L2BEAT - Keeping an eye on L2s

Public Good Projects Discussion
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Project Name: L2BEAT

Project Description and why it’s classified as a Public Good: L2BEAT is a dedicated analytics and research platform focusing on Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions. It offers comprehensive comparisons of different Ethereum L2 systems, providing the community with unbiased and crucial insights. By producing essential tools, hosting events, publishing reports, and actively spotting and reporting security flaws, L2BEAT serves as an impartial watchdog for the Ethereum L2 space. As a public good, it promotes transparency, education, and informed decision-making, essential for the sustained growth and health of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Main Project Funding Sources:

  • Grants from the Ethereum Foundation: approx. 700k USD
  • Optimism’s RPGF: approx. 500k USD
  • Seed round (individual contributors): approx. 1m USD - L2BEAT has raised some funds from angels in early 2022 but is now refunding 100% of this investment. The funds were never utilized, and in 2023, L2BEAT decided to focus on the public good work only
  • Other small grants, Gitcoin rounds, donations from the community

Seeking project-specific funding or funding for general operations: Funding for general operations

Team Information, including backgrounds and roles: L2BEAT has a dedicated team of 18 professionals working on various aspects of Ethereum L2 research and analytics. Key public figures associated with the project include:
Jacek Czarnecki
Bartosz Kiepuszewski
Piotr Szlachciak
Krzysztof Urbański
Hubert Kotliński

Social Credibility:
All of our work is publicly accessible on our GitHub Repo - GitHub - l2beat/l2beat: L2BEAT is an analytics and research website about Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling solutions.
We announce all new features, events, and other endeavors on our Twitter account - https://twitter.com/l2beat
We publish our articles on our Medium.

Notable recent updates include:

  • Adding two new sections – “Value Locked” focused on tokens and “Liveness”
  • We’ve published detailed articles on our Medium blog about each major update, ensuring our community stays informed and educated
  • The introduction of novel frameworks, such as ‘Risk Rosette’ and ‘Stages’.
  • The review and listing of new projects in the space, including Lyra, Paradex, and Scroll.
  • The publication of our inaugural report, “Upgradeability of Ethereum L2s,” which has been recognized as a must-read by industry leaders. The report can be accessed here.
  • Hosting and participating in major Ethereum-centric events, like L2WARSAW and L2AMSTERDAM, with most recent being L2DAYS, the biggest event during Devconnect.
  • Demonstrated proactivity in safeguarding the L2 space by identifying critical issues like the dYdX bug, the Rhino fi timelock delay change, and the Aztec Connect proposer failure critical change.

Discord contact: jacekc, hubkotl

Our current plans: Our current plans involve enhancing our new Liveness section by adding all projects. This section enables users to monitor transaction data submissions, proof submissions, state updates, and respective anomalies. So far, we’ve only managed to include some projects, as each rollup operates differently and requires a tailored approach. Next, we aim to refine our ProtocolBeat and Discovery features. ProtocolBeat is a tool that allows anyone to explore different protocols in detail by simply entering an address. The Discovery feature, operational on our Discord, monitors each Layer 2 for code changes and notifies us. However, it’s currently too technical for the average user, so we’re working to make it more accessible. Additionally, there are 24 upcoming projects listed on our website. These will need thorough evaluation and review when they reach mainnet, particularly in areas like Total Value Locked (TVL), Risk Rosette, Stages, and other. For instance, we’re currently handling the recent launch of Lyra L2. We have many other developments we’re eager to roll out. With our team’s recent expansion, I’m hopeful I will be able to share more details soon! The L2 landscape is vast and growing super fast!

Eligibility Criteria:

• Do you have a commitment to open-source (i.e. every open-source license accepted by the Open-Source Initiative) technology and sharing results publicly? – YES

• Have you provided transparency about how exactly funding will be used? – YES

• Are you advancing values of freedom and privacy (no surveillance and handling of personal data)? – YES, we don’t collect any user data

• Are you supporting decentralization in various fields (for example building Web3 projects)? – YES, we are not only evaluating all L2 projects and bridges but also building transparency tools such as dYdX Explorer (easy way to use escape hatch for all, even non-technical users)

• Have you provided social media channels to the extent that we can confirm social proof of your project? - YES

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Wow refunding 100% of previous investors. Sounds like a very interesting public goods case study.

Love the site! Keep the good work. Hope to see you on Epoch 2

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Dear Octant Community,

Thank you for your involvement and contributions during Epoch 2. I’m here to provide an update on L2BEAT as we transition into Epoch 3.

What have we accomplished since the previous Epoch?

