Layer 1
Last updated
Last updated
The Initia layer 1 is a standard Cosmos SDK-based chain that utilizes CometBFT (prev. Tendermint) consensus and Move VM for its smart contracting environment.
Initia's L1 has a few key differences that distinguish it from other L1s.
While the L1 is a permissionless, generic smart contracting chain, Initia's L1 serves as the base layer for all the infrastructure and data "piping". Specifically, the L1 serves as:
Omnitia Liquidity Hub and Enshrined Liquidity
Omnitia Shared Security
Unlike typical PoS chains, the Initia L1 has a native Balancer-like DEX built as a CosmosSDK module. As a result, the L1 accepts both the native INIT token as well as governance whitelisted pairs of INIT LP tokens (ex. INIT-USDC, INIT-stATOM, etc.) for stake. Note that these pairs do not necessarily need to be in a 50-50 ratio (however, INIT must always be greater than or equal to 50%). There are few advantages to this model:
Liquidity Moat: Sticky liquidity is built on the L1 layer, allowing for smooth user experience.
Enhance Staking Yield: Liquidity normally utilized for staking can be put to active use for both trading and earning yields. Note that Initia can support INIT-LSD pairs, so users are able to simultaneously earn Initia staking yield, LSD yield, and swap fees.
Inter-Minitia Router: The liquidity hub is used as an token router to move tokens from different Minitias (ex. moving ETH on Minitia A to USDC on Minitia B can be done in one transaction with 3 different messages: bridge > swap > bridge).
"Just-in-Time" Gas: Users who don't have gas on one of the L2s can swap balances that they have one other Minitias or the L1 into the gas asset and route it to the corresponding L2 in one transaction.
Omnitia Shared Security (OSS) is the security scaling model used to secure assets on potentially millions of Minitias. When a fraud challenge is submitted by a challenger for an L2, the L1 validator set is invoked to resolve the dispute. This system natively integrates Celestia light nodes within the validator nodes to verify data across every Minitia without needing to download entire blocks.
With a shared DA Layer, the Initia L1 validator set, challengers, and instant bridge operators within the Initia system have access to state data to construct fraud proofs to dispute invalid rollup operations. Given that Minitias can directly post transaction data to Celestia, the rollup chain’s state (transitions) can be deterministically derived and verified.
Furthermore, relevant actors can utilize Celestia’s Namespaced Merkle Trees (NMT) and Data Availability Sampling (DAS) design to only download and verify relevant transactions. OSS allows Initia to scale without bloating the state of its L1 validator set or requiring them to run full nodes of every Minitia.
