Witness Chain: Securing Rollups, DePIN, and AI Coprocessors

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Check out the latest episode of the Kiln Restaking Rendez-Vous podcast series! This time, we sit down with Himanshu Tyagi, Co-founder and CTO of Witness Chain, as he joins Edgar Roth, Protocol Specialist at Kiln, to delve into the world of the Witness Chain AVS.

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Diving into Witness Chain

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During the episode, Himanshu sheds light on various aspects of Witness Chain, from its inception to its future endeavors. They talk about the genesis of Witness Chain, the pivotal role of watchtowers in rollups, and the intricacies of pricing and incentives for their watchtower service. Additionally, they explore the potential for cross-chain applications and the roadmap for Witness Chain's mainnet launch.

Himanshu also shares insights into the different types of rollups and DePIN chains that Witness Chain is dedicated to securing, while also discussing the efficiency of DePIN infrastructure and the competitive landscape within the rollup ecosystem.

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What are Witness Chain watchtowers? What are they made for?

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Witness Chain watchtowers serve as the primary defense mechanism for optimistic rollups, ensuring that they operate smoothly and securely. They employ Proof-of-Diligence (PoD) to incentivize watchtower performance.

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Optimistic rollups achieve high scalability by verifying transactions on a separate chain and publicly sharing transaction data. If any fraudulent activity is detected, Ethereum validators can step in for arbitration using fraud proofs. However, the current system primarily relies on validators initiating fraud proofs after a fault is detected, with incentives kicking in only afterward.

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But Witness Chain introduces a decentralized watchtower service that's programmable, trust-free, and decentralized to address these problems. It incentivizes watchtowers through an innovative proof of diligence, ensuring their reliability in normal operations.

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Anticipating the launch of Witness Chain

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Witness Chain is set to debut its mainnet in the second week of April, unveiling its rollup watchtowers. Initial projections suggest that between zero to five rollups will integrate with Witness Chain right from the launch date, signaling a promising start. Additionally, there are expectations that certain Layer 3 solutions will also leverage the capabilities offered by Witness Chain. 

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Looking ahead, Witness Chain has ambitious plans to further expand its offerings. By June, the company aims to introduce the first mainnet version of its DePIN watchtowers.
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‍Watch or listen to this episode now! And be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming episodes, where we'll continue showcasing a variety of projects within the EigenLayer & AVS ecosystem in the coming weeks.