The Based Mindset of RISE
TL;DR
RISE moves rollup sequencing directly onto Ethereum blocks. This allows users to maintain main-chain security while receiving fast and predictable preconfirmations from Ethereum L1 validators, eliminating the need to rely on a single sequencer through based sequencing.
First, we will test with one bonded gateway and then expand to a small, rotating set. Finally, we will open it up so that anyone can become a gateway and mediate with an Ethereum L1 validators to provide preconfirmations. This will make the rollup feel as native and smooth as L1 itself.
Introduction
Over the past seven years, the Ethereum community has been working towards the rollup-centric roadmap, and the technology has evolved more than people thought. We have battle-tested fraud proofs and nearly real-time validity proofs at reasonable prices/hardwares, as well as explored TEEs. The cumulative corpus has grown significantly since the community embraced the rollup-centric roadmap. However, these advancements were accompanied by shortcomings such as a lack of interoperability and centralized sequencers becoming the industry standard.
To overcome these challenges, the Ethereum community started exploring designs that move sequencing back to Ethereum itself, using the L1's built-in ordering guarantees. This idea, called the "based sequencing," tries to get around the centralized sequencers and make it easier to be composable with the L1.
Based Rollups
Since Justin Drake published his influential article on based rollups in early 2023, the landscape and mental model of based rollups have changed significantly. Taiko began building the first based rollup even before Justin's article and it has been operating successfully on mainnet for nearly 1.5 years. Aztec explored Collaborative Based Rollups and decided to use based sequencing as a fallback mechanism. Several based preconfirmation* solutions have emerged, including Commit-Boost, Primev's mev-commit, and Luban's Taiyi. Important supporting tools have also been developed, such as Spire's DA-builder and Fabric's standardization efforts.
Although the hype surrounding based rollups faded relatively quickly, a fair assessment of the pros and cons reveals that based sequencing still offers the most straightforward approach to achieving decentralization and L1 interoperability.
From a decentralization and liveness perspective, based rollups are the easiest way to achieve L1-level liveness (see Taiko’s total anarchy model), although this comes with trade-offs in profitability and efficiency. Thanks to based preconfirmations*, these disadvantages can be minimized, but it also results in slightly reduced L1-level liveness, as settlement frequency will depend on how many L1 proposers opt into the preconfirmation sidecar, e.g. Commit-Boost.
Based rollups also offer minimal friction for L1 interoperability because the atomic block proposals (the proposal that executes successfully in just a single state transition) are a natural feature of it. It’s worth mentioning here that real-time validity proofs are necessary for synchronous composability. Since fraud proofs delay finality, they affect synchrony.
RISE’s Mindset
In our view, based sequencing is the only way to force Ethereum itself to be better in terms of MEV, block-building, DA, and consensus. This effect is not visible on traditional (non-based) rollups since they handle these problems on their own. RISE’s expectation from based sequencing is to utilize Ethereum's optimized and secure block-building pipeline rather than creating a new, less secure L2 consensus for the sequencer selection. We believe Ethereum’s current momentum will position it as the best hub for any on-chain system, offering superior DA, MEV, consensus, and block-building.
RISE’s vision is to host CLOBs (central limit order books) and real-world applications with ultra-low latency and very high throughput, which presents a significant engineering challenge: how to maintain decentralization at these speeds. This is where based sequencing plays a crucial role for RISE.
Based Roadmap
For RISE’s path for becoming based, we decided to follow Gattaca’s proposed “phased approach” framework with gateways. In this context, gateways are kind of portals that connect the L1 builder market to the L2. The gateway acts as a sequencer, and provides L1-secured preconfirmations to the L2 users. Since the next L2 block will be proposed by the next opted-in L1 proposer in collaboration with the gateway, the RISE chain will have nearly the same liveness as the Ethereum L1, although it won't be exactly the same liveness due to the low probability of onboarding every L1 proposer to the L2
- The Taste
This step involves extending the current RISE sequencer to include gateway functionalities, such as interactions (e.g., slashing and delegation) with the L1, as well as issuing L1-secured execution preconfirmations as shreds.The purpose of this step is to ensure the maturity of the software and the gateway component for the future steps. - The Aligning
At this step, we aim to increase the number of gateways with permission. Multiple gateways will be able to mediate the L1-secured preconfirmations with round-robin selection (cyclic order) rather than a single gateway. The purpose of this step is having a gradual process to fully have based preconfirmations. This milestone will visibly increase decentralization, liveness and censorship resistance of the network.Other sequencer selection mechanisms, such as random selection and Spire’s Dutch auction, could be used. However, since the goal is to have the L1-driven block-building, we don't think it's necessary to spend a lot of engineering time building better-designed mechanisms. If the L1 proposer lookahead is available to the public, then the L2 sequencer schedule will be the same. - The Basedening
In the final step, RISE stops relying on a whitelisted set of gateways and allows anyone to become a gateway. An Ethereum validator who wants to earn revenue by providing L1-secured preconfirmation to RISE users must delegate their block-building rights to a gateway by staking collateral. From that point on, whenever the validator wins the right to propose a block, they also include the rollup’s transactions in the same block and earn a portion of the fees for the additional work.Since any L1 validator can participate, block-building control remains distributed across the entire Ethereum network rather than consolidating with a few entities. The usual slashing rules still apply, so if a gateway tries to cheat by dropping or re-ordering transactions, it risks losing its staked collateral. Over time, as the fee rewards become more apparent, more and more validators will likely opt in, expanding coverage to everyone. When that happens, the distinction between the rollup and Ethereum itself will essentially disappear. Users will receive main-chain security with L1-secured, instant preconfirmation, and composability will be possible with the help of real-time ZK proving.
The main differences between gateways and traditional sequencers are that (i) gateways are subject to slashing, (ii) they have the ability to force any kind of transaction onto the chain (we assume that FOCIL will be implemented in the next Glamsterdam upgrade), and (iii) their block-building rights come directly from Ethereum L1 validators.
While all gateways are sequencers, the architecture supports multiple gateways, allowing L1 building responsibility to be delegated and rotated among them. So the terms "gateway" and "sequencer" are intertwined here, gateways encompass sequencers.
Conclusion
By bringing sequencing back inside Ethereum's block rhythm, we aim to give users the best of both worlds: the security and composability of L1 with the fast experience people expect from modern apps. This first article explains why a gateway-based approach matters and how our three-phase rollout (Taste → Aligning → Basedening) will get us there step by step. We chose to keep today's discussion at a high level. In the next article, we'll go into more detail and explore the technical and economic aspects that make the design work in practice.
[1]: Based Preconfirmations (preconfs in short) is a mechanism in which Ethereum L1 proposers promise to include specific transactions in future blocks. Backed by collateral, these commitments aim to provide users with near-instant execution/inclusion guarantees, thereby enhancing the user experiences.