Rollux can be seen as a BTC smart contract layer compatible with EVM, and may bring multiple benefits including EVM ecological value and super chain infrastructure revenue.
Written by: Nicole
What is the main battlefield of “Bitcoin + L2”?
The Ordinals craze in 2023 brought about a huge explosion in the Bitcoin ecosystem, among which Bitcoin L2 was the most crowded, resulting in a large number of projects named “Bitcoin L2”. However, what exactly “Bitcoin + L2” is going to solve is not an easy question for many people to distinguish.
In fact, if Bitcoin is just regarded as a trillion-dollar high-quality asset pool, there is no need to reinvent the wheel and create another L2 chain. The on-chain ecology and DeFi use cases of “encapsulating BTC+EVM” have been practiced in 2020, but they have not grown, and the overall BTC capital inflows attracted are limited.
To get back to the basics, in this article we will explain Rollux’s “Bitcoin + L2” from a technical perspective, and take a look at how Rollux coordinates the security of Bitcoin and the Turing-complete programmability of Ethereum, as an L2 scalability solution, to activate the EVM ecological value based on Bitcoin security.
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Rollux: EVM L2 Scaling Solution Sharing Bitcoin Security
If Rollux is summarized in one sentence, it is an EVM-compatible network based on Bitcoin joint mining, which aims to maintain network security through Bitcoin miners and L1 data availability (DA). It mainly relies on Syscoin (SYS), a Rollup-based Bitcoin scaling solution that has been launched on Binance, as its technology stack.
Syscoin is a joint mining project that was launched in 2014. After ten years of technological accumulation and iteration, it has the consensus security of BTC and is compatible with DA and EVM of ETH.
Rollux launched the V1 mainnet of EVM in 2023, supporting the modularization of BTC; in 2024, it expanded the modularization of BTC into a super chain ecological solution.
From this perspective, if Syscoin is Bitcoin L0, then Rollux is a super chain solution that uses the Syscoin technology stack. Among them, “joint mining”, “EVM compatibility” and “data availability” are undoubtedly the three most important labels of Rollux, which is essentially the embodiment of Rollux’s full-stack modularization.
Merged Mining: Shared Security
The concept of joint mining is not unfamiliar to everyone. Taking the well-known RSK as an example, joint mining essentially allows Bitcoin miners to earn “extra rewards” through daily BTC mining, which is not only beneficial for miners to increase their income, but more importantly, it adds the best security in the crypto world to projects that are jointly mined with Bitcoin.
Since Rollux is an Optimistic Rollup running on Syscoin NEVM (Network Enhanced Virtual Machine), it shares the security provided by Bitcoin miners:
The Syscoin network operates on a dual-chain architecture, with two parallel blockchains performing joint mining simultaneously in Syscoin Core - Syscoin UTXO (Bitcoin standard) and Syscoin NEVM (Ethereum standard).
As of April 2022, it has gained support from approximately 60% of the Bitcoin network’s hash rate.
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EVM compatibility: seamless ecological migration
Rollux has been online on the mainnet since June 2023, and it is still an Optimistic Rollup that is completely equivalent to EVM (built on the Optimism stack), but information on the official website shows that once the validity is proven and the technology matures, future plans include ZK Rollup, allowing users and projects to freely choose the network or solution that best suits them.
The Optimistic Rollup model allows anyone to challenge the status on Rollux, and will be converted to ZK Rollup in the future to eliminate any trust assumptions about the Optimistic model, which enables it to directly experience the ecological value of the EVM network while sharing security through Bitcoin miners:
Compatibility with EVM allows developers based on Ethereum to migrate existing applications, which is conducive to the further expansion of the ecosystem and makes it easier for developers to deploy products, thereby quickly opening up the situation.
For example, DApp developers of EVM networks such as Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Optimism can directly and seamlessly migrate to Rollux, and quickly build on-chain DeFi scenarios such as Swap and even lending, liquidity staking, etc. on Rollux, bringing more possibilities to the ecosystem.
