Crypto projects today are hard to embrace because they are hard to scale. Rollups were created to deal with this, but their security and decentralization need fixing.

AltLayer has emerged as a revolutionary solution, incorporating innovative solutions like restaked rollups to deliver increased security and faster finality. This article will explain what AltLayer is, how it works, and its potential to revolutionize blockchain technology as we know it.

What is AltLayer?

Source: https://altlayer.io/

AltLayer is a decentralized protocol offering rollups as a service. It uses an innovative way of implementing rollups known as Restaked Rollups. This approach combines multiple rollup stacks like OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, ZKStack, and Polygon CK to improve security, decentralization, interoperability, and faster finality.

Alt Layer is a user-friendly platform that allows developers to launch high-performing Layer 2 rollups with minimal coding. It works as a temporary extension layer on top of OptimisticRollups, and it is compatible with both Layer 1 and 2 blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, and Optimism. Although it is designed for a multi-blockchain and multi-VM world, it is not tied to any particular project. It is a modular and connectable scaling solution for all EVM and WASM-compatible blockchains.

History of AltLayer

AltLayer was established in 2021 by Dr. Yaoqi Jia, former director of Parity Asia and co-founder/CTO of Zilliqa. The company is headquartered in Singapore, and it comprises a team of experienced members who have previously worked at firms like Parity, Ziliqa, and Synthetix.

Since its inception, AltLayer has received tremendous support from the crypto industry, raising $7.2 million in a seed round with Polygon Capital, Breyer Capital, and Jump Crypto leading the investment. The project has partnered with other crypto industry stakeholders such as OKX Ventures, Hashkey Capital, TRGC, Primitive, and Bodhi Ventures.

How Does Alt Layer Work?

AltLayer provides a Rollups-as-a-service (RaaS) launchpad, which enables users to create a customized rollup in minutes without the need for coding experience. The product has been designed to support EVM and WASM-compatible dApps and blockchains in a multi-chain and multi-VM world.

AltLayer addresses the compatibility concerns of multichain dApps created by simplifying the management and deployment of rollups based on both EVM and Wasm, which are the two major blockchain execution environments.

AltLayer works as a modular stack for rollups, with modularity as a core principle. This means that AltLayer is built as a system of independent yet interchangeable components. AltLayer itself is not a rigid system but more of a collection of self-contained modules that work together. These modules include the runtime layer, which is responsible for executing transactions; the data availability layer, where transaction data is stored; and the settlement layer, where transactions are finalized.

This approach allows users to select from different run-time layers, such as the EVM or WebAssembly (Wasm). They can also choose their preferred data availability layers, such as the underlying Layer 1, external options like Celestia, and settlement layers like Ethereum or Arbitrum. AltLayer rollups are elastic and highly scalable, capable of adapting dynamically to meet fluctuating demand.

Moreover, unlike most rollup platforms, AltLayer’s implementation of fraud proofs empowers any node to alert the network of potentially fraudulent transactions. Typically, only designated validators within a rollup network can submit fraud proofs. This can create a centralization point and increase the risk of validating collaboration to manipulate the system. AltLayer solves this by empowering any node in the network, not just designated validators, to submit fraud proofs. This sets AltLayer apart by significantly enhancing the overall security of operations on an AltLayer-based rollup.

AltLayer also introduced a groundbreaking concept of “ephemeral rollups” that enables developers to create a fast, efficient, and highly scalable application-specific rollup secured by Layer 1. With this technology, developers can create a rollup tailored to their application requirements without the need for complex and time-consuming coding processes. The rollup can be used for as long as necessary and disposed of using an “end-of-life” settlement on Layer 1. AltLayer offers both ephemeral and persistent rollups under the RaaS umbrella.

Main Features of AltLayer

AltLayer is an innovative project offering revolutionary features. Some of these include:

Restaked Rollups

Restaked Rollups is an innovative method that combines the benefits of creating rollups using existing rollup stacks (such as OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, ZKStack by ZKSync, and Polygon CDK) with the enhanced security and decentralization provided by EigenLayer’s restaking mechanism. Restaked Rollups comprise three Actively Validated Services: VITAL, MACH, and SQUAD, essential to the platform’s seamless operation. Actively Validated Services are applications that leverage their own consensus mechanisms to validate transactions rather than depending solely on the security of the Ethereum blockchain. VITAL provides decentralized verification of rollup states, MACH offers rapid finality, and SQUAD provides decentralized sequencing.

Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS)

AltLayer uses RaaS to launch new rollups. The platform is built on the same foundation as Restaked Rollups. With RaaS, users get a no-code dashboard that they can use to launch customizable rollups without any coding involved. As such, the RaaS platform provides a powerful and flexible solution for launching new rollups quickly and easily. It allows developers to create highly customizable rollups that can be adapted for various use cases.

AltLayer Ecosystem

AltLayer is home to many products and services ranging from defi to gaming, bridges, oracles, sequencers, etc. Some of these products include:

Injective

Injective is an innovative DeFi protocol that seeks to transform the financial system by offering highly interoperable, scalable, and decentralized dApps. The platform employs a unique hybrid architecture that combines the best of both worlds - the security and immutability of a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain with the scalability and speed of a centralized order book. This enables the protocol to handle a large volume of transactions at a lower cost, making it an ideal solution for complex financial applications.

OP Mainnet

OP Mainnet is an innovative solution developed by Ethereum developers for Ethereum developers. It offers a lightning-fast, stable, and scalable Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain that can help easily scale Ethereum dApps. This blockchain was designed to be a minimal extension of existing Ethereum software, providing a hassle-free experience to its users. Powered by optimism, it aims to provide a constructive platform for developers to build their dApps and contribute to the growth of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Eigen Layer

Eigen Layer seeks to tackle the issue of limited liquidity and potential security vulnerabilities by introducing a novel approach called restaking. By restaking, users can utilize staked ETH as cryptoeconomic security for protocols other than Ethereum in exchange for protocol fees and rewards.

