a16z: Why invest in EigenLayer

php Editor Xinyi’s introduction: a16z recently invested in EigenLayer, a start-up company focused on accelerating deep learning training. EigenLayer's technology can improve training speed and efficiency at both the hardware and software levels, attracting the attention of investors. This article will explore why a16z chose to invest in EigenLayer, as well as the potential and development prospects of this startup in the field of artificial intelligence.

Very few people have both vision and the ability to potentially change. EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan is not only brilliant and smart, but his vision for the future is so fundamentally clear and compelling that it instantly becomes real when talking to him. Sreeram possesses what I call the Promethean fire and is driving new technologies to life to create a new future.

I first met Sreeram in 2019, when he was an associate professor at the University of Washington and starting his own entrepreneurial journey. Sreeram made a lasting impression and since then we have had a lot of interactions with him and the world-class team he has assembled over the years. In 2022, Sreeram gave an inspiring talk on EigenLayer and EigenDA as part of our Summer Research Fellowship, and last year he and EigenLayer Protocol Research Lead Soubhik published a comprehensive overview of the cryptoeconomics of slashing on our blog.

We are excited to announce that we are leading EigenLayer’s Series B funding round and look forward to working with Sreeram and his team to create a future of innovation on the Ethereum platform.

Background

To fully understand the full picture of EigenLayer, you first need to zoom in: we can start with Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the first paradigm developed entirely based on blockchain technology. It was originally intended to be a method of payment, but gradually evolved into a digital gold used as a store of value, although its price fluctuated widely. .

The uniqueness of Ethereum is that it successfully separates the consensus mechanism from application logic. This separation innovatively breaks the monolithic model of a single application such as Bitcoin.

Ethereum allows developers to write their own applications using smart contracts, taking full advantage of the shared security and computing resources of the blockchain.

This transformation has opened up a vast design landscape for open innovation, the source of nearly everything we know and love today. This means that now people can develop decentralized applications without having to build their own blockchain technology from scratch.

Ethereum’s advanced programmability is a significant advancement for many applications, but it is not without limitations. As a developer, you still have to abide by a set of regulations that limit what you can and cannot achieve.

For example, the code you write must be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). For some lightweight applications, the EVM is still a good computing model because it is suitable for Ethereum. Block size and gas limits. But for other applications that may be more complex or require specific functionality, EVM may not be suitable.

In an ideal world, as a developer, you should have almost complete freedom.

If necessary, you should be able to code distributed services using any instruction set, with its own consensus mechanism, data dissemination algorithm, block time and gas limits, and even for verification based on your own hardware requirements settings such as GPU or Trusted Execution Environment.

You can achieve all of this without having to build your own blockchain network from scratch. Instead, you can build on the most secure programmable blockchain that already has a decentralized and secure set of validators: Ethereum.

Enter EigenLayer

EigenLayer is a set of smart contracts on Ethereum that creates a two-sided market for original cryptoeconomic security: on the demand side, it allows creators to write code that effectively Extended functionality of Ethereum. On the supply side, validators participating in the Ethereum consensus (if they happen to have the capabilities and required hardware) can choose to run these distributed services by re-mortgaging ETH. Overall, EigenLayer is a decentralized and market-oriented mechanism for expanding Ethereum’s capabilities.

The significance of this mechanism is far-reaching. We believe that by further deconstructing the relationship between cryptoeconomic security and EVM, EigenLayer has the potential to achieve 100 times the speed of innovation in technologies such as consensus mechanisms, new virtual machines, decentralized oracles, bridges, and networks with dedicated hardware, just like Ethereum has achieved 100 times the innovation speed at the application logic level by introducing smart contracts.

We are extremely excited to partner with Sreeram and his team to help them realize this vision.

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