【Sophon】L2 Chain built with Validium, leveraging ZKsync's Elastic Chain / Focus on entertainment / OKX Ventures and Binance Labs also invested / @sophon
Founded by former ZKsync leadership team and Merit Circle, mainnet public launch planned for Q4 2024.
Good morning.
Mitsui from web3 researcher.
Today we researched Sophon.
🟡What is Sophon?
🥏Sophon Details
💬ZK Chain WaveComing
🟡What is Sophon?
"Sophon" is a L2 chain built on Validium utilizing ZKsync's Elastic Chain.It is designed to be customized for high throughput applications such as AI and gaming, with an emphasis on entertainment.
◼️What is Elastic Chain?
First, let us explain the "Elastic Chain," which is the technical foundation of Sophon.Elastic Chain" is a ZK roll-up network developed by Zksync, a zk roll-up solution in Ethereum L2.
The concept itself has been proposed since around 2021, with an overview presented at SmartCon in 2022, followed by a blogsupplemented by aand officially released as Elastic Chain in July 2024.
The "Elastic Chain" is a network of infinitely extensible ZK chains (rollups, validations, volitions) that are protected by mathematics and seamlessly interoperable with a unified and intuitive UX.
Similar solutions are Optimism Superchain and Polygon AggLayer, but unlike those solutions, they are reliable with ZK and enable fast throughput.
The detailed architecture can be found herebut here are the main components.There are various ZK Chains built by the ZK Stack development kit, and they are bridged and settled to Ethereum through a middleware between Ethereum and ZK Chains called ZK Gateway.The ZK Chain can also choose to settle directly to Ethereum, but basically it is sent through the ZK Gateway to the ZK Router, which is implemented as a smart contract on Ethereum.
The ZK Router is responsible for managing the state of the network, processing chain registrations, facilitating certain important interactions, and maintaining the shared liquidity of the network.
Together, these core components allow ZK chains to efficiently interact and perform transactions, creating a network that inherits Ethereum's security and can scale horizontally without compromising the core properties that make the blockchain powerfulThe ZK chain can be formed.
Elastic Chain also includes native smart account functionality that leverages AA, allowing users to create accounts with FaceID or passkey without a private key, and paymasters that can pay for gas with any token or be shouldered by the protocol.
To the user, Elastic Chain looks like a single blockchain, with one-tap onboarding and the ability to use crypto assets or access liquidity freely with any smart contract on any ZK chain.
Just released in July 2024, more than 20 chains are set to be introduced by the end of the year.
So long to explain, but "Sophon" is an L2 chain built on Validium that leverages ZKsync's Elastic Chain.
Validium is an L2 solution that, unlike zk-rollups, which rely on the availability of on-chain data, functions as a scaling solution that uses off-chain data availability and computation to increase throughput and reduce transaction costs..This distinction provides new use cases by striking a clear balance between operational efficiency and data privacy.
🥏More about Sophon
Now, let's take a look at the details of Sophon.
Sophon is an L2 chain built on the technologies described above, with an emphasis on consumer-oriented entertainment experiences.It is intended for applications such as gaming, AI, predictive markets, social platforms, and other high volume transactional applications.
With a technology stack that can withstand them, and as mentioned earlier, native accounts with AA, it will be possible to create accounts without a private key and pay for gas on the protocol side with Paymaster.Thus, users will be able to have a blockchain-unaware experience.
◼️ tokenomics
The total supply is not yet public, but the allocations were made public: Node Rewards will be discharged in 36 months, while Foundations, Advisors, and Investors will be discharged in 36 months after a 12-month lock period.
◼️ Node and Guardian
This is the description that corresponds to Node Rewards that was in the allocation.Sophon uses two types of nodes to maintain network activity and security: full nodes and light nodes, which are operated by delegated NFT holders called Sophon Guardian Memberships.
The Sophon Guardian Membership can only be claimed by users who purchase it through a node sale.Memberships are NFTs and can be bought and sold, but are non-transferable for one year after purchase.
Let's organize a few things.
Node: operates the Sophon sequencer and maintains the activity and security of the network
There are two types of Nodes, but to become a Node, you must purchase a Node offered for sale at a Node Sale and either own or be delegated a Sophon Guardian Membership.
Sophon Guardian Membership is an NFT that can be claimed by the node purchaser and is non-transferable for one year after purchase.
The user who operates a node under the delegation of Membership is called Sophon Guardian.
In short, if you buy a node, request NFT, and have a node and NFT, you can operate a node, but why do we have to put NFT in between every single node?This is due to the fact that there are two types of nodes here: full nodes and light nodes.