  • We introduced two brand new tabs on our website: “Finality” and “DA.” The first one provides details about the finality of L2 projects, including execution delay, state update delay, and average time to inclusion. The second showcases different data availability modules chosen by various L2s, allowing users to easily check if they are using calldata, blobs, Celestia, or custom solutions, as well as their associated risks.
  • We added over 10 new L2 projects, like Blast, providing a comprehensive overview, risk assessments, decentralization assessments, as well as detailed data about their TVL and activity.
  • We began researching and listing L3s, starting with Arbitrum Orbit projects
  • We started supporting more projects, particularly ZK rollups, on our other tabs, like Liveness
  • We added some more projects to our Bridges section
  • We became a main delegate in another major L2 (Starknet) after its token launch, expanding our governance duties, and launching dedicated “Governance” page on our website to gather our efforts in one place - Governance - L2BEAT

What have we used the Epoch 2 funds for?

They have not yet been completely used, but a significant portion of them went towards general operations and maintaining our infrastructure. This allows us to constantly push new updates and provide you with the most detailed and thorough data about L2s possible.

Notable other sources of funding

We’re pleased to announce that L2BEAT has been awarded a grant from RetroPGF 3, receiving an allocation of 198,758 OP tokens!

To ensure full transparency regarding our funding sources, we’ve established a dedicated “Donate” page on our website. Visit it at Donate – L2BEAT to learn more.

What are we planning next?

Our main new feature will be centered around fees on various L2s, allowing users to easily compare them. This update will be connected to our latest DA development, particularly our blob L2 utilization monitoring.

We are also in the midst of reviewing and adding over 30 projects (L2s and L3s), constantly exchanging information and our research with their teams, ensuring that the L2 space is transparent and moving towards a decentralized and secure direction.

Additionally, we are committed to ensuring that each project is supported on each of our tabs, as well as fine-tuning our existing dashboards.

If you have any more questions I could answer - I am more than happy to do so! See you in Epoch 3!

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I have seen L2Beats active participation in Arbitrum governance. They are honestly the delegate every chain should fight to have. when a proposal comes up for renewal, they actually dig into the details of each expenditure made and the impact it produced, and create an extensive post mortem that changes the vibe around how the proposal is viewed

Hopeful to one day also see them add Octant to the list of projects whose governance they contribute to!

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Dear Octant Community,

Thank you for your involvement and contributions during Epoch 3. Even though we didn’t meet the threshold, we still value your support. I’m here to provide an update on L2BEAT as we transition into Epoch 4.

What have we accomplished since the previous Epoch?

  • We introduced brand new tab on our website - Costs, with insights about rollups costs.
  • We added over 8 new L2 projects, like Taiko and Reya
  • We have added TVL for L3 projects, starting L3BEAT :stuck_out_tongue:
  • We added some more projects to our Bridges section
  • We have introduced Glossary - a wikipedia of all blockchain terms
  • We have added numerous QoL improvements like shared contracts and permissions

What are we planning next?

We began our work for L2BEAT v2, that will be announced later this year. This update will potentially shake our industry a bit. We also plan to maintain our work and continue adding new projects and tabs.

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Total Funds Received from Octant so far:

  • $ / ETH: ~33 ETH

Funds Spent:

  • $ / ETH: Funds from Octant are not part of a specific targeted fund, but are used in combination with other funding sources to cover our runway. It is a small part of our overall funding as described in the funding breakdown on our webpage.

Link to our Karma: Karma GAP - L2BEAT

Detailed Utilization:

L2BEAT is a public goods company fully reliant on grants and donations from initiatives such as Octant as explained on our donation page. These funds are instrumental in covering L2BEAT operational expenses and sustaining the project.

Support from the ecosystem allows us to deliver on our mission which is to provide accurate and reliable information about L2 systems, helping users assess the risk they’re taking when using Ethereum L2s and the assets bridged between those systems. Furthermore, we aim to set standards to which all L2s should aspire and actively push them to meet those standards.

Our operational expenses cover:

  • Mission Continuation: The funds have supported the ongoing pursuit of our mission, ensuring that L2BEAT continues to deliver value to the community and promote transparency within the L2 space.
  • Platform Maintenance: Funds have been allocated to maintain our tooling and ensure the continued functionality of L2BEAT as a reliable service for the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem.
  • Feature Development: We have used the funds to integrate new features that enhance the platform’s capabilities and user experience.
  • Educational Initiatives: We have invested in fostering various educational initiatives that inform and empower the community about Layer 2 technologies and their implications.
  • Governance Efforts: The funds have enabled us to actively participate in governance across multiple L2 DAOs, contributing to the development and security of the ecosystem.
  • Research: We have used the funds to conduct research on new developments in the Layer 2 space, keeping L2BEAT at the forefront of industry advancements and ensuring our platform remains up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies.

