Covalent (CQT)’s Ethereum Wayback Machine: Securing Long-Term Data Availability in the Rollup Era

Ethereum is undergoing a transformative journey into the “Rollup Era,” driven by the Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844 (EIP-4844). This signifies a pivotal shift in blockchain technology with a novel data structure referred to as “blobs.” In line with Ethereum’s scaling efforts, the roadmap emphasizes streamlining operations by purging historical blockchain data and implementing state expiry to enhance efficiency and scalability. This shift, however, poses a challenge–maintaining the accessibility of historical data without relying on rent-seeking, centralized intermediaries.

Recognizing these changes within Ethereum, the Covalent Network steps in as a key solution designed to maintain the availability of blob data indefinitely in a decentralized way. As Ethereum evolves and its data storage methods change, the Covalent Network is committed to providing archival data for a wide range of parties who rely on this information with the Ethereum Wayback Machine (EWM).

Why Long-Term Data Availability Matters

Consider blockchain data as the historical, immutable record of transactions, smart contracts, and activities on the Ethereum network. This data serves multiple purposes:

Transparency: It allows anyone to access and analyze the full historical transaction record.

Regulatory Compliance: Regulators may require access to historical data to investigate potential fraud or illegal activities.

Investment Strategy: Investors and stakeholders rely on historical data to make informed decisions about blockchain-based activities.

Adoption: Developers may hesitate to build on a network with limited historical data accessibility, hindering the adoption of blockchain technology.

The absence of a solution like the Ethereum Wayback Machine poses a potential threat to the growth and impact of the blockchain ecosystem. In essence, the EWM plays a pivotal role in ensuring that Ethereum continues to thrive and remains a robust platform for innovation in use cases such as AI-model find-tuning, machine learning, risk estimations and future as-of-yet unknown unlocks.

Introducing the Ethereum Wayback Machine (EWM)

The Ethereum Wayback Machine is an open-source solution addressing the challenge of long-term data availability. It empowers developers, researchers, and ecosystem participants to access enriched and cryptographically secure historical data without relying on centralized intermediaries.

At its core, the EWM comprises two key components:

Block Specimens Producer (BSP): Securely extracts data from blockchains using cryptographic proofs, offering historical extraction for archival data and synchronous mode for real-time data.

Block Results Producer (BRPs): A concurrent block re-execution framework that enriches Block Specimens, providing one-to-one representations of block data obtained from an RPC call to a blockchain node.

How the Ethereum Wayback Machine Works

The Ethereum Wayback Machine leverages the Covalent Network to ensure the accessibility and availability of historical blockchain data. By using BSPs and BRPs, developers can reconstruct a comprehensive representation of a blockchain and create databases with normalized schemas. Here's what makes the EWM stand out:

Decentralized: The EWM addresses concerns of censorship risks by providing historical data through a decentralized network.

Removing the RPC Bottleneck: Innovative technologies like Block Specimens and Block Results eliminate limitations associated with querying the RPC layer for data.

Secured via Proofs: Cryptographic proofs ensure data integrity, allowing participants to verify the accuracy of the provided data.

Enrichment: The EWM offers enrichment capabilities, such as contract tracing and off-chain NFT metadata, empowering developers and users with in-depth insights and analytics.

Building for Ethereum's Future

The introduction of EIP-4844 sheds light on Ethereum’s steadfast dedication to innovation and improvement. This breakthrough addresses scalability and data management challenges that unlock novel possibilities for on-chain applications. However, as more people are able to participate in on-chain, important data that is used to verify transactions on L2 rollups is no longer accessible in the long term. While centralized players may offer solutions, the EWM stands out as a decentralized and pragmatic approach, providing ongoing access to historical blockchain data.

The Covalent Network, with its Ethereum Wayback Machine, exemplifies a game-changing solution designed to maintain the availability of blob data in a decentralized way. In a market landscape where data availability is paramount, Covalent's commitment to a decentralized solution is poised to play a pivotal role in Ethereum's continued success.

Learn how Covalent is building the long-term data availability of the ‘Ethereum Wayback Machine’.

About Covalent

Covalent (CQT) has created the largest data availability layer of Web3, enabling millions of users to build the new economy of products in AI, Big Data, and DeFi. Its deep commitment to democratizing access to structured data is delivered through a singular Unified API for everyone. A core aspect of the DePIN ecosystem, Covalent serves developers, analysts, innovators & 1000’s of customers with comprehensive, real-time data access to +225 blockchains & growing.

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