Full node: a complete node that maintains a full copy of the chain and can act as a sequencer or validator.Initially, only one node (operated by Sophon Labs) is authorized to send batches.However, work is underway to allow multiple nodes to work together using a consensus mechanism, which will further decentralize the creation of network blocks.
Light Nodes: Lightweight software designed to perform simpler tasks within the Sophon network.These nodes provide a cost-effective way to participate in the network by downloading only the minimum data required for a transaction, usually only the block header.
Full nodes must have 1,500 Guardian Membership delegations and light nodes must have 1~20 delegations.Delegates can receive a portion of the node reward by delegating to an active node.
As was mentioned within the allocation above, 20% of the $SOPH token supply will be allocated as a reward to Sophon Guardians over a period of 3 years (156 weeks) from the full release of the Sophon network (scheduled for Q4 2024). 20% will bedistributed to each of them.
5%: Active Sophon Guardians
10%: Light Node Operators
5%: Full node operator
For detailed distribution calculations, please see Documentation.In addition, it appears that sequencing revenue will be distributed in the future.
The node sale began on April 30, 2024 and 200,000 nodes were sold.
◼️ Transition and Funding Status
Sophon was founded by the former leadership of ZKsync and Merit Circle, the team behind the gaming-specific chain Beam.
Funding to date includes $10M raised in March 2024 from Paper Ventures, Spartan Group, Maven 11, SevenX Ventures, OKX Ventures, HTX Ventures, and most recently in October from Binance Labs.In October, the company raised $10M from Binance Labs.
Sophon's strong industry partnerships and early successes show great potential to revolutionize the entertainment, gaming, and AI sectors," said Andy Chang, Investment Director at Binance Labs.entertainment, gaming, and AI," said Andy Chang, Director of Investments at Binance Labs.
◼️ roadmap and airdro program
Sophon is scheduled to open its main net to the public in 4Q2024.Currently, Sophon Farm, a points program for airdrops, is in place.
10% of the $SOPH token supply is made available to early backers through Sophon Farm.By depositing assets into a pool (ETH, BEAM, etc.), Sophon Points (SP) are accumulated; Sophon Farm will initially be available on Ethereum Mainnet, followed by a second Farming period on Sophon Mainnet.
Currently, it is being held on Ethereum Mainnet, and points from this period will distribute 6% of the total supply; on Sophon Mainnet it is 4%.The number of participants at the time of research shows 28,489 with $298M deposited.
I don't know when it will end, but it will probably last a little longer since the main net will be released during the 4Q.
💬The ZK chain wave arrives
Now, a final thought.
Sophon" sounds interesting.I have the impression that the concept itself is a common chain in both L1 and L2, but I am curious about the fact that it is a chain by ZKsync's Elastic Chain, which has finally started.
Looking at L2BEAT, the current top of L2 is OP Rollup.
Although the technology is still unstable and OP Rollup is still the mainstream, it is said that ZK Rollup will become the mainstream in the future.Personally, I think the ZK wave is gradually coming, driven by Scroll, ZKsync, Linea, Starknet, and others toward that future.
We are particularly excited about Elastic Chain by ZKsync.The company has announced that 20 chains will appear at once by the end of the year, which, in terms of the number of chains alone, will quickly catch up with Optimism Superchain and Polygon AggLayer.
Naturally, more chains is not necessarily better, but looking at the lineup of Elastic Chain, I think it will be somewhat exciting since chains of protocols that are already somewhat popular, such as Lens and Cronos, are also scheduled to appear.
One of the opening lineup, Sophon, which is being developed by the former leadership team of ZKsync, has plenty of promise.Since they have not yet disclosed that much information, it is still undecided what kind of applications will be on the site, but if they can attract large companies, they may make a leap forward like Base.
I have studied many statements about the technical superiority of the ZK chain, but I do not know if it can withstand a large number of transactions once it is actually up and running, so it will be interesting to see how much of a breakthrough the ZK chain will make in the coming year.
This is my research on "Sophon"!
🔗Reference/image credit: HP / DOC / X
Disclaimer：I carefully examine and write the information that I research, but since it is personally operated and there are many parts with English sources, there may be some paraphrasing or incorrect information. Please understand. Also, there may be introductions of Dapps, NFTs, and tokens in the articles, but there is absolutely no solicitation purpose. Please purchase and use them at your own risk.
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mitsui
A web3 researcher. Operating the newsletter "web3 Research" delivered in five languages around the world.
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