The Ethereum rollup ecosystem faces significant performance limitations. Rollups, while improving scalability by processing transactions off-chain, still encounter bottlenecks. These include high latency, limited throughput, and complex data availability solutions. These issues hinder the seamless user experience and efficient transaction processing the blockchain community seeks.

Rise Chain addresses these challenges with innovative solutions. By leveraging advanced technologies like Parallel EVM (PEVM), Continuous Execution, and Based Sequencing, Rise Chain enhances transaction speed and scalability. Additionally, its unique Versioned Merkle Tree (VMT) and RiseDB ensure efficient data management and availability. These features collectively enable Rise Chain to offer a more robust and scalable solution than traditional Ethereum rollups.

What is Rise Chain?

Source: Rise Chain website

Rise Chain is a next-generation Gigagas Layer 2 blockchain solution designed to overcome the performance limitations of existing Ethereum rollups. Its primary purpose is to enhance scalability, reduce latency, and improve transaction throughput, making blockchain technology more efficient and user-friendly.

Rise Chain, co-founded by Sam Battenally, Sasha Mai Herbert, and Hai Nguyen, aims to provide a scalable and efficient platform for decentralized applications (dApps). Leveraging advanced technologies ensures faster transaction processing and better data management, addressing the common issues faced by other Layer 2 solutions.

What is Gigagas?

Gigagas is a term that describes a measure of blockchain bandwidth, specifically referring to billions of gas units processed per second. In the context of blockchain performance, gas is a unit that measures the computational effort required to execute operations like transactions or smart contracts. Traditionally, blockchain performance has been measured by Transactions Per Second (TPS), but this metric does not fully capture the complexity and computational load of different types of transactions.

Gigagas, or Gas Per Second (GPS), provides a more nuanced and accurate measure of a blockchain’s capacity and efficiency. It reflects the total amount of computational work the network can handle every second. For example, while a simple transaction might require a small amount of gas, a complex smart contract execution could require significantly more. By measuring performance in gigagas, we can better understand the true processing power of a blockchain network.

Key Features of Rise Chain

• Gigagas Throughput: Rise Chain leverages gigagas to highlight its advanced capabilities, achieving over 1 gigagas per second. This high throughput allows the network to handle many complex transactions efficiently, ensuring fast and responsive performance even under heavy load. By adopting gigagas as a performance metric, Rise Chain sets a new standard for blockchain scalability and efficiency.
• High Transaction Speed: With the capability to process up to 100,000 transactions per second (TPS), Rise Chain significantly outperforms many existing blockchain solutions. This high transaction speed ensures that the network can support a large number of users and applications without congestion.
• Low Latency: Rise Chain offers Web2-like latency of less than 10 milliseconds. This low latency ensures that transactions are processed almost instantly, providing a seamless user experience like traditional web applications.
• Parallel EVM (PEVM): The Parallel EVM allows multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously. This parallel processing capability increases the overall throughput and efficiency of the network, reducing bottlenecks and improving performance.
• Continuous Execution: Continuous Execution ensures that transactions are processed smoothly and without interruption. This feature helps maintain the network’s stability and reliability, even under high load conditions.
• Based Sequencing: Based Sequencing optimizes the order in which transactions are processed. By prioritizing transactions efficiently, Rise Chain can reduce delays and improve the overall transaction processing speed.

Rise Chain Technical Architecture

Parallel EVM (PEVM)

The Rise Parallel EVM (PEVM), built on Block-STM’s optimistic execution, allows multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously. Traditional Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVMs) process transactions sequentially, which can create bottlenecks and slow down the network. PEVM, on the other hand, leverages parallel processing to handle multiple transactions simultaneously. This is achieved by distributing the computational load across multiple processors or cores, which significantly increases the throughput and efficiency of the network. By enabling parallel execution, PEVM reduces latency and ensures the network can handle a high volume of transactions without compromising speed or reliability. This approach is particularly beneficial for applications that require high transaction rates and low latency, such as decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and gaming applications.

Continuous Execution

Continuous Execution is a feature that ensures transactions are processed smoothly and without interruption. In many blockchain networks, transactions can be delayed or interrupted due to network congestion or other issues. Continuous Execution addresses this by maintaining a steady flow of transactions, even under high load conditions. This is made possible using Control Block Pipeline (CBP) - a parallelized block pipeline with Concurrent Stages and a Continuous Execution (CE) thread. This is achieved through a combination of optimized transaction scheduling and efficient resource management. By continuously executing transactions, Rise Chain minimizes delays and ensures that the network remains responsive and efficient. This feature is crucial for maintaining the stability and reliability of the network, as it prevents transaction backlogs and ensures that users experience minimal latency.

