Sovereign: A toolkit for Rollup, simplifying the application of zk-SNARKs technology.

A crypto project focused on building rollups has completed a $7.4 million seed round financing, with a valuation reaching "eight digits". The project is developing a software development kit (SDK), aimed at helping developers create secure and interoperable zk-SNARKs rollups. Below is a detailed introduction to the project.

Sovereign is an open and interconnected rollup ecosystem aimed at enabling all developers to deploy seamlessly interoperable and scalable rollups that can run on various blockchains. The goal of the Sovereign SDK is to become the simplest framework for creating secure and interoperable sovereign zk-rollups.

The Dilemma of Blockchain Application Expansion

Limitations of traditional L1

Currently, there are three main ways to scale blockchain applications: dedicated application L1 public chains, optimistic rollups, and zk-rollups. Although dedicated application L1 public chains are relatively simple to design and deploy, they have significant drawbacks. Each L1 needs to recruit validators and convince them to stake sufficient funds to ensure security, and this approach is only suitable for a few applications with abundant funds due to the high capital costs.

Limitations of Optimistic Rollups

Rollups address this issue by allowing developers to extend existing blockchains with new logic. However, the currently mainstream optimistic rollups also have problems. They rely on fraud proofs to prevent misconduct, but this can lead to longer "finality delays," making cross-rollup bridging slow and expensive.

The advantages of Zk-Rollups

In comparison, zk-rollups are considered a more promising scaling solution. It has the advantages of optimistic rollups while avoiding long finality delays. However, building zk-rollups is still a complex task that requires a long-term commitment from highly specialized cryptographic engineers.

Sovereign SDK Solutions

The Sovereign SDK aims to simplify the development process of zk-rollups, similar to the contribution of the Cosmos SDK to L1 public chains. It provides common foundational components for blockchain, such as p2p networks, databases, and RPC nodes, allowing developers to focus on their own business logic. Additionally, it offers a set of default modules that operate efficiently in a zero-knowledge environment, including token deployment, data validation storage, and bridging modules.

One of the main features of the Sovereign SDK is that it lowers the barrier to using zero-knowledge technology. Developers do not need to be cryptography experts; they can simply write applications using common programming languages like Rust (with potential future support for C++) and the SDK will automatically compile it into an efficient zk virtual machine.

Main Features of Sovereign SDK

1. Seamless Interoperability: Achieve efficient bridging between Sovereign SDK rollups on the shared L1 using a new bridging technology based on proof aggregation.

2. Security and scalability: By customizing each component for zk-rollups, the Sovereign SDK delivers outstanding performance by default, with proof delays of only a few seconds.

3. Cross-chain compatibility: Sovereign SDK rollups can run on any blockchain, as they delegate the responsibility of validating proofs to the end users, rather than the underlying L1 public chain.

Project Development Roadmap

The development of the Sovereign SDK is divided into three stages:

1. Research Phase (Ongoing): Design default storage module, cryptoeconomic model, and core API, develop research prototype.

2. Initial Deployment Phase: Deploy p2p network, RPC nodes, core APIs, and default storage and sorting modules.

3. Hardening Phase: Perform code cleanup, testing, fuzz testing, and auditing, and develop the first use case of the SDK.

Sovereign Labs' vision is to enable blockchain to support billions of users. To achieve this goal, they are committed to lowering the barriers to the use of zero-knowledge technology while maintaining verifiability and decentralization for end users. The Sovereign SDK will remain completely free and open-source, and each technical component will be built to the highest standards of resilience.