jakiro
Recently, the well-known chain game blockchain Ronin officially announced a major transformation, returning to the Ethereum ecosystem, that is, changing from the current Ethereum side chain to the second-layer expansion of Ethereum.
This transformation is of great significance to Ronin itself, to the Ethereum ecosystem, and to the development of the first-layer blockchain (L1) ecosystem.
Before exploring this significance, let’s first understand the difference between side chains and layer two extensions.
The difference between the two can be compared with the difference between entity relationships in real life.
Ronin is the side chain of Ethereum.This relationship can be compared to the alliance between the two countries, similar to the relationship between Britain and the United States. In most positions and ideologies, Britain follows the United States and is dominated by the United States, but the two countries each have their own sovereignty and are relatively independent.
In the future, when Ronin is transformed into the second layer of Ethereum, their relationship can be compared to the relationship between the US state and the federal government. For example, California and the federal government – California has great discretion and freedom in many aspects, but no matter how free it is, it is only part of the United States and is subject to the federal government in some key aspects, especially California’s security depends entirely on the federal government.
The future Ronin is equivalent to a state, and Ethereum is the federal government.
Why did Ronin make such a transformation?
The official announcement has made it clear:
For example, Ethereum has greatly improved its efficiency, performance, etc., which can meet the future development of the Ronin ecosystem; Ethereum has a more complete and richer ecosystem…
In addition, there is another more important aspect that the official has not made thorough enough————————————————————————————————————–
Ronin is not the first sidechain to return to Ethereum.Over the years, Celo and Cronos have returned to Ethereum, from the original first-layer blockchain to the second-layer of Ethereum.But because their ecology is not strong enough and their influence is not large enough, their impact on the entire ecology is not as good as that of Ronin.
The basic reasons why these projects return to Ethereum are similar to Ronin: relying on Ethereum’s existing rich ecosystem and utilizing Ethereum security mechanism.
In particular, “utilizing Ethereum’s security mechanism” is very important for many blockchains.But it is precisely this point that many projects do not consider when choosing to build their own first-layer blockchain.They think too simply about building a self-built chain, mistakenly thinking that they choose a consensus mechanism, add a little customized algorithm and call it “more in line with their own needs”, and then put a few nodes to run.
In fact, when the ecosystem of a chain becomes stronger and more powerful and the economic benefits become more attractive, the consensus mechanism of general blockchain cannot resist hackers’ attacks, and it cannot even ensure that it does not go down.
Currently, there are advantages and historically tested in this regard are Bitcoin and Ethereum.Of course they also experienced various accidents in the early days, but they were lucky and quickly solved those problems in that wilderness era and quickly crossed this threshold.It is impossible for later generations to catch up again.
I believe that in the future, more and more projects will undergo similar changes when they grow to a certain level and have higher requirements for security and ecological diversity, from existing side chains or first-layer blockchains to Ethereum’s second-layer expansion.
This leads to my point of view:
In my opinion, except for a very small number of projects that may (just possible) require a separate layer of blockchain/sidechain, 99% of projects (including batches of new projects that are now ready to build a self-built one-layer blockchain) are completely unnecessary. They are the most suitable solution to do layer 2 expansion of Ethereum.
In recent years, when I write articles, readers often ask me in the comment area: What do you think of the XXX blockchain (most of which are first-layer blockchains)?
I responded to these questions in my early years, but my words were more straightforward, but now I rarely reply.The reason is the above reason.
To explain this reason, I think it would be more vivid to use the example of the country to compare it.
We all know that American imperialism is evil.In that country, guns are flooded, drugs are plagued, decadent ideas are spread throughout society, some minority groups have low social status, racial conflicts and opposition are irreconcilable, homeless people are not covered in their bodies and food, and the gap between the rich and the poor at the two levels of society is huge…
We also know that there is another type of country on this earth – such as the neighbor in the northeast of ours.There are meticulous care from the father and leader, endless kindness that the people can feel, and free education, free medical care and free housing that the people can enjoy…
However, if one person must be forced to choose among these two countries, I believe many people will still think that the United States is better.
Ethereum is the American imperialist in the crypto ecosystem.
Many people are extremely dissatisfied with it, thinking that there is something wrong here, something is wrong here, it does not meet my needs, it does not meet my efficiency there…
Are these views correct?
Of course it is true.
So next, these people said that since Ethereum does not meet my ideals and does not meet my needs, I might as well build another layer of blockchain, which is better, more applicable, more efficient than Ethereum…
So one new layer of blockchain has emerged one after another in the crypto ecosystem.
This is like many people are dissatisfied with the US imperialist empire, saying that the US imperialist empire is too evil and too devastating. We want to build another country and a new paradise on earth, but in fact, what they built was one neighbor after another in the northeast of our neighbors.
In this case, is the world getting better or worse?
In fact, there are two ways to deal with this situation:
One is that the US imperial examination is not good. I just want to build another new country, even if it is built, it is a country like our neighbors in the northeast.
The other is to improve within the United States – we rebuild a new state and a new territory. We recognize the values of the founding sages, agree with its constitution, rely on its national defense capabilities, join that big federation, create a vibrant and full of hope within the federation, and attract entrepreneurs from the federation and other countries to come here to start businesses and realize their ideals.
In the crypto ecosystem, the first approach can be analogous to continuously build a new first-layer blockchain; the second approach can be analogous to build a new second-layer expansion based on Ethereum.
I believe that the second method is the more ideal and ultimately feasible method in the crypto ecosystem.