BitcoinDA: Extremely Low Network Costs
In addition, Rollux’s data availability solution is mainly based on the BitcoinDA protocol (PoDA) launched by Syscoin, which allows Rollux to share the security of Bitcoin while also achieving extremely low transaction and usage cost experience.
As a scalable DA, BitcoinDA is designed for various Rollups to protect various L2s by achieving L1 data availability, but compared with Ethereum’s Proto-Danksharding and Celestia, it differs in the way data is stored, presented, pruned, and the way fees are calculated:
By default, a Keccak256 hash of the full data blob is stored in L1, assuming that at least one honest party in the world will archive the blob within a time window of at least 6 hours.
This is essentially similar to the honesty assumption made when syncing a Bitcoin node (at least one honest node), and after this time window the blob is pruned from the network cache while its hash remains on-chain.
In summary, the advantages of BitcoinDA include:
- Cheaper transactions;
- No need for data sharding;
- Improved data throughput through efficient Keccak data blobs;
- Secured by Bitcoin’s own PoW and Syscoin’s finality;
- More resilient to network-based disruptions/censorship;
- UTXO fee market based on Syscoin to enable a simpler data fee market;
- Nakamoto hypothesis: only one honest node is needed to guarantee data;
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In short, BitcoinDA allows for a hash-based, trustless DA setup that provides ample bandwidth of up to 450kb/s, enough to support a transaction throughput of 7000 TPS.
For this reason, according to official disclosure, the use of BitcoinDA can even achieve cheaper on-chain transaction fees than the current Dencun upgrade that activates EIP-4844’s L2 - for the same Swap transaction within DEX, the cost of using BitcoinDA is currently 2,000 times cheaper than using EIP-4844’s L2.
Rollux builds a “four-step” architecture for the superchain ecosystem
In general, Rollux combines the advantages of Bitcoin with a modular architecture (DA layer + execution layer + cross-chain bridge) to provide a scalable, secure and universal EVM superchain ecosystem for the Bitcoin ecosystem.
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It can be divided into four gradual stages:
Get stBTC
First of all, as mentioned above, Rollux encodes the difficulty of Bitcoin in the internal contract in the form of joint mining. Based on this, it also creates a Restaking concept based on mining difficulty, similar to ETH to stETH. Bitcoin miners can obtain stBTC, which is equivalent to the difficulty of Bitcoin, through normal mining, without the risk of Slash.
In short, this stage is mainly about obtaining stBTC, thereby obtaining additional benefits based on Bitcoin difficulty and laying a security foundation for subsequent steps.
Create and run the Eigen layer
Then create and run an Eigen layer with two specific AVS services - cross-chain service and DA service, both of which use stBTC for security.
- The cross-chain bridge service turns off the trust assumption by minimizing edge case attack vectors and ensures that Slash security is applied to very few cases, which creates a Nash equilibrium - because the demand side is willing to take on extremely low-risk Slash security in exchange for higher security;
- The DA service uses stBTC to support service security and ensure the Slash security of Bitcoin;
Income and security enhancements
As demand increases, security will also increase and generate income for Bitcoin holders, so in theory, this will form a positive cycle, incentivizing more people to support Eigen services and provide security.
At the same time, EigenDA can provide transaction speeds up to 10MB/s or 164,000 TPS.
Full-chain modular Bitcoin layer
Finally, ZK light clients are used to provide BitcoinDA + EigenDA to other execution environments, which can verify the chain and check DA messages before making their own Rollup state transitions.
This not only ensures the best security based on the Bitcoin network, but also implements a modular architecture while maintaining decentralized logic. Therefore, in essence, this hides the vision of Rollux becoming the “modular infrastructure” of other Bitcoin L2.
Bitcoin L2 “Modular Infrastructure” Vision
The above “four-step” architecture outlines Rollux’s vision as a foundational enhancement to Bitcoin’s scalability and functionality - the L0 layer is secured by Bitcoin miners, the L1 layer provides data availability through BitcoinDA, and then provides L2 services for other blockchains (creating L3/L4 or superchain ecosystems) and creates new sources of revenue.
