructed superior apps couldn’t do it final cycle as a result of the ux was rubbish and this cycle they simply left to ai.

— Lei Yang
If we stay credibly impartial and don’t actively encourage growth, we danger ending up with no new functions.
My larger concern is the builders are gone… you truly will be extremely impartial as a result of should you do this we simply don’t find yourself with any extra apps.

— Lei Yang

The way forward for token distribution and possession

The present method to token distribution out there is flawed and inequitable.
I believe that was a an issue that we we noticed and we thought that it was simply not perfect as a result of you understand you’d like crypto is exclusive as a result of lots…

— Lei Yang
Value discovery has shifted from public to personal markets, resulting in unequal entry for public members.
I believe it was fairly superior… quite a lot of worth discovery moved to personal markets and the tip outcome was like you understand public members weren’t essentially getting equal entry to to property.

— Lei Yang
The normal mannequin of possession in tech doesn’t apply to crypto, the place customers need to be homeowners of the functions they use.
I believe it’s completely nice that’s not precisely the identical case in crypto the place individuals have traditionally been like I wanna be an proprietor within the functions I take advantage of it’s simply it felt very unfair.

— Lei Yang
The method of permitting customers to take part in possession has confirmed profitable, as evidenced by excessive participation charges in funding rounds.
We principally simply doubled down with that thesis… 80% of echo customers tried to take part… ended up you understand oversubscribing by like 25x.

— Lei Yang