Analysis of the Reasons Behind LayerZero's $3 Billion Valuation for Its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol

In just one year, the full-chain interoperability protocol LayerZero has raised $120 million at a valuation of $3 billion, which is three times the previous valuation. This article will comprehensively outline the technical principles of LayerZero, the cross-chain lifecycle, and its advantages and disadvantages.

1. LayerZero Technology Principles

1.1 Overview

LayerZero is a trustless cross-chain communication protocol. It utilizes the technical principles of lightweight nodes and has designed a super lightweight node mechanism, splitting the intermediary trust links into two through relayers and oracles, achieving better security at a lower cost. LayerZero focuses on message cross-chain rather than asset cross-chain.

1.2 Light Node Concept

Light nodes are a type of node operating mode that only saves the headers of all historical blocks without storing specific transaction information within the blocks. The authenticity of transactions can be verified through multiple Merkle Roots of the block headers. The on-chain verification running on light nodes can achieve a high degree of decentralization, but the cross-chain costs are relatively high.

1.3 Ultra Light Node

Ultra-light nodes (ULN) perform the same validation as on-chain light nodes, but do not retain all block headers in order; instead, they are streamed on demand by decentralized oracles. This reduces costs but also incurs a certain loss of security.

2. The Core Role of LayerZero in Cross-Chain

2.1 Positioning of Oracle and Relayer

The Oracle is responsible for informing the contract on the target chain when to validate and what the validation answer is. The Relayer is responsible for providing the proof process required for validating the transaction and the specific details of the cross-chain information.

2.2 The division of labor between Oracle and Relayer

The oracle transmits the Blockhash and Block Receiptsroot of the cross-chain request on the source chain to the target chain. The relayer provides the path information required for the Receipt and Merkle Proof of the cross-chain message to the contract on the target chain for verification.

2.3 LayerZero's cross-chain lifecycle

The cross-chain process begins with the user application initiating a transaction, which is assisted by oracles and relayers to decompose the transaction into multiple parts. After validating the correctness of the information on the target chain, the message is transformed and executed. The entire process involves multiple steps, including information transmission, verification, and execution.

3. Evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the LayerZero protocol

3.1 Security Considerations

LayerZero allows applications to customize relayers and select different oracles, forming a many-to-many choice pattern, which increases the level of decentralization. The protocol itself does not store funds and data, reducing the likelihood of being attacked.

3.2 Advantages of Cross-Chain Products Compared to Other Protocol Layers

• Stronger general extensibility: Compared to Cosmos's IBC and Polkadot's XCMP, LayerZero has advantages in supporting EVM-compatible chains.
• Lower complexity for developer access: The simplified contract access design reduces development difficulty.
• Eliminate the compatibility of multi-chain fragmentation: support non-encapsulated asset methods, capable of crossing EVM and non-EVM chains.

3.3 Summary

LayerZero, as an important investment track in the multi-chain landscape, has high certainty and a clear business model. As a communication protocol embedded in the foundational code of various Dapps, it has become one of the key components in the blockchain ecosystem.