AVS Product Categorization

The EigenLayer ecosystem is still in its early development phase, and therefore categorization of AVS providers is exploratory and subject to revision as the industry matures. The following categories are an exercise in examining AVSs based on projected product types likely to come to market.

Depending on the specific goals that an AVS is designed to achieve, we can broadly categorize them into three distinct types:

Security Enhancement: AVS services designed to improve the security of existing blockchain architectures, such as through additional staking layers or enhanced validator commitments.

Performance Optimization: AVSs that focus on improving the performance metrics of blockchains, such as reducing latency or increasing transaction throughput.

Functional Expansion: Services that add new functionalities to blockchains, such as enabling new forms of consensus or introducing innovative transaction types.

Categorization of AVS by Product Type

The product classification outlined below organizes the potential solutions into seven distinct product types, each addressing specific needs within the blockchain ecosystem.

Scalability Solutions Rollup Services are focused on enhancing blockchain scalability through off-chain transaction processing while maintaining data integrity on the main chain. Some examples:

• Data Availability

• Decentralized Sequencing

• Fast Finality layers

• MEV-aware services

• Watchtowers

• Based preconfirmations

• Rollup deployers or RaaS (Rollup as a Service)

Interoperability Solutions Cross-Chain Communication and Bridges enable seamless asset and information transfer between different blockchain networks. Decentralized RPC Networks facilitate communication across the blockchain network.

Applied Cryptography Security and Privacy Enhancements utilize cryptographic techniques to secure transactions, data, and communications within the blockchain network. This encompasses methods for enhancing privacy (e.g., zero-knowledge proofs) and ensuring the security of blockchain operations, making it a comprehensive category that addresses both the protection of data and the safeguarding of transactions against unauthorized access or manipulation. Some examples:

• Trusted Execution Environments (TEE)

• Threshold Cryptography

• Threshold Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)

Computational Enhancements Coprocessors/Computation Networks extend the computational capabilities of blockchain networks, offering specialized processing power for complex operations. Different types of coprocessors exhibit distinct cost, latency, and security characteristics. Combining different types of coprocessors can lead to an optimized user experience. Some examples:

• ZK coprocessors

• Optimistic coprocessors

• Cryptoeconomic coprocessors

  

Data and External Information Integration Oracle Networks provide a reliable way to bring external data into the blockchain, essential for the functionality of smart contracts that depend on real-world information.

Automation Infrastructure Keeper Networks automate essential actions within the blockchain ecosystem, such as executing smart contracts under specific conditions, to ensure efficient and reliable operations.

Development Infrastructure AVS Tooling includes development tools and frameworks for creating, deploying, and managing AVSs, facilitating the development process and fostering innovation within the ecosystem.

Dispute Resolution An on-demand dispute resolution system bolstered by EigenLayer validations as a business model with off-chain components that can be validated on-chain at affordable costs. Businesses (e.g., Layer 2 solutions, DEXes, Oracles, AI Companies, Cloud Compute, ZK Services) may opt-in for AVS-run arbitration.