Background, Ecology and Future Prospects of the Data Availability War

1. The Emergence of Data Availability Issues

Data availability refers to the process by which block producers publish all transaction data of a block to the network for validators to download. If the data is complete and downloadable, it is considered available; otherwise, it is unavailable. Data availability involves two key points: ensuring the security of the validation mechanism and reducing the cost of data publication.

Currently, mainstream L2s typically publish both state data and transaction data on Ethereum to achieve security and data availability. However, this also incurs significant costs, necessitating the search for ways to reduce expenses.

2. Composition of DA Costs and Directions for Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement

Two main directions to reduce DA costs:

1. Reduce the cost of publishing data on L1, such as the Ethereum EIP-4844 upgrade.
2. removes DA from L1, not using Ethereum as the DA layer.

Currently, Near DA has the lowest cost, about $0.0016/block. The second is Celestia, EigenLayer, EIP-4844, etc.

3. V's View on DA

Vitalik believes that solutions that do not use Ethereum's DA are not true Layer 2s, but later compromised by stating that Validium is the correct choice for many applications. He also wants to enhance control over DA through ENS and reintroduces the Plasma solution, trying to draw the DA market towards Ethereum.

4. DA Solutions and Project Overview

Main DA projects include:

• Celestia: Now online, with mature technology and a rich ecosystem.
• EigenDA: Based on EigenLayer, collaborating with multiple L2 projects
• Avail: Not yet launched, using a technology path similar to Ethereum
• Near DA: Cost advantages are obvious, already integrated with Polygon CDK
• Covalent: Provides long-term DA storage and data indexing services
• zkPorter: zkSync's off-chain data availability solution

5. DA Layer and Blockchain Modularization

The DA layer is an abstract layer created in response to the demand for blockchain scalability. Celestia first proposed the concept of a modular blockchain, decoupling the blockchain into execution, DA, consensus, and settlement layers to achieve functional focus and maximize efficiency.

6. Future Outlook

1. Viewing blockchain from a modular perspective, the number of future possibilities = number of execution layer solutions × number of settlement layer solutions × number of DA layer solutions

2. The DA layer will present a decentralized pattern, potentially coexisting with 7-8 major DA projects.

3. Ethereum may specifically build a DA layer or a data storage chain similar to sharding in ETH 3.0.