TLDR

OP Succinct’s primary function is to integrate ZKP into the OP Stack’s modular architecture, converting OP Stack Rollups into fully verified ZK Rollups.

If Ethereum’s future scaling solution is to convert all Rollups into ZK Rollups, OP Succinct aims to deploy Type-1 zkEVM (fully Ethereum-equivalent) within the OP Stack, utilizing Rust and SP1.

OP Succinct Proposer achieves proof generation in parallel, along with proof aggregation and verification.

The existing OP Stack system relies on a “7-day fraud-proof window,” which causes transaction delays if disputes arise. OP Succinct shortens transaction finality time by using ZK proofs, eliminating the need for the extended fraud-proof window.

OP Succinct can significantly reduce transaction costs.

1. Recent Review: OP Mainnet Updates and the Relationship Between OP Stack and OP Labs

Image Source: Blockscout

1.1 Key Developments on OP Mainnet

As of March 30, 2024, OP Labs announced the release of “fault proofs” on the OP Sepolia testnet, which was officially launched on OP Mainnet on June 11, 2024. This marks the first step towards decentralization, allowing users to withdraw ETH and ERC-20 tokens from OP Mainnet without the need for a trusted third party. This mechanism enables users to challenge and revoke invalid withdrawals (including Base, Metal, Mode, and Zora).

To ensure the security and trust of users’ assets, Optimism uses fault proofs to verify the accuracy and validity of on-chain transactions and prevent malicious actions. The key principles include:

• Data Availability: Fault proofs ensure that all data on Layer-2 is accessible and can be verified by Layer-1.
• Challenge Period: Within a specific challenge period, anyone can dispute data on Layer-2.

If a discrepancy between Layer-2 and Layer-1 data is found, the disputing party can issue a challenge. The Layer-2 operator must submit proof to counter the challenge and verify the correctness of the data. Finality: If no valid challenge occurs within the challenge period or the Layer-2 operator successfully counters the challenge, the transaction is finalized and considered valid.

1.2 The Relationship and Differences Between OP Stack and OP Labs

OP Labs is the team or organization developing the Optimism solution, while OP Stack is a technical framework used for building and scaling Ethereum Layer 2 networks. The relationship between OP Labs and OP Stack can be viewed as the relationship between developers and their development tools.

• OP Labs: OP Labs is the core contributor to the Optimism project, responsible for developing and maintaining Optimism Layer 2 solutions. It is a team or organization dedicated to creating and improving technical tools related to Ethereum scaling, such as Optimistic Rollups. The primary goal of OP Labs is to reduce the load on the Ethereum mainnet, lower transaction costs, and increase transaction speeds. OP Labs also collaborates with other projects, such as Succinct Labs, to advance Ethereum scaling technologies like OP Succinct, which focuses on optimizing zero-knowledge proofs.

OP Labs is the primary team or organization responsible for developing and maintaining the Optimism network. Their goal is to create an efficient scaling solution for Ethereum, focusing on reducing transaction fees and increasing transaction speeds. They are not only developing Optimistic Rollups but also pushing new technologies related to zero-knowledge proofs, such as OP Succinct in partnership with Succinct Labs.

• OP Stack: OP Stack is a modular architecture or technical stack used to build and scale Ethereum Layer 2 networks. It consists of multiple customizable components, allowing developers to build their own Layer 2 chains according to specific requirements. It provides a standardized approach for developers to quickly set up Layer 2 expansion networks tailored to specific conditions.

OP Stack, developed by OP Labs, offers a modular framework that provides the foundational infrastructure for building Layer 2 networks. Developers can use OP Stack to quickly create different expansion networks. The modular design allows users to flexibly choose different verification mechanisms (e.g., Optimistic Rollups or ZK Rollups) to meet the needs of various projects.

In essence, OP Labs can be seen as the developers of OP Stack, and OP Stack is the technical tool provided by OP Labs to help developers build and scale Ethereum Layer 2 networks.

Before diving into OP Succinct, it is important to introduce the four main components of each OP Stack:

• op-geth: Gathers transactions from users and generates and executes blocks based on those transactions.
• op-batcher: Batches user transactions and submits them to Layer 1.
• op-node: Reads batch data from Layer 1 and drives op-geth for state transition in non-sequencer mode.
• op-proposer: Periodically publishes output roots to Layer 1, capturing Layer 2 states and facilitating withdrawals.

2. Succinct Labs Collaborates with OP Labs to Introduce ZK Elements into OP Stack

Image Source: Succinct Blog

2.1 OP Succinct Architecture Components

Building upon the components of the OP Stack outlined in section 1.2, OP Succinct is a lightweight upgrade to the OP Stack that allows chains to use ZK-verified blocks while keeping other components (op-geth, op-batcher, and op-node) unchanged. OP Succinct consists of the following four main components:

• Range Program: A program that processes batch blocks, written in Rust and designed to run within the zkVM.
• Aggregation Program: Aggregates proofs from the Range Program to reduce on-chain verification costs, also written in Rust and designed to run in the zkVM.
• OP Succinct L2 Output Oracle: A Solidity smart contract containing an array of L2 state outputs, each of which commits to the state of the L2 chain. This contract exists in the original Optimism system but has been modified to use proof verification as an authentication mechanism.
• OP Succinct Proposer: Observes transaction batches published on L1 and manages the proof generation for the Range and Aggregation programs.

