Layer 2 Blockchains: Simply Explained

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Now let's get a little bit technical and talk about layer two blockchains. We described ImmutableX as an Ethereum scaling Layer 2, but what does that actually mean?

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Well, let's consider Ethereum. Ethereum is whats known as a Layer 1 blockchain. Now there's an important concept to understand, which is something called the Blockchain

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Trilemma. The Blockchain Trilemma was first described by the founder of Ethereum, and it talks about the fact that there are three key properties scalability, security and decentralisation.

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And it's really hard to have all three of them present in a blockchain environment. And so for instance, Ethereum, trades off scalability

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for security and decentralisation. Ethereum's a very secure blockchain. It's a very decentralised blockchain, but it's not particularly fast or scalable.

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There are limitations on the number of transactions that can be present in each block and on how long it takes for each block to be committed.

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In contrast to that, let's consider ImmutableX. ImmutableX has deliberately traded security and decentralisation

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for scalability. Now alone, that might be a problem. But the great thing about Layer 2 blockchains is they inherit some of the properties of the underlying Layer 1 blockchain.

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So in this case, ImmutableX actually inherits the security and decentralisation characteristics of Ethereum. So what does this look like? Well, transactions can happen a lot faster on ImmutableX,

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and what happens in the background is those transactions are grouped together and wrapped into a single transaction that is stored on the Layer 1

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Ethereum blockchain. This happens through a smart contract that sits on the Ethereum, that takes these wrapped transactions, verifies their integrity

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and processes deposits and withdrawals of value between the Layer 1 and the Layer 2. So this allows you to transfer both Fungible

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Tokens and Non-Fungible Tokens from Ethereum to ImmutableX and the other way around in a way that is secure and decentralised using Ethereum,

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but allows for transacting on ImmutableX in a highly scalable, really fast manner. This architecture lends itself to a series

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of advantages versus Ethereum. Firstly, it allows for much higher scalability. So where you've got situations like games that might generate thousands of events

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a second, that can be supported, whereas on Ethereum it can't. It improves the user experience because on ImmutableX

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you can have an instant transaction confirmation, whereas on Ethereum, that takes minutes. You can have cheaper transactions because many transactions are batched together and then stored in a single transaction within

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Ethereum, the high gas fees get spread across many different transactions. It gives you that Ethereum

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level security because the transactions are batched and then settled on the Ethereum layer one. Then it maintains the same security properties that Ethereum does.

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And finally you get the network effects of Ethereum. Ethereum is an extremely well known blockchain that has a large

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community and a lot of usage. And because you can easily access and interact with Layer 1 users or wallets and tokens on the Layer 2, that allows you to leverage