LayerZero is a full-chain interoperability protocol designed for lightweight cross-chain messaging. It focuses only on message passing between chains and is able to send messages to any smart contract on any supported chain. In other words, LayerZero is a message transport layer for smart contract communication between blockchains, not responsible for cross-chain assets.
Project Introduction
LayerZero was developed by LayerZero Labs Canada Inc., which was registered in Canada on November 30, 2021 under the Canada Business Corporations Act. The core team members include Caleb Banister, Ryan Zarick, and Bryan Pellegrino, all of whom have extensive development experience and successful entrepreneurial experience.
Team Member Profile
Caleb Banister: Co-founder of LayerZero Labs and Stargate Finance, has held important positions in companies such as UNH Interoperability Lab, Coder Den, 80Trill, and Minimal AI.
Bryan Pellegrino: Co-founder and CEO of LayerZero Labs, who has held leadership roles at Coder Den, BuzzDraft, OpenToken, and Rho AI. It is worth mentioning that he was also a professional poker player and successfully sold the machine learning tools he wrote to a Major League Baseball (MLB) team.
Ryan Zarick: Co-founder and CTO of LayerZero Labs, who has held technical leadership roles at UNH Interoperability Lab, BuzzDraft, Coder Den, 80Trill, and Minimal AI.
In addition, 0xMaki, a former founding member and core contributor of SushiSwap, has also joined LayerZero Labs full-time, adding new impetus to the development of the project.
Funding
Since its inception, LayerZero has been favored by major capitals. So far, the known amount of financing has reached US$261 million. Although affected by the FTX crash in November 2022, LayerZero officially stated that it has repurchased 100% of the equity, currency rights and any other agreements from FTX/FTX Ventures/Alameda Research, but overall, LayerZero's funds are sufficient to support the long-term development and operation of the project.
Codebase and Technology
LayerZero's codebase has been updated since March 2019, with a total of 6,415 code submissions, and 116 developers have become Git/Issue authors and review submitters on LayerZero Github. As of September 2022, more than 7,000 active contracts have been deployed on the LayerZero test network, with a very good adoption rate.
The LayerZero codebase has completed 4 audits by Zellic, Ackee and SlowMist. The specific audit reports can be queried through the relevant links. Overall, the LayerZero project code is in good condition, with sufficient developers, and several important codebases are updated frequently.
Technical Architecture
LayerZero is a full-chain interoperability protocol that focuses on message passing between chains. According to the LayerZero white paper, the core of the protocol has three components: Endpoint, Oracle, and Relayer.
Endpoint
Endpoints are facilities that interact directly with users or applications, or can be regarded as a series of smart contracts that process logic. These endpoints are responsible for handling message transmission, verification, and reception to ensure that messages sent by users using the protocol can be effectively delivered. In the LayerZero protocol, each chain needs to deploy a LayerZero Endpoint. Endpoints can be called by other applications on the same chain and are responsible for sending information to external chains.
Each LayerZero Endpoint is divided into four modules: Communicator, Validator, Network, and Libraries. The communicator, validator, and network modules constitute the core functions of the Endpoint.
Oracle and Relayer
Oracle and Relayer are two other important components in the LayerZero protocol. The oracle is responsible for providing the reliability and authenticity of off-chain data, while the relayer is responsible for transmitting this data to ensure that the information can be effectively transmitted between different chains.
Future Outlook
As a full-chain interoperability protocol, LayerZero has broad development prospects. It not only solves the problem of information transmission between chains in the current blockchain ecosystem, but also provides a reliable solution for future blockchain interoperability. With the participation of more developers and capital, LayerZero is expected to occupy an important position in the future blockchain ecosystem.
In general, LayerZero has demonstrated its great potential in the field of blockchain interoperability through its unique technical architecture and strong team background. Whether in terms of technical development or financial support, LayerZero has a foundation for long-term development. In the future, LayerZero will continue to work hard to improve the interoperability between blockchains and bring more innovations and possibilities to the blockchain ecosystem.