2.2 How Does OP Succinct Fit into the Ethereum Scaling Narrative?

Building zkEVM Rollups has been challenging due to the extensive cryptography expertise required. When OP Labs developed the modular OP Stack, they anticipated supporting various proof mechanisms. To this end, they open-sourced the development of Kona (see extension link 1) to implement the STF of OP Stack Rollups using Rust, ultimately enabling the generation of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) for OP Stack through Kona and the SP1 program. This means that, in theory, any OP Stack chain can be upgraded to use ZKP.

The goal of SP1 (Succinct Processor 1) is to allow developers to seamlessly integrate Type-1 zkEVM rollups using standard Rust code. With OP Succinct, the process of upgrading any existing OP Stack chain to a Type-1 zkEVM rollup can be completed within one hour, offering the following benefits:

• Fast ZKP Confirmation: Reduces proof delays to mere minutes, replacing the 7-day fraud-proof dispute window.
• Cost Efficiency: Average transaction costs are reduced to just a few cents.
• Switching OP Stack to ZK: By deploying a smart contract and launching a lightweight OP Succinct proposal service, proofs can be generated through API calls (including batch processing/sequencer, op-node, indexer, etc.).
• Type-1 zkEVM: All tools and smart contracts compatible with OP Stack Rollups are compatible with OP Succinct Rollups.
• Increased Scalability: The customizable OP Succinct rollup can add new precompiles and modify Rollup logic as needed.

According to the official GitHub documentation, the process only requires installing Rust, Foundry, and Docker to upgrade any existing OP Stack rollup to a Type-1 zkEVM rollup. The simplified process involves two steps:

• Deploy the ZK L2OutputOracle.sol contract.
• Launch the OP Succinct proposal service (refer to GitHub extension link 2 for detailed steps).

Image Source: Succinct Blog — Upgrading OP Stack Rollup to ZK Proofs

2.3 Building a Type-1 zkEVM Using SP1 Reth

Succinct believes that the future of EVM Rollups lies in zkEVM written in the Rust language, which allows for better maintainability. Currently, OP Rollups face three major challenges: the lengthy 7-day fraud-proof window, complex interoperability, and reliance on multi-group data mechanisms in some cases rather than fraud proofs. Developing a zkEVM is a long-term endeavor, so SP1 was created to address these challenges.

SP1 is a high-performance, fully customizable zkVM that is 100% open-source. It can verify the execution of arbitrary Rust (or LLVM-compiled) programs. According to public data, the OP Succinct Stack has been successfully running on OP Mainnet, OP Sepolia, and the Base chain, with transaction proof costs ranging from $0.01 to $0.02 (see extension link 3). In the future, all blockchain infrastructure, including Rollups, bridges, and coprocessors, will likely be written in Rust (or other LLVM-compiled languages) and take advantage of ZKP.

Based on summaries from the Succinct blog and open-source GitHub content, SP1’s performance advantages over other zkVMs stem from several key factors:

• Precompile-Centric Architecture: SP1 supports a flexible precompile system, significantly accelerating operations such as secp256k1 and ed25519 signature verification, sha256 and keccak256 hashing, and reducing RISC-V cycle counts by 5–10x for many programs. It aims to provide performance comparable to ZK circuits while maintaining zkVM flexibility and an excellent developer experience.
• Fully Open-Source: SP1 is 100% open-source, allowing teams like Argument and Scroll to implement custom precompiles, reducing cycle counts and speeding up proof generation times.
• Industry Standard: Since its launch, the idea of internal precompiles for zkVMs has become an industry standard, influencing projects like RISC0, Valida, Nexus, and Jolt. SP1 is the only production-ready zkVM, supporting a wide range of critical cryptographic operations.
• Efficient Memory Read/Write: SP1 uses an innovative memory proof method that achieves consistent memory across multiple proofs with a single challenge, avoiding the overhead of Merkleized memory.
• Basic Efficiency Optimizations: Utilizing a lower blowup factor and next-gen lookup parameters (e.g., log-based derivatives like LogUp), along with the FRI variant in Plonky3, SP1 improves trace region utilization efficiency.

Image Source: Succinct Blog — See Appendix Explanation in Extension Link 4

3. Can OP Succinct Become OP Stack’s Trump Card Against ZK Stack?

Image credit: @jtguibas

If Ethereum’s scaling solutions are seen as OP in the short term and ZK in the long term, OP Succinct’s potential success could mark a significant milestone in Ethereum’s development path. OP Succinct provides an upgradeable pathway for ETH Rollups to transition from optimistic verification to zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). This shift not only reduces transaction costs but also increases transaction speed while preserving the security and privacy attributes of ZK Rollups, opening new possibilities for application layer expansion in the future.

Among the recognized four major Layer 2 solutions, OP Stack currently seems to have a slight edge over ZK Stack in terms of ecosystem development. The future might see an even more pronounced Matthew effect, where OP Succinct’s inclusion could siphon off some of ZK Stack’s traffic and potential. If OP Succinct proves successful, it may even pose a challenge to traditional zkEVM-based Rollups.

However, from the operational logic presented thus far, one critical aspect emerges: how can developers ensure that system-wide risks, caused by unknown vulnerabilities when modifying the state transition function (STF) or adding new precompiles, are detected in a timely manner? This is an area that warrants long-term attention.

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