What is Wisp?
TLDR
Wisp is a data transfer protocol between Ethereum rollups, based on Computational Integrity proofs (SNARKs), proving the state of Ethereum inside the destination rollup and acting as an on-chain light client.
Wisp is an open-sourced neutral permissionless public good infrastructure for cross-rollup communication with a powerful positive feedback loop. It is completely aligned with the Ethereum Foundation's rollup-centric future and supports the Ethereum community. It enables ETH be the cross-rollup currency of the rollups ecosystem.
Overview
Communicating across rollups is a foundational requirement for the further adoption of L2s. The ability to securely transfer data across rollups will enable many new use cases and alleviate possible UX issues.
Wisp proposes a design for a decentralised and permissionless protocol for cross-rollup data communication. Such data communication can have multiple use cases and applications, including, but not limited to decentralised cross-rollup oracles and bridges. Instead of crypto economical premises, the protocol is based on Computational Integrity Proofs (also referred to as ZK proofs). In a nutshell, Wisp is a combination of an on-chain light client for rollups and an L1 verification mechanism for data inclusion inside a rollup. More on the inner workings can be found in the Wisp section.
Wisp aims to fulfil the following requirements for cross-rollup communication:
Security - Inheriting the security of the main chain - Ethereum (Secured By Ethereum)
Efficiency - Improved speed and/or cost of the communication compared to the L1 messaging approach without sacrificing the security, hence better UX.
Simplicity - No requirement for changes to the rollup architecture in order for ZK-based networks to support it.
Decentralisation and Trustlessness - Communication does not depend on a small set of trusted parties in order to be performed. Furthermore, in a doomsday scenario and despite the major inconvenience, the protocol is able to be operated by the end users themselves.
Wisp protocol's goal is to be an open-sourced neutral permissionless public good infrastructure for cross-rollup communication, completely aligned with the Ethereum Foundation rollup-centric future and supporting the Ethereum community.
The Wisp whitepaper can be found here.
The discussion around the design of the protocol can be found and contributed to here (TODO ethresear.ch post)
Roadmap
Last updated