Eclipse: A Layer 2 solution that combines Solana's high performance with Ethereum's security.

Eclipse is an innovative Ethereum Layer 2 project, distinguished by its use of the Solana virtual machine (SVM) as its execution environment. This design allows Eclipse to combine Solana's high-performance features with Ethereum's security guarantees, providing users with a high-quality blockchain experience.

The founder of Eclipse, Neel, previously worked in traditional finance before shifting to the cryptocurrency sector. He initially developed within the Cosmos ecosystem and later became interested in Roll-Ups. Neel believes that Roll-Ups have lower operating costs compared to Layer 1 and a lower token inflation rate, which prompted him to start the Eclipse project in September 2022.

From the user's perspective, the experience of Eclipse is very similar to Solana, featuring fast block generation times, low latency, and high throughput. On a technical level, Eclipse, as a Roll Up, ensures the correctness of chain execution through a proof mechanism, rather than relying on a committee or a large number of validators to vote and sign off on each state change as Layer 1 does.

In terms of proof types, Eclipse adopts the fraud proof method of Optimistic Rollup, but unlike Optimism and Arbitrum, it uses RISC Zero for ZK fraud proofs. When fraud occurs, the system generates a ZK proof to confirm the existence of the fraud. Considering the high transaction fees of Ethereum, Eclipse has chosen Celestia as the data availability (DA) layer.

The Eclipse team had considered building a Rollup as a Service platform, ( RaaS ), but ultimately abandoned the idea. They found that to make the RaaS business as profitable as SaaS, it would require operating around 1,000 Rollups and charging each customer $100,000 per year. This is not only difficult to achieve at scale but would also lead to significant fragmentation and complexity in user experience.

Compared to Solana, Eclipse is more likely to attract members of the Ethereum community. Neel believes that Ethereum's advantages in economics and theoretical computer science can help address the spam transaction issues caused by low fees that Solana faces. Additionally, as a Layer 2 solution for Ethereum, migrating to Eclipse is relatively easier for users.

The business model of Eclipse mainly relies on profit from sequencer revenues. With Arbitrum's annual income exceeding one hundred million dollars as a reference, this model is considered a reasonable source of cash flow. In terms of project deployment, projects with Solana smart contracts can be deployed to Eclipse almost immediately, while EVM contracts need to be rewritten in Rust. Eclipse has also partnered with Neon to convert EVM contracts into SVM contracts.

In its interaction with Celestia and RISC Zero, Eclipse adopts an innovative approach. Due to Ethereum's bandwidth limitations, Eclipse chooses to publish transaction batches to Celestia. RISC Zero is mainly used to generate fraud proofs and is only called upon in case of an error.

Currently, there are 15 different decentralized applications (Dapps) deployed on the Eclipse platform, covering various fields such as consumer products, game incubation, NFT markets, and launchpads. The project's Chief Business Officer, Vijay, has extensive industry experience and has held key positions at dydx and Uniswap.

The Eclipse project plans to launch its mainnet for developers in early next year, initially open to developers for a few weeks. If all goes well, after the first batch of applications is deployed, Eclipse will be opened to the public. This innovative Layer 2 solution is expected to bring new vitality and possibilities to the Ethereum ecosystem.