Based Sequencing

Based Sequencing optimizes the order in which transactions are processed. In a Layer 1 (L1) blockchain network, the order of transactions can significantly impact the overall efficiency and speed of transaction processing. Based Sequencing uses advanced algorithms to prioritize transactions based on their importance and urgency. This ensures that critical transactions are processed promptly while less urgent transactions are queued appropriately. By optimizing the transaction order, Rise Chain can reduce delays and improve the overall speed of transaction processing. This method also helps in managing network resources more effectively, ensuring that the network can handle high transaction volumes without becoming congested.

Based Rollups in Rise Chain utilize the L1’s based sequencing mechanism to inherit its decentralization, security, and liveness properties. By relying on the L1 for sequencing, Rise Chain ensures that transactions are processed securely and decentralized. This integration allows Rise Chain to benefit from the robust security features of the L1 blockchain while maintaining high performance and scalability.

Versioned Merkle Tree (VMT) and RiseDB

RISE employs a much more storage-efficient Versioned Merkle Tree. Versioned Merkle Trees use a version-based node key, so all keys are naturally sorted on insertion. This minimizes the compaction cost of the underlying key-value storage. Versioned trees also enable robust and efficient historical queries and proofs.

A popular Versioned Merkle Tree is the Jellyfish Merkle Tree (JMT) designed for Aptos. While JMT minimizes key-value storage compaction with versioned node keys, it still uses a general-purpose RocksDB with high write amplification, and compaction is triggered during pruning. To address this, Rise Chain adopts the LETUS approach, replacing the two-layered storage architecture with a streamlined one. Tree updates are delta-encoded, and key-value pairs are stored in log-structured files (not trees) to minimize read and write amplification.

Rise Chain also experiments with ideas from NOMT, such as lowering the radix of the Merkle tree to reduce merkelization complexity. For the increased read complexity, an optimal on-disk representation is used to parallelly fetch all subtrees for a key in one SSD round-trip. NOMT can be reduced to binary as each node is only 32 bytes, but this doesn’t apply to Versioned Merkle Trees due to the extra version storage. The offset and value size are stored to index the value in the log-structured files. The final design could be an 8-ary tree to balance read and write amplification. This structure reduces read/write amplification from high-latency disk storage and improves overall system performance. It allows Rise Chain to process hundreds of thousands of transactions per second while managing the rapidly growing state efficiently.

Rust-based REth SDK

The Rust-based REth SDK offers a robust and flexible development environment for building decentralized applications (dApps). Rust is a programming language known for its performance and safety features, making it an ideal choice for blockchain development. The REth SDK provides developers with a comprehensive set of tools and libraries to create high-performance applications on the Rise Chain platform. This includes support for smart contract development, integration with existing blockchain infrastructure, and tools for testing and debugging. By using Rust, developers can build both efficient and secure applications, ensuring that dApps on Rise Chain can handle high transaction volumes and provide a seamless user experience.

Data Availability

Data Availability is a crucial aspect of Rise Chain’s architecture. It ensures that all transaction data is accessible and verifiable, essential for maintaining network transparency and trust. Data availability can be challenging in many blockchain networks, as transaction data needs to be stored and retrieved efficiently. Rise Chain addresses this by implementing advanced data availability solutions that ensure all transaction data is readily accessible. This includes mechanisms for efficient data storage, retrieval, and verification. By making data readily available, Rise Chain allows users to independently verify the state of the blockchain, ensuring that the network remains open and accountable. This feature is particularly important for decentralized applications that require high levels of transparency and trust, as it enables users to audit and verify transactions without relying on centralized intermediaries.

Rise Chain Performance and Scalability

Rise Chain is designed to deliver exceptional performance and scalability, addressing the limitations of existing blockchain solutions. Here are the key aspects of its performance:

• Transaction Speed: Rise Chain can process up to 100,000 transactions per second (TPS). This high transaction speed is achieved through the use of Parallel EVM (PEVM), which allows multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously. This capability ensures the network can handle a large volume of transactions efficiently, making it suitable for high-demand applications.
• Scalability: Rise Chain’s architecture is built to scale seamlessly as the network grows. Continuous Execution and Based Sequencing optimize transaction processing, reducing delays and ensuring that the network remains responsive even under high load conditions. Additionally, the Versioned Merkle Tree (VMT) and RiseDB provide efficient data storage and retrieval, enabling the network to manage the rapidly growing state without compromising performance.
• Low Latency: With Web2-like latency of less than 10 milliseconds, Rise Chain ensures that transactions are processed almost instantly. This low latency is crucial for applications that require real-time interactions, such as gaming and financial services, providing users with a seamless and responsive experience.

