This article will give you an overview of Opside from a non-technical perspective by answering just two simple questions: What is Opside? And how do "I" benefit from Opside?

What is Opside?

Opside is a three-layer platform. It adopts PoS & PoW as the hybrid consensus and provides ZK-RaaS (zkRollup as a Service).

Presumably, most end users wouldn’t understand it easily, so let’s break some concepts down:

1. 3-Layer Architecture

We guess most people are no strangers to L2. And then the 3-layer architecture mentioned here is:

• L1: ETH, BNB Chain, and other public chains.
• L2: Consensus and data availability layer, all transactions and data generated will be hashed and stored on the L2 Opside chain, achieving high-speed transactions and low gas fees.
• L3: Application layer based on zkRollups. It is compatible with various zkEVMs and provides programmability.

The three layers are connected through bridges so that assets can be transferred directly from L1 to L2 or L3.

Currently, there are two official bridges:

zk bridge: suitable for large assets that require higher security.

Liquidity bridge: suitable for small assets that prefer transaction speed.

2. PoS & PoW Hybrid Consensus

The Opside 3-layer platform adopts a hybrid consensus of PoS + PoW, in which L2 adopts PoS of ETH 2.0, and L3 adopts PoW.

L2 adopts the PoS consensus of ETH 2.0, anyone can become a Validator to obtain block rewards by staking a certain amount of IDE. The mechanism works just as the staking on Ethereum.

L3 adopts the PoW consensus, in which miners compete with their computing power to generate ZK proofs for transactions, and the first one who generates the zkp is rewarded. The whole process looks just like how Aleo Testnet did.

3. ZK-RaaS

ZK-RaaS (zkRollup as a service) provides a one-click zkRollup integration service.

Opside provides a general-purpose ZK-Rollups SDK (Software Development Kit) for developers so that they can deploy their application on Opside L3 based on a zkRollup.

Meanwhile, Opside also provides 64 exclusive zkRollups slots, which we call “Native Rollups”.

Projects that successfully bid for Native Rollups slots can obtain exclusive customization functions, and enjoy an exclusive standalone operating environment where cross rollup function is supported between different zkrollups.

Polkadot slot auction mechanism is an appropriate illustration of the Opside slot bidding system. Different from Polkadot, however, the Opside L2 and L3 share the same consensus and data availability layer, thus retaining higher security, more decentralization, and lower maintenance costs.

Overall process illustration

a. Users transfer assets from L1 to L2 or L3 through bridges and generate transactions in various applications.

b. The transaction set (batch) generated on L3 is sorted by the Opside Validator, who gives it to the miners to generate ZKP in parallel computation, which is then submitted to Validators to then hash it into blocks.

c. The blocks generated by L2 are finalized and stored on-chain by the Validator, and the final PoS proof is synchronized to L1 every other time.

How do "I" benefit from Opside?

• Ordinary users
  • To obtain potential airdrops via interactions and campaigns of the Opside network and other ecosystem projects built on Opside.
  • L1 provides various asset types for Opside. Those assets can be traded in real time between different zkRollups on L3 with almost 0 gas fee, thus guaranteeing an excellent user experience.

• Developers

  • Opside provides both funding and traffic support to its ecosystem dapps.

  • By using zkRollups, dapps can greatly enhance their asset security and user experience.

  • Operating costs are reduced to a minimum. Dapps on Opside zkrollups do not need to provide their own computing power or maintain the network on their own, saving them an operating cost of US$100,000 to US$100,000 per month.

  • An independent operating environment will provide an ultra-high TPS and reduce gas fees to 0.

    
    

• Nodes & Validators

  • Apply to become a node, jointly maintain the network, and obtain block rewards.

  • Delegate a certain amount of IDE to become a validator and get block rewards.

    
    

• Miners
  • Provide computing power to generate ZK proofs and get the rewards.

Final thoughts:

The Opside team has been working on ZK technologies for almost five years since 2018 and is well aware of its difficulties. For ordinary users, the ZK concept is even more obscure.

In the process of communicating with many investors and project developers, we found that there’s a deviation in understanding ZK. Plus, most of the articles are much too technical than a reader-friendly explanation.

We hope that this article could bring you a better understanding of the innovative design of Opside. And we would love to see you join our Opside discord so we can discuss more about zk.