Chain architecture
Learn how we designed Immutable zkEVM for games.
Immutable zkEVM is an Ethereum zk-rollup (L2) built as a fork of Geth, Ethereum's most adopted and mature execution client. Immutable zkEVM is a single sequencer chain with a PoS-based general message passing bridge built on Axelar for cross-chain communication with Ethereum; over time, we will introduce a native bridge secured by zero-knowledge proofs with Polygon Zero.
Gas and congestion
Immutable zkEVM has adopted EIP-1559 as the congestion mechanism to prevent spam and provide a deterministic gas pricing algorithm. Gas is expected to cost multiple orders of magnitude less than Ethereum. $IMX is used as the native gas token on Immutable zkEVM.
Staking
Immutable zkEVM will eventually overlay Proof of Stake (PoS) and transition into a PoS-based BFT consensus chain and need a staking token for validator selection and the chain's economic security (and eventually governance). We have adopted a dual staking strategy with $IMX and $MATIC/$POL as the staking tokens. More info is coming soon!
Anchoring to Ethereum
There are 3 main reasons why we're anchoring to Ethereum:
- Security
- Ethereum's strong security and decentralization model is a key consideration, providing us with the most secure Settlement and Data Availability (DA) layer shared across most of the highest-valued rollups. See L2 Beats dashboard.
- Liquidity
- Ethereum has significant capital and liquidity that will be used to fuel applications built on Immutable zkEVM.
- Bridging
- As Immutable is a multi-chain ecosystem, we must have fast but secure and trustless bridging between each Immutable-supported chain that shares the same Data Availability layer.
Decentralization
Immutable zkEVM will initially launch with only Immutable as a single sequencer/validator. This is a critical first step in our strategy to allow the ecosystem to start forming while being able to respond quickly to ensure the safety and integrity of our chain. The long-term goal remains to gradually open up the chain.
We'll publish a technical Deep Dive blog soon that goes into much more depth behind Immutable zkEVM's architecture.