Decentralization Sorter: The Security Cornerstone of Layer 2 and New Scenarios for Native Token

The transaction ordering of Layer 2 scaling solutions has become an increasingly serious issue. Currently, mainstream L2 rollups use centralized orderers, which pose risks such as censorship, MEV extraction, and single points of failure, contrary to the spirit of decentralization in cryptocurrency.

To address these issues, some projects are developing decentralized shared sorting networks:

• Espresso Systems is building a sorter network based on the HotShot consensus protocol and collaborating with EigenLayer to scale up the number of validators.

• Astria is developing a shared sequencer network based on CometBFT and collaborating with Celestia to achieve data availability.

• Radius uses a cryptographic memory pool solution, meaning that even a single sorter cannot review transactions or extract MEV.

These shared sequencer solutions can provide decentralization, censorship resistance, and cross-rollup interoperability advantages for Layer 2. However, they also face challenges in integrating with existing Layer 2 projects, as some large Layer 2s may prefer to develop their own proprietary solutions.

Future L2 projects may face three choices: continue using centralized sorters, integrate third-party shared sorting networks, or develop internal proprietary solutions. The choices of different projects will depend on the trade-offs regarding decentralization, interoperability, and token value accumulation.

As the L2 ecosystem continues to develop, the decentralization of sequencers will become an increasingly important topic. How shared sequencer networks address economic incentive issues and achieve strong network effects will be key to future development.