Restaking is currently available for natively staked ETH and liquid staked tokens like stETH, rETH, cbETH, and LsETH.

Celer

Celer is a protocol that allows users to access different types of tokens and NFTs across multiple blockchain networks with a single click. The platform uses Celer’s inter-chain messaging SDK to enable developers to create decentralized applications (dApps) compatible with various blockchains. As such, Celer Network users benefit from a diverse multi-blockchain ecosystem without dealing with the complexities of multiple transactions. Additionally, Celer Network offers several innovative products, including:

Celer IM

Celer IM (Inter-chain Messaging framework) uses Celer’s Message Bus contracts and the State Guardian Network to simplify the creation of multi-blockchain dApps. With Celer IM, developers can create dApps that are interoperable across different chains without having to deploy multiple variations of the same smart contracts on different blockchains. As such, Celer IM enables efficient cross-chain communication and execution of smart contract functions.

cBridge

Celer cBridge is a decentralized asset bridge that enables secure and effortless token transfers between over 40 blockchains and layer-2 rollups. It is non-custodial, meaning users have full control over their assets. The platform has processed over $14 billion in transactions for more than 540,000 unique users, making it a reliable and efficient solution for cross-chain transfers.

Peti

Peti is a cross-chain liquidity protocol that provides traders with a seamless trading experience and allows institutional market makers to achieve optimum liquidity efficiency. One of the major issues traders face when executing large-sized omnichain trades is high slippages due to the limited depth of liquidity pools of cross-chain bridges. The protocol solves this problem by providing “just-in-time” liquidity, allowing traders to execute omnichain trades without slippage.

Source: https://docs.altlayer.io/altlayer-documentation/rollup-as-a-service/altlayer-ecosystem

FlashGPT

FlashGPT is an advanced AI-powered assistant tool that works similarly to Siri. It is designed to simplify the workload of developers by utilizing the power of OpenAI’s GPT language model. The tool has two primary features, which include creating solidity smart contracts and deploying them to Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions such as AltLayer, Arbitrum, and Ethereum. It is also used to deploy and customize AltLayer Rollups.

The developer community has already shown great interest in FlashGPT, and it has received positive feedback. The project was first developed at the ETH global hackathon Scaling Ethereum 2023, where it won prizes from Polygon and Scroll.

WebIDE

AltLayer’s rollup launchpad provides a user-friendly web-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that enables easier deployment and communication with smart contracts on the Flash Layer.

The web IDE includes a contract generator that enables you to create contracts designed explicitly for the AltLayer contract states rollup solution without the hassle. Once you have generated the contract, you can open and edit it within the IDE to meet your specific requirements.

To access the IDE, click on the “IDE” tab located on the left panel of the launchpad. To deploy a smart contract, navigate to the “Deploy and run transactions” section on the left navigation panel. Here, you can select your wallet, pick the contract you want to deploy, and click the “Deploy” button.

Before confirming the deployment, ensure that your crypto wallet (such as Metamask) is connected to the Flash Layer network in the top right corner. Finally, confirm the transaction using your wallet, and your smart contract will be ready for use on your Flash Layer.

What is ALT?

ALT is the native token of the AltLayer ecosystem, and it was officially released in January 2024. ALT token holders can vote on important decisions, and use ALT for transactions and rewards. Holders can also stake their tokens within the network, and restake ALT tokens with the EigenLayer platform. However, if any malicious behavior is detected, those stakes can be slashed. ALT also acts as a protocol incentive, allowing validators to contribute to AltLayer’s network security and decentralization while earning ALT tokens as rewards.

With its launch, AltLayer held an airdrop, sharing 3% of its total supply (300 million tokens) to eligible users, including NFT holders on the platform and users who staked and restaked their tokens on partner platforms such as EigenLayer and Celestia.

ALT Tokenomics

ALT has a total supply of 10 billion tokens, a circulating supply of 1.1 billion tokens, and a market cap of approximately $560 million. The token was distributed as follows:

• 5% was allocated to the Binance Launchpool
• 15% was reserved for the AltLayer team
• 18.5% was distributed among investors
• 5% was allotted to strategic advisors.
• 20% went to protocol development
• 15% was set aside for the ecosystem and community
• 21.5% went to the AltLayer treasury

News on AltLayer

On February 27th, 2024, AltLayer made an official announcement regarding its partnership with Optimism Superchain. As one of its RaaS providers, AltLayer will offer a more straightforward way for dApp builders to customize and deploy application-tailored rollups. The Superchain is a scalable network of rollups with shared security and communication layers built on the OP Stack. AltLayer’s RaaS will remove the burden of dealing with the hosting and maintenance issues of the node infrastructure underlying a Superchain rollup, saving dApp builders time and resources. This will allow them to focus on creating the most functional dApps.

Is ALT a Good Investment?

AltLayer steps beyond traditional rollups, offering a decentralized protocol to enhance security, decentralization, interoperability, and finality. It presents a promising vision for the future of rollups by providing highly scalable Layer 2 solutions for blockchain applications. Despite its innovative approach, “Restaking Rollups,” it is essential to remember that the crypto market is volatile. So, before investing in any project, investors must do their due diligence by researching the project and consulting qualified financial personnel.

Take Action on ALT

Investors can buy ALT from centralized and decentralized exchanges like gate.io. Click here to view and trade your favorite pairs.

• ALT/USDT
• ALT/TRY