Milestones and Deliverables

  • Milestone 1:
    • Description: Launch of the ZK Catalog initiative
    • Immediate Outcome: Increased transparency in the zk-space, providing the community with verified zk circuits for various projects.
  • Milestone 2:
    • Description: Introduction of the Badges feature
    • Immediate Outcome: Simplified user understanding of Layer 2 solutions, improving user engagement and platform usability.
  • Milestone 3:
    • Description: We surpassed 200 projects on L2BEAT.
    • Immediate Outcome: Due to our constant focus on staying at the top of our game, we have integrated over 200 projects and continue to add new ones as soon as they are officially announced

Challenges

  • Previous and Current Challenges:
  • Description: Our major challenge is the rapid development of the Layer 2 industry and the increasing complexity of the solutions we need to monitor.
  • Updates: The landscape is evolving quickly, we double the number of projects covered on our platform every few months. With new projects and technologies emerging at a fast pace, making it difficult to stay ahead and provide comprehensive coverage.
  • Resolution: We are actively addressing these challenges by expanding our team, refining our methodologies, and leveraging community feedback to ensure we accurately track and analyze these complex solutions. Our ongoing efforts include improving our data collection and analysis capabilities to maintain the high standards expected by our users.
  • Lessons Learned: Through this process, we’ve learned the importance of agility and responsiveness in a rapidly changing environment. We’ve also recognized the critical role of community feedback in guiding our development and ensuring that we meet the needs of our users as the industry continues to grow.

Outputs and Outcomes

Outputs (Last Epoch):

  • Output 1: Integrated over 50 new L2s, including Lisk, Zircuit, Re.al and Eclipse into our platform.
  • Output 2: Successfully curated and managed L2 tracks for key industry conferences, reaching thousands of attendees.
  • Output 3: Up to this point, 8 circuits have been verified on the ZK Catalog, with over 40 more incoming
  • Output 4: We extended our presence in L2 governance systems, becoming active delegates in zkSync and Wormhole.

Short-term Outcomes:

  • Outcome 1: We provide the industry with up-to-date information about the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem.
  • Outcome 2: Immediate feedback from the community highlighted the value of our new Badges feature in understanding the L2 ecosystem.

Long-term Outcomes:

  • Outcome 1: We are independent watchdog of the space
  • Outcome 2: We provide up-to-date information on all covered L2 systems first-hand from the onchain data thanks to our contracts monitoring tooling.

Metrics for Outcomes:

  • User Engagement: Over 300k impressions on Twitter/X and 100k monthly page visitors.
  • Adoption and Usage: Our framework has been mentioned at all major industry conferences and in key articles.
  • Community Impact: A growing number of Twitter followers and Discord members.
  • Ecosystem Satisfaction: Numerous positive comments on our socials, praising our work from both regular web3 users and industry leaders.

All of this information is gathered through our social channels: Twitter/X, Discord, Telegram, and LinkedIn. It’s hard to summarize them since there are so many, and they focus on various aspects of our work. We are also very pro-privacy oriented - we don’t use any invasive tools to gather extensive data about our users. We simply track the number of clicks on subpages. However, we are willing to answer any questions on the forum if needed.

Plans for Potential Funds Raised in the Next Octant Allocation Window

  • Goal 1:
    • Description: Enhance the platform’s infrastructure by refactoring the codebase to improve overall speed, reliability, and scalability.
    • Expected Outcome: A more robust and efficient platform that can seamlessly support the integration of complex new features and handle growing user demand.
  • Goal 2:
    • Description: Expand the platform’s analytical capabilities by developing and implementing advanced metrics, including user operations.
    • Expected Outcome: Deliver deeper insights into Layer 2 project activities, offering a more comprehensive analysis beyond traditional metrics like TPS.
  • Goal 3:
    • Description: Develop and implement a range of features focused on enhancing security for users across various Layer 2 platforms.
    • Expected Outcome: Equip users with tools to better understand and manage the security risks associated with their assets on different L2s, with a focus on delivering these features efficiently and effectively.

Other Funding

  • Grant Funding Received Since the Last Epoch: We cannot disclose the exact amounts of some grants we are receiving due to confidentiality clauses. All details about our funding sources are available here: Donate - L2BEAT
  • Other Non-Grant Funding Sources: None, we are 100% public good company relying on those grants

Future Plans for Financial Sustainability

Since our initial application, L2BEAT has continued to diversify its revenue streams to ensure long-term financial sustainability. Here’s how we plan to secure our future:

  • Strategic Partnerships: We have formed several key partnerships, including with Ethereum Foundation and other ecosystem players, which are instrumental in driving our growth.
  • Funding Diversification: Our strategy includes seeking diverse funding sources, such as community-driven funding and additional grant opportunities, to reduce dependency on any single stream.
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Appreciate the update!

It’d be nice to have links or examples to the badges and zk catalog so it’s easy to check out :slight_smile: Mostly just a tip. Anyway, looks like you’re making solid/consistent progress. Keep up the good work :muscle:

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Hey Mattias, I have updated our submission so that it now not only contains links to the Badges announcement and ZK Catalog, but also includes more specific numbers for some key metrics. Let me know if there is anything else I can do!