Comparison with Other Layer 2 Solutions

When compared to other Layer 2 solutions, Rise Chain stands out due to its advanced technical architecture and superior performance metrics:

• Higher Throughput: While many Layer 2 solutions offer improved scalability over the base layer, Rise Chain’s throughput of over 1 Ggas/s and its ability to process 100,000 TPS significantly surpass the capabilities of most existing solutions. This makes Rise Chain one of the fastest and most efficient Layer 2 platforms available.
• Lower Latency: The Web2-like latency of Rise Chain is a significant improvement over other Layer 2 solutions, which often struggle with higher latency due to network congestion and inefficient transaction processing. This low latency ensures a better user experience, particularly for applications that require quick response times.
• Efficient Data Management: The use of the Versioned Merkle Tree (VMT) and RiseDB for data storage and retrieval provides Rise Chain with a robust and efficient data management system. This contrasts with other Layer 2 solutions that may rely on less efficient data structures, leading to higher read/write amplification and slower data access times.
• Innovative Architecture: Rise Chain’s adoption of advanced technologies such as Parallel EVM (PEVM), Continuous Execution, and Based Sequencing sets it apart from other Layer 2 solutions. These innovations ensure that Rise Chain can handle high transaction volumes and maintain performance even as the network scales.

Rise Chain Fundraising Journey

Rise Chain successfully raised $3.2 million in its seed round. Finality Capital, a prominent investor in the blockchain space, led this round. Other notable participants included Orange DAO, DigiAsset Fund, EtherFi, Polygon Ventures, MH Ventures, and Public Works. Additionally, several angel investors with significant industry experience joined the round.

The funds raised have been instrumental in advancing the development of Rise Chain’s innovative blockchain solutions. These investments have enabled the team to enhance their technical architecture, expand their development team, and accelerate their go-to-market strategy. The support from these investors not only provided financial backing but also brought valuable expertise and strategic guidance. With this backing, Rise Chain is well-equipped to achieve its vision of creating a more efficient and scalable blockchain ecosystem.

RiceClub: Rise’s Accelerator

RiceClub is Rise Chain’s dedicated accelerator program designed to support and nurture innovative projects within the blockchain ecosystem. It aims to provide startups and developers with the resources, mentorship, and funding needed to build and scale their decentralized applications (dApps) on the Rise Chain platform. RiceClub’s goal is to create a thriving community of projects that leverage Rise Chain’s advanced technology to deliver high-performance and scalable solutions.

How RiceClub Works

RiceClub operates by selecting promising projects through a rigorous application process. Once accepted, these projects gain access to various resources and support mechanisms designed to accelerate their development and market entry. The program typically includes:

1. Mentorship: Participants receive guidance from experienced mentors in the blockchain industry. These mentors provide valuable insights and advice on technical development, business strategy, and market positioning.

2. Funding: RiceClub offers financial support to selected projects, helping them cover development costs and other expenses. This funding can be crucial for early-stage startups looking to bring their ideas to fruition.

3. Technical Support: Projects in the RiceClub program benefit from direct access to Rise Chain’s technical team. This support includes assistance with integrating Rise Chain’s technologies, optimizing performance, and ensuring security.

4. Networking Opportunities: RiceClub allows participants to connect with other projects, investors, and industry leaders. These connections can lead to valuable partnerships and collaborations.

5. Marketing and Promotion: The program helps projects gain visibility through Rise Chain’s marketing channels. This includes promotion on social media, blogs, and other platforms to help projects reach a wider audience.

Conclusion

By addressing the limitations of existing Ethereum rollups, Rise Chain offers a robust solution that enhances transaction speed, reduces latency, and improves overall efficiency. Its advanced technical architecture, including Parallel EVM, Continuous Execution, and Based Sequencing, ensures the network can handle high transaction volumes while maintaining stability and reliability. With strong support from the blockchain community and a dedicated team of experts, Rise Chain is well-positioned to achieve its vision of creating a more scalable and efficient blockchain ecosystem.