Understanding Nitro: The First Solana VM Rollup Deployed on Cosmos

Source: Nitro Labs

Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow

What is Nitro?

Nitro is the first Solana VM chain built on top of Cosmos. As an Optimistic Rollup compatible with the Sealevel Virtual Machine (SVM), it enables developers to easily launch their Solana dApps on Cosmos and access IBC assets. Applications built on Nitro can leverage the powerful Solana VM for IBC-native interoperability.

The first Solana VM chain

Nitro allows developers to deploy existing Solana smart contracts without changes, while users can seamlessly access these applications using Solana wallets. This creates a low-friction environment for Solana developers and users to access a broader Cosmos ecosystem.

Nitro Vision

Nitro will become the scalability engine for Solana VM (SVM)—allowing teams to launch SVM Rollups—that can utilize any L1 for data availability and settlement.

Nitro can be used to create application-specific Rollups, such as dYdX or ImmutableX, as well as general Rollups like Arbitrum.

How Nitro Works

Applications built on Nitro can leverage the powerful Solana execution environment while gaining IBC interoperability.

Developers can deploy existing Solana smart contracts, and users can seamlessly access these applications using common Solana wallets.

Nitro runs the Solana virtual machine as an Optimistic Rollup on Sei, [Sei is an L1 in Cosmos that enables IBC and ICA (Inter-Chain Accounts).] This architecture allows Solana applications to easily scale to Cosmos and access IBC assets.

Transaction Lifecycle

Nitro is managed through a sequencer similar to Optimism and Arbitrum—achieving instant transaction confirmations.

Afterward, batched transactions are submitted to Sei, where validators can submit fraud proofs to Sei—ensuring that state changes are valid.

Use Cases

Here are some fundamental use cases for Nitro SVM:

• Decentralized Exchanges: Traditional AMMs, order book DEXs, and stablecoin swaps utilizing Solana VM capabilities to handle IBC assets.
• High-Performance Gaming: Unlocking real-time gaming with instant transaction confirmations, faster than any chain.
• NFT Financial Products: Going beyond NFT marketplaces to enable fast NFT trading, derivatives, and lending.
• Lending: Lending protocols and markets utilizing Solana and IBC assets.
• Asset Management: An asset management application for managing open positions in Solana and Cosmos DeFi applications.

Modular Structure of Nitro

Nitro's modular architecture allows it to separate the two core components of a blockchain: [execution] and [settlement]. Splitting these components helps to optimize each one individually, creating the best infrastructure that combines the Sealevel VM with IBC interoperability.

Nitro's modular structure allows for the launching of Layer3 Rollups on top, which can also be application-specific and focus solely on execution. Applications that want to run dedicated execution layers can launch faster on Nitro without worrying about the settlement and data availability components.

Why Choose Solana VM?

In recent years, Solidity and EVM have evolved into the development standard across cryptocurrencies, with most L1 adopting the EVM standard. Nitro takes the first step in making Solana VM (SVM) a core development standard like EVM.

Nitro merges the powerful Sealevel execution environment with the core interoperability of IBC. By advancing the development of the SVM standard, it accelerates the growth of builders in the cryptocurrency and DeFi space, broadening the audience for Solana.

Building on the Sealevel Virtual Machine

Sealevel refers to the engine that processes transactions on Solana. Sealevel allows for the processing of a large number of parallel transactions on a single chain, enhancing the chain's ability to handle more transactions simultaneously. Pipelining for parallel processing is a common design framework in CPUs, as it allows multiple data streams to be allocated to different parts of the processing hardware:

• Sealevel allows the Solana virtual machine to run multiple contracts simultaneously without the processing of any single contract affecting the broader block latency. This makes Solana's Sealevel VM an efficient layer for horizontal scaling.
• Another benefit of Sealevel is that it reduces the number of unconfirmed transactions in the pool. This significantly helps to reduce the memory load on nodes and makes block processing more efficient.

Nitro aims to make the Sealevel virtual machine (SVM) a development standard, as it brings technical advantages to transaction processing architecture. While Nitro is initially deployed in the Cosmos ecosystem, in the long run, it will position SVM as a standard across multiple ecosystems.

Why Choose Cosmos?

Cosmos, the blockchain internet, offers a powerful ecosystem built on the premise of interoperability and cross-chain communication. With over 50 live zones (blockchains) in the Cosmos ecosystem and over $100 million in IBC transaction volume monthly, the opportunities for DeFi, gaming, and NFTs on Cosmos are endless.

We see the opportunities in the Cosmos ecosystem, with some of the largest players in DeFi already committing to build on Cosmos.

We believe the future of DeFi is multi-chain and interoperable, positioning Nitro at the intersection of the Solana and Cosmos ecosystems. The large developer base on Solana, combined with the Sealevel virtual machine on Nitro and the rapidly growing Cosmos ecosystem, creates a unique combination that lays the foundation for the next superpower.

Nitro will play a key role in helping Solana dApps deploy on Cosmos through the first Solana virtual machine. This will help build a bridge of capital, talent, and innovation between the Solana and Cosmos ecosystems.