Celestia, EigenDA, and Altlayer.
Have you heard of these names before?
If you have not, you are probably missing out on one of the hottest innovation trends in crypto right now.
These are some of the key teams designing and building solutions in what is known as data availability space in a modular approach towards blockchain scaling. They are building step-change functions for blockchains that will have far reaching consequences for their applications in finance, social media and other commercial areas.
And of course, as we always do here at the Crypto Adoption Curve, let’s dive into history, background and outlook of new adoption trends before it goes mainstream.
In this Insiders Club Exclusive newsletter, we will
take a stroll down the history lane of blockchain to understand the context that gave rise to key technical advancements in the technology
survey the landscape of current market solutions
dive into this latest innovation that is driving much of the biggest funding rounds in the space
Let’s dive in.
History
When the Bitcoin network first came into existence in 2009, it was an ingenious but simple peer-to-peer network where one can send Bitcoin to one another. Bitcoin is said to be a 1st generation blockchain network.
Of course it bears stressing that 1st generation doesn’t necessarily mean obsolete here. For example, it may be all that is required for a seizure resistant and store of value network such as the Bitcoin network.
However, a more complex blockchain technology is needed if we want to enable other use cases. When the Ethereum network was introduced to the world in 2015, it was a step function change in the history of blockchains. It was the first time complex logic can be enforced by code through the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), the program that allows execution of Smart Contract codes.
This step function change enabled the famous “DeFi summer” in 2020, a period of time when various fundamental financial applications such as money market, collateralized lending, stablecoin and decentralized exchange trading rose to prominence. Ethereum is often described as a 2nd generation blockchain.
You can see below the 0 to $100 billion moment in the total amount of collateral/liquidity that users deposited into various onchain applications as a result.