Understanding Binance's latest Launchpad project AltLayer: What are the expectations for the RaaS protocol with a strong investment background?

Author: joyce

On January 17, Binance launched the 45th phase of its new coin mining project, using BNB and FDUSD to mine AltLayer (ALT). Users can deposit BNB and FDUSD into the AltLayer mining pool on the Launchpad website after 08:00 (UTC+8) on January 19 to earn ALT rewards, with a total of 6 days available for mining ALT. Binance will list AltLayer (ALT) at 18:00 (UTC+8) on January 25, and will open trading pairs for ALT/BTC, ALT/USDT, ALT/BNB, ALT/FDUSD, and ALT/TRY.

This phase of the Launchpad has many highlights. First, AltLayer secured its first round of funding in 2022 from well-known VCs and institutional founders, including Jump Crypto, Polkadot founder Gavin Wood, former Coinbase CTO and former a16z partner Balaji Srinivasan, among others. Throughout three rounds of testnets, AltLayer has maintained high popularity and developed a thriving ecosystem. BlockBeats has compiled relevant information about AltLayer.

AltLayer is a decentralized, elastic Raas protocol. Its core network, Beacon Layer, has built a no-code Rollups-as-a-Service dashboard that allows developers to quickly customize Rollups with fraud and zero-knowledge proofs. Additionally, AltLayer integrates the innovative concept of Restaked Rollups. On one hand, by adopting Rollups (which can be derived from any Rollup stack, such as OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, Polygon CDK, ZK Stack, etc.), AltLayer provides enhanced security, decentralization, and interoperability for these Rollups. On the other hand, through EigenLayer's re-staking mechanism, AltLayer not only improves economic security but also lays the foundation for the network's robustness and sustainability.

AltLayer is a re-staked Rollups solution that includes three key products:

VITAL: An Active Verification Service (AVS) that allows operators to verify blocks and the corresponding states submitted by the aggregator, and to challenge fraud proofs when necessary.

MACH: A protocol that supports any claims about the aggregated state by allowing operators to re-hold Ethereum-based assets, thereby providing faster finality for the aggregation.

SQUAD: Provides economically supported decentralized sequencing. Decentralized sequencing eliminates short-term activity issues, bad MEV, rent extraction, and other problems associated with using a single sequencer to operate the aggregation.

AltLayer Ecosystem Partners

As a modular and pluggable scaling solution, AltLayer offers developers more flexible application space and has already partnered with many protocols.

Research Collaborations:

EigenLayer: AltLayer has partnered with EigenLayer to build re-staked aggregations and support EigenDA.

RISC Zero: RISC Zero is building zkVM—a general-purpose ZK computing framework. AltLayer collaborates with RISC Zero to develop a new type of fault proof called ZK Fault Proof.

Clients Using AltLayer:

Cometh: Cometh is a game studio based in France. They have previously collaborated with well-known clients such as La Française des Jeux (FDJ), Lacoste, FanLive Rugby, and Life Beyond Studios to meet their web3 needs. Cometh is developing a new game called Cosmik Battle, which features a user-friendly biometric wallet and a customizable NFT marketplace powered by AltLayer.

Double Jump Tokyo: Double Jump.tokyo is a blockchain game development studio based in Japan. They provide Web3 game and NFT development services for large enterprises in the gaming entertainment sector. They have collaborated with well-known partners such as Sega, Bandai, and Ubisoft, and own game IPs like Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Double Jump is also a member of the Japan Blockchain Organization and is supported by companies like Jump and Circle. The exclusive partnership between AltLayer and Double Jump will allow developers to launch game-specific Rollups based on Oasys—Double Jump Tokyo's platform.

Injective: Injective is a blockchain that allows developers to build applications using a decentralized order book. Injective collaborates with AltLayer to utilize a modular Restaked rollup framework.

Avive: Avive is a geographic social protocol with network consensus proof. It introduces the concept of "sovereign footprint," emphasizing individual ownership and control over personal data and digital identity.

Deri: The Deri protocol allows users to trade derivatives: hedging, speculation, and arbitrage, all on-chain. With the Deri Protocol, trades are executed under the AMM paradigm, and positions are marked as NFTs, highly composable with other DeFi projects. Deri Protocol collaborates with AltLayer to launch a Rollup dedicated to applications.

Automata: Automata is a blockchain middleware service provider supported by Binance Labs, Jump Crypto, and others. They recently launched a modular proof layer that performs proofs entirely on-chain for off-protocol computation. The project achieves on-chain verification of heavyweight computations through machine proofs and uses AltLayer's aggregation for scalability. Automata collaborates with AltLayer to launch application-specific aggregations for Automata 2.0.

ALLO: The Allo protocol is building applications across programmable funds, tokenizing real-world assets, transactions, and staking. The product is built as an extension of Allocations, a fund management platform currently managing over $1 billion in assets, supported by companies like Flex Capital, Genesis Accel, Digital Horizon, Whatif Ventures, Garage Syndicate, and W5 Group. Allo collaborates with AltLayer to build RWA rollups.

Token Economics

ALT is the native utility token of AltLayer, serving functions such as economic bonding, governance participation, protocol incentives for operators, and service fees for users.

Economic Bonding: ALT tokens will be used alongside re-staked assets to provide economic collateral. If malicious behavior is detected, this stake may be slashed.

Governance: ALT token holders can vote on governance decisions.

Protocol Incentives: Operators within the AltLayer ecosystem can earn ALT tokens as rewards for their services.

Protocol Fees: Network participants are required to use ALT tokens to pay for services within the network.

As of January 17, 2024, the total supply of ALT is 10 billion, with a circulating supply of 1.1 billion (11% of the total token supply) after listing. AltLayer has raised $22.8 million through two rounds of private token sales, with 18.50% of the total ALT token supply sold at $0.008/ALT and $0.018/ALT respectively.

The token distribution is shown in the diagram below. Binance Launchpool accounts for 5% of the total token supply, while the team, investors, and advisors hold 15%, 18.5%, and 5% respectively. 20% is allocated for future protocol development, 15% is distributed to the ecosystem and community, and the treasury receives 21.5%.

Additionally, AltLayer has announced the airdrop targets, including AltLayer OG Badge NFT holders, Oh Ottie! NFT holders, qualified participants of the Altitude event, eligible EigenLayer re-stakers, and Celestia stakers. The snapshot time has closed, completed at 12:00:11 AM on January 17, 2024 (Ethereum block height 19022890).

Financing Situation

AltLayer was founded by Yaoqi Jia, former CTO of Zilliqa. In July 2022, AltLayer completed a $7.2 million seed round of financing, led by Polychain Capital, Jump Crypto, and Breyer Capital, with participation from Polkadot founder Gavin Wood, former Coinbase CTO and former a16z partner Balaji Srinivasan, Circle co-founder Sean Neville, and co-founders of Synthetix and Bodhi Ventures, Kain Warwick and Jordan Momtazi.

Additionally, AltLayer won third place in the BNB Chain's European Innovation Incubator project in 2022 and received investment from Binance Labs in August 2023.