We asked @prestonevans__, CTO of @sovereign_labs to unpack the Sovereign stack. “Number one, it's to give builders enough scale that they can have their app actually work.” “Number two, we really wanted to see users or sorry builders be able to focus much more on building the features that their users really want.”

The Rollup TV: Friday, August 8th

Some quick lore on @sovereign_labs now that they’ve launched In 2022, @cemozer_ came to our Celestia dinner during ETH Denver and told me he wanted to build the first sovereign rollup. At that time, sovereign rollups were just an idea @musalbas had written about, but most people dismissed it. But Cem saw the opportunity and went for it. As the idea was forming Cem mentioned he was working with some dude named Preston and that we was a true gigabrain. I didn't know @prestonevans__ then, but after the first time I met him I was absolutely blown away and I got even more bullish. Over the next 3 years together Cem and Preston grinded through fundraises, persevered through the boom and bust of the modular hype cycle, and were among the first builders to recognize the potential for zkVMs, proof aggregation, and the entirely new design space for application specific rollps that was opening up as a result. I always thought of Celestia as the endgame L1 architecture, and of Sovereign SDK as the endgame rollup framework. A match made in crypto geek heaven. Now that the framework is production ready, we're closer than we've ever been to seeing the fullness of the modular vision come to life. I think the full magnitude of what they've built won't be appreciated until a few years from now, but in hindsight it will seem inevitable. Congrats to Cem, Preston and everyone who has been part of the journey to get here 3 years later and it's still day one

Here's a memo I wrote internally at Sovereign about this 2 years ago -- in September 2023. I believe it's being validated, but the "why" section is more nuanced than what I wrote here. I now believe that "higher value capture" is as central to the "why" as higher customizability and performance. Here you go: """ At Sovereign, we’re betting on app-specific rollups to become the dominant form of blockchain compute. Much like mainframes in the '70s, L1 blockchains are too expensive NOT to share. But with the advent of rollup frameworks (like Sovereign SDK) and Rollup-as-a-Service platforms, the barriers to launching new blockchains are disappearing. Developers of application-specific blockchains no longer need to bootstrap validator sets; instead, they can simply pay for data as they go. Just as the advent of low-cost computers led to a movement away from timesharing, we expect that lowered barriers to launching blockchains will lead to a proliferation of applications built as standalone blockchains. Why? Because standalone chains enable developers to move beyond the restrictions imposed by general-purpose virtual machines and, as a result, build superior applications. Developers can now eliminate the gas concept entirely, introduce auto-triggered functions at every block or transaction, rearrange transactions, operate blazing-fast sequencers, and trivially create indexers tailored to their application's requirements. All because they're NOT running their application on a general-purpose virtual machine. We believe any blockchain application built as a smart contract on a general-purpose chain can be improved by leveraging the greater customization of being built as a standalone chain. """

Think zkVM world should follow the mass deprecation of 32-bit systems seen in Linux world and go RV64 instead of RV32

the internet was the first permissionless, global rail for transferring information. through it, global information applications were born. news sites, memes, social networks. crypto is the first permissionless, global rail for transferring value. with it, we're witnessing the birth of global financial applications. aave, hyperliquid, and polymarket are just the beginning. the information revolution took 50+ years. the value revolution is just getting started.

MOVE ALL MARKETS ON CHAIN. wish there was a framework for that.

Verifiable App Framework in the flesh. 6 months later, this will be the biggest narrative for trustless apps.

Sovereign SDK is alien tech compared to the current tools devs have for building onchain apps Ridiculously fast 10ms latency Absurd throughput at 1000s of TPS Maximum customization of the VM 3 years of blood, sweat and tears from this team is about to pay off in a major way

When you ask questions about Sovereign SDK in Slack, their Devin based Sovereign AI returning very detailed answer with code snippets.