Modular Blockchain

In this article, I will be breaking down the concepts of modular network as it is a recent bubbling innovation in the blockchain space due to cosmos SDK and celestia launch and token (Tia) soar in price.

It's indeed the next big thing!

-INTRODUCTION

-WHAT IS MODULAR BLOCKCHAIN

-THE CORE FUNCTIONS OF A BLOCKCHAIN

-LIMITATIONS OF MONOLITHIC BLOCKCHAINS

-TLDR

-INTRODUCTION

Traditionally, blockchain designs have been 'monolithic'. This means that all the functions of the blockchain are handled on a single layer.

Monolithic Blockchains handle 'Consensus' ,'Data availability' and 'Execution' on a single chain.

Examples of monolithic blockchains includes L1s (layer 1 blockchains) SOLANA, ETHEREUM.

Then,

-WHAT IS MODULAR BLOCKCHAIN?

Modular Blockchain uses the concept of division of labor.

In Modular Blockchain, each blockchain is assigned with a single task instead of all three(Consensus, Data availability, and execution).

The concept of Modularity is becoming promising as a category-defining narrative [with celestialorg been a major pioneer of the concept] when it comes to the challenge of scaling blockchains by orders of magnitude.

The main dissertation of modular blockchains is that a single blockchain doesn’t need to handle all functions on its own.

Instead, by splitting these core components, separate blockchains can focus on specializing in a specific area, leading to significant optimizations.

-THE CORE FUNCTIONS OF A BLOCKCHAIN ARE:

Execution - Processes transactions

Settlement - Dispute resolution and bridging

Consensus - Orders transactions

Data Availability - Ensures data is available

A modular blockchain stack consists of layers of modular blockchains which rely on each other to create a system with all of the above functions.

They can fully outsource at least one of the above functions to another chain.

With Data Availability + Consensus = the "Security"of the chain.

Settlement + Execution = the "Environment" of a chain.

Execution layers with the same settlement layer can form a trust-minimized “cluster”as defined by /celestialorg

-LIMITATIONS OF MONOLITHIC BLOCKCHAINS

Due to their design architecture, monolithic chains are forced to rely on the same network of validators to perform both computation and verification.

In the process, when throughput is increased, the cost to verify the chain also increases.

And subsequently, Increased cost to verify the chain means fewer validators are able to participate in verification, which leads to centralization.

In other words, in order to increase throughput, monolithic chains must forgo security or decentralization.

This is the problem that Modular blockchains aim to solve.

With a modular architecture design, computation and verification can be decoupled by shifting the burden of computation away from validators.

This is enabled by new concepts such as fraud proofs, validity proofs, and data availability sampling.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT ?

The significance lies in scalability, succinctly put. Modular blockchains, with specific layers dedicated to computation and verification, enable increased throughput without compromising the essential characteristics of a decentralized and trustless network.

This innovation forms a novel paradigm, prioritizing genuine scalability by significantly boosting throughput while upholding security and decentralization.

TLDR

Traditional blockchains like Solana and Ethereum are monolithic, but Modular Blockchain, pioneered by celestialorg, optimizes by assigning tasks to separate layers, ensuring scalability without compromising decentralization. This approach addresses centralization challenges and decouples computation and verification, prioritizing efficiency while preserving security.

Readmore:

https://celestia.org/learn/basics-of-modular-blockchains/modular-and-monolithic-blockchains/