The most crucial point in completing any money operation is security, that’s why it’s so important to create the most secure chain for interaction with web3. This is exactly how the idea of Linea was born - the developers strive to make it the safest place on Web3. The Linea team has created an innovative zero-knowledge infrastructure as the foundation of the network and focused on providing developers and users with a comfortable environment for securely building and deploying apps.
Today Notum will introduce you to the world of Linea Chain and its operating principles, talk about its advantages and disadvantages, Linea Voyage, and also pay attention to its use cases.
Linea: Essentials
Linea is an Ethereum layer 2 network compatible with the [Ethereum Virtual Machine](http://ethereum%20virtual%20machine/), allowing developers and users to deploy both new and existing Ethereum applications. Linea is a great alternative since deploying these applications on Mainnet is prohibitively expensive, while the chain significantly reduces costs. In addition, Linea gives users access to a huge number of innovative projects on Web 3.
Interesting fact! With Linea, users can enjoy decentralized applications at a fraction of the cost and increased speed compared to the Mainnet.
A distinctive feature of Linea is its incredible network security, which was achieved due to secure zk-rollup infrastructure.
Linea was originally developed with maximum convenience for developers, therefore it supports ConsenSys’ MetaMask, Truffle, and Infura. Moreover, since the network is designed to be as accessible and composable as possible, developers don’t need to have any knowledge of zkEVM or zk-rollup to use it.
Important! Linea uses a unique internally-built prover, which uses zkSNARK technology to quickly generate proofs without requiring a trusted setup.
Since Linea can be called a full EVM equivalent zkEVM chain, the platform works identically to Ethereum and also supports almost all Ethereum decentralized applications. Also, EVM equivalent zkEVM means that protocols and developers can move any code from Ethereum to Linea without having to rewrite it or conduct additional audits.
«The core differences only affect the interactions with the L1 such as block structure and state tree, rather than the application layer» - CoinMarketCap.
Linea aims to become a completely permissionless and decentralized network. To accomplish this, Linea Chain created an architecture consisting of several elements: sequencer, prover, and bridge relayer. At the moment, Linea is in mainnet status, and its developers are working to make it more decentralized.
Source: Linea Docs
How Does Linea Chain Work?
At the moment, the Ethereum network covers a large number of areas. One of the main ones is the blockchain, where the network tracks addresses and the distribution of tokens to different addresses. Ethereum also has a consensus mechanism, where multiple nodes communicate about moving tokens between addresses. Another important component is the execution environment, the Ethereum Virtual Machine or EVM, where computer programs run.
Ethereum's main priority is security, so due attention is paid to the consensus mechanism, which ensures that the state of the network cannot be changed by a single person. However, it has its downside: the consensus mechanism is purposefully slow to keep everything safe, and this serves as a limitation for the execution environment. This is where Linea and similar networks come to the rescue: they aim to optimize execution while at the same time participating in the security mechanism.
Interesting fact! Linea allows users to make many transactions and run various programs, deploy contracts quickly and cost-effectively, after which it is included in Ethereum's blockchain.
Linea sends regular reports on its activities to Ethereum and by doing this, optimizes the network without any security restrictions. It's important to note that this rollup on Linea is special as it uses zero knowledge to prove to Ethereum that everything that happens on the Linea Chain happens. Thus, Linea does not need to provide records of all recent transactions and verify them all, which is what its zkEVM L2 network does.
Important! Linea’s ecosystem includes a huge number of app types, from bridges to wallets, NFTs, AI, CEXs and much more. All available applications can be found here.
Why use Linea Chain?
Linea is a unique network with a huge number of advantages, the main of which are:
- Perfect environment for dApps. Linea has everything you need to build and grow various decentralized applications, from DeFi to gaming and social networks.
- Ecosystem engagement. Through participation in the Linea Voyage, decentralized applications gain visibility and activity.00000
- A developer-centric approach. Linea's 100% EVM bytecode compatibility allows you to seamlessly create dApps while maintaining fast transactions and low gas fees.
- Partner support. By building on Linea, developers gain connections with other projects, which helps increase growth and provides opportunities for collaboration.
- Secure zkEVM ecosystem. Linea provides top-notch network security due to its cryptographically secure ZK infrastructure.
- Use cases. Linea Chain offers users a huge number of use cases, such as DeFi, web3 gaming, SocialFi, account abstraction, memecoins, and much more.