In general, with its security and decentralization features, Rollux can become an ideal settlement layer for Rollups:
- Improve scalability and profitability through the Eigen layer and stBTC to attract more users and developers;
- No need to conduct direct optimistic gambling on Bitcoin itself, reducing complexity and risk;
Among them, Rollux uses the EVM-compatible smart contract chain architecture. A large number of blockchain network assets can be directly guided to the Rollux smart contract ecosystem guaranteed by Bitcoin security through cross-chain, which promotes the release of a large amount of liquidity:
- Users can participate in various smart contract applications through Rollux, such as staking, DeFi, social networking, and even more complex financial derivatives markets, greatly expanding the scope and value of Bitcoin assets.
- From the developer perspective, EigenDA can provide a transaction speed of up to 10MB/s or 164,000 TPS, and BitcoinDA can achieve cheaper on-chain transaction fees than the current L2 after Dencun upgrade to activate EIP-4844;
From this perspective, Rollux’s greater vision is to become a “modular infrastructure for Bitcoin L2s” - it can provide support for any Bitcoin L2, especially starting with cross-chain, and then provide DA services + security services for projects that want to significantly increase TPS in the most reasonable way.
Team and Investment and Financing
The Rollux team includes OG members in blockchain technology, cryptography, software development and business strategy. Jagdeep Sidhu is the CEO and CTO of the Rollux project team SYS Labs. He has more than 25 years of experience in software engineering and CTO positions. He is also experienced in blockchain technology and basic business practices and is good at dealing with technologies related to scalability and system interoperability.
In addition, Michiel Näring is the Chief Operating Officer of SYS Labs, mainly responsible for Syscoin marketing activities; Bradley Stephenson is the Chief Marketing Officer of SYS Labs, responsible for guiding Rollux to adapt to the changing competitive environment; Chris O’Shea is the Chief Financial Officer of SYS Labs, with deep expertise in crypto-financial strategies, bringing a solid financial planning foundation and an impressive record of achievements to SYS Labs.
It is worth noting that in 2022, the cryptocurrency exchange MEXC launched a $20 million Syscoin ecological fund to support the development of the Syscoin ecosystem. As an absolute leading project based on the Syscoin technology stack, Rollux will naturally have the upper hand in the subsequent coordinated development of the ecosystem.
Token Economics and Roadmap
Rollux has not yet launched a new token and uses Syscoin (SYS) as the Gas token, but the official has stated that it will launch a points reward plan, so good things should be coming soon.
At the same time, Rollux’s current governance system is divided into two dimensions: ecosystem and infrastructure:
- The former is responsible for focusing on expanding the Rollux ecosystem. Its main functions include grant allocation and airdrop strategy. In the future, community users can participate in governance through token voting/delegated voting;
- The latter is committed to the technological progress of Rollux, including infrastructure construction, research plans, technical funding, publicity, etc. In the future, community users can vote and govern based on actual performance;
The official roadmap also revealed that the major development milestones planned by Rollux include:
- Bitcoin modularity layer. Working with the ZK light node client, extending Syscoin’s zkDA to provide a data availability framework for all Bitcoin smart contracts and preparing for Bitcoin liquidity staking on Rollux;
- ZKP/OP hybrid chain. Provides diverse choices of ZKP/OP L2 Rollup;
- Decentralized sequencer.
- Rollux Superchain. Develop and create L3/L4 or Superchain ecosystem.
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Summary
This means that Rollux can be seen as a BTC smart contract layer compatible with EVM, and may bring multiple benefits including EVM ecological value and super chain infrastructure revenue.
In general, Rollux, as a L2 package modular solution based on Bitcoin security, is to some extent an “infrastructure project” that connects the Bitcoin network and the Ethereum ecosystem. It is expected to become a super pipeline and infrastructure connecting a multi-chain ecosystem compatible with EVM on the basis of giving Bitcoin the possibility of native security. It is full of imagination and challenges.