Moreover, Linea also works with more than 20 security partners on threat prevention and real-time monitoring. The platform is oriented to the highest security standards and therefore focuses on post-incident tracing, user protection, and trust and reputation systems to subsequently become the most secure chain for interaction with Web 3.
Source: Linea
Linea Voyage
After the launch of the public testnet, in May 2023 Linea network also announced the Linea Testnet Voyage - a 9-week campaign to familiarize users with the Linea ecosystem and the apps that were available on its testnet. Linea Voyage covered absolutely everything, from bridges to social apps, NFTs, and DeFi.
Interesting fact! By the time the mainnet launched, the nine week Linea Voyage had resulted in over 50M transactions completed with 50 dapp partners.
More than 500,000 people who took part in Linea Voyage were able to claim commemorative NFTs. They were distributed based on Linea points scored on Galxe during the campaign. Moreover, The Linea Voyage NFTs became the first NFTs listed on the Linea mainnet. Get more information about Linea Voyage here.
Linea Voyage XP Program
As stated, Linea's goal is complete decentralization, and to complete this task it is important to provide stakeholders with the opportunity to take the network forward. Thus, the chain should not rely on any entity to decide who deserves a vote. Linea believes that users and dapps, who have the most stake in the network and have shown their involvement and dedication to the ecosystem, should be responsible for maintaining Linea.
This is exactly how the Linea Voyage XP program appeared. Users and dapps can participate in Voyage activations, thereby supporting the development of the community and strengthening the Linea ecosystem. By becoming the most important stakeholders and contributing to the development of Linea, they will be awarded Voyage XP - non-transferrable personal tokens.
Important! Voyage XP has no monetary value and cannot be transferred to other people or connected to other networks. Therefore, Voyage XP cannot be bought, sold, or swapped.
Voyage XP owners will receive benefits such as exclusive Linea swag, obtaining official roles in the community, and so on. Voyage XP is planned to launch simultaneously with DeFi Voyage. More information can be found here.
Linea Voyage: Surge
The Surge is another Linea’s XP-based program that allows users who own assets on Linea to collect LXP-L in exchange for them, as well as deploy those same assets into protocols.
Important! The main purpose of creating the Surge is to give users, providing liquidity on Linea, the opportunity to collect LXP-L.
The expansion of new assets occurs due to new DeFi use cases and dApps created on Linea. The liquidity brought by new applications supports additional volume, which in turn affects the sustainability of this liquidity. It remains stable due to the increase in fees for liquidity providers, as well as the increase in the percentage of trading activity in the ecosystem compared to other platforms.
Linea: Risks and Disadvantages
Although The Linea Mainnet will be constantly updated and strive to provide maximum security guarantees, at the moment it still faces some risks:
- Software bugs. Since the current network is just an Alpha version, there may be risks associated with software or similar problems.
- Cutting-edge technology risks. As Linea uses multiple innovative solutions, this may entail unforeseen risks and lead to loss of funds.
- Cyber attacks and exploits. Cross-blockchain bridging processes can also lead to cyber threats associated with software and hardware vulnerabilities. The platform is also prone to exploits, one of which happened on June 2, where a hacker took advantage of vulnerabilities and stole 700 ETH valued at $2.6M million.
- Network accessibility. Due to the Alpha status of the network, Linea's performance may slow down or become temporarily unavailable, which may also result in loss of access, assets, or data.
- Centralization. Even though Linea is currently working to make the platform as decentralized as possible, at the moment it has a fairly high level of network centralization.
However, the Linea team is constantly working to eliminate these risks to make the platform the safest place for Web3. You can learn more about the risk disclosures here.
Notum’s Verdict
Linea is an advanced EVM equivalent zk-rollup for scaling Ethereum with higher throughput and lower transaction fees. Since fees on Linea Chain are several times cheaper than on the Ethereum mainnet, it makes the platform an excellent option for both users and developers.
Since the Linea Chain was originally created with the goal of being comfortable for developers, it natively supports ConsenSys’ MetaMask, Truffle, and Infura, and also offers users Linea blockchain explorer. The advantage of Linea Chain is a wide range of use cases, such as DeFi, web3 gaming, SocialFi, account abstraction, memecoins, and much more. Moreover, Linea considers security as its main focus and is now working to eliminate current risks to become the safest place on Web3.
Thus, Linea offers a comfortable environment for building and deploying applications with a developer-centric approach and secure zkEVM ecosystem, which makes it an excellent option in 2024.
Disclaimer: Notum does not provide any investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. This article is written for informational purposes only. Cryptocurrency is subject to market risk. Please do your own research and trade with caution.