Initia: Connect all Rollups to create a "Layer1+Layer2" interconnected world of thousands of chains

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

"One-Click Chain Deployment"

The reduction in the cost of deploying chains has led to an increasing number of Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions in the market. Regardless of whether you believe a new chain is useful, it is undeniable that more projects will emerge in the market to launch their own chains due to specific needs.

Just like the growing number of DEXs, there will be projects creating a "DeFi liquidity layer";

As the number of chains increases, what methods can connect all chains together?

Today's protagonist, Initia, is addressing this issue.

Last week, Initia announced the completion of a $14 million Series A funding round and a $2.5 million community funding round, bringing the total funding to $25 million. This includes a $7.5 million seed round funded by Binance Labs, Delphi Ventures, HackVC, and others last October. The official announcement also revealed that the mainnet launch and TGE will be completed in Q4.

Yi He, co-founder of Binance and head of Binance Labs, commented: "Binance Labs continuously identifies infrastructure providers introducing novel solutions to accelerate the growth of Web3 applications. Initia's innovative architecture and tools are an important step towards widespread adoption by a new wave of developers."

A year has passed, and in this issue, we will provide you with a detailed introduction to Initia's core concepts, technical features, and progress, as the door to inter-chain connectivity is about to open.

Building a Technical Stack from 0-1 to Create an Interwoven World of "All Chains Interconnected"

When you start to understand Initia, you will see the word "interwoven" frequently, which translates to interwoven.

Here, interwoven means that different Layer 2s can achieve interoperability, reflected in consistent user experiences, shared liquidity, and security, among other aspects. Additionally, since Initia supports EVM, MoveVM, and WASM, theoretically, both Ethereum and non-Ethereum projects can smoothly migrate to Initia for interoperability.

Of course, this does not currently include SVM. Initia co-founder Zon mentioned in a previous podcast that they would consider supporting SVM in the future if demand increases.

Is Initia Layer 1 or Layer 2?

Initia = Layer 1 + Layer 2. To realize Initia's vision, Initia has built an entire new technology stack from 0-1, developing both Layer 1 and Layer 2.

According to the official statement: having a complete technology stack will enable Initia to implement chain-level mechanisms to coordinate the economic interests of users, developers, Layer 2 application chains, and the Layer 1 chain itself.

For more details, refer to the project documentation: https://docs.initia.xyz/

Introduction to Basic Concepts of Initia

Before we delve into Initia's mechanisms and implementation logic, it is necessary to clarify some new concepts and terms, which will help us better understand Initia's long-term vision.

• Ominitia / Initia / Minitia / OPInit Stack

Initia: Full name Initia Orchestration Layer, i.e., Layer 1, abbreviated as Initia. This is the foundational layer coordinating network security, consensus, governance, interoperability, liquidity, and inter-chain messaging.

Minitia: Initia Rollups, i.e., Layer 2, also known as "Minitia" or mini Initias. These are Layer 2 solutions built on top of Initia Layer 1, designed to enhance scalability and transaction throughput. They can run on EVM, MoveVM, or WasmVM, with the underlying technology being CosmosSDK.

OPInit Stack : This refers to the Initia Optimistic Rollup framework, abbreviated as OPInit Stack. OPInit Stack is the Optimistic Rollup framework built by Initia within CosmosSDK, designed to protect Initia Rollups through fraud proofs and rollbacks.

Ominitia: A platform that includes all core components such as Initia (Layer 1), Minitia (Layer 2s), OPInit Stack, and Bridging Middleware, referred to as Ominitia.

• Enshrined Liquidity / InitiaDEX / VIP

Enshrined Liquidity: Initia Layer 1 introduces a unique consensus method, utilizing a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) mechanism, enhanced through the x/mstaking module. This module allows multiple tokens to be staked directly to validators for voting rights. The module accepts separate INIT tokens from InitiaDEX or whitelisted INIT-X (corresponding Token) LP tokens as stakes, a mechanism known as Enshrined Liquidity.

This approach enhances liquidity on L1, facilitates interactions between L1 & L2, increases LP staker rewards, reduces security reliance on the volatility of a single $INIT token, and offers various other benefits.

InitiaDEX: InitiaDEX is the cornerstone of the Initia blockchain, built using the Move language on Layer 1. InitiaDEX is not just a trading platform; it is also an indispensable part of the Omnitia ecosystem, aimed at facilitating liquidity and ensuring seamless interaction between Layer 1 and Layer 2.

VIP: Full name Vested Interest Program, Initia believes that as Rollups increase, there often arise issues such as inconsistent incentive mechanisms for dApps, underutilization of native tokens, and inefficient distribution of incentives/subsidies at the protocol layer. Therefore, Initia aims to address the profit distribution issues of Minitia (Layer 2s) through the VIP program, coordinating the interests of various participants in the protocol to promote healthy ecosystem development. More details will be introduced below.

The above is an introduction to some important concepts. In summary, Initia has designed multiple unique mechanisms to coordinate the ecosystem towards a unified direction and encourage truly valuable innovations. For more information, please refer to the official documentation.

Apple vs. Android: Providing the Best User and Developer Experience

For any public chain, users and developers are essential components of its ecosystem. Many public chains attract developers or users through rewards, hackathons, etc. For Initia, the goal is to provide the best interaction experience (BEST UX/DX) for both developers and users.

Seamless Interaction Experience for Users

In a previous sharing, Initia co-founder Stan explained Initia's design philosophy, emphasizing that the initial concept of Initia considers user liquidity across different applications. While many heavy Ethereum users can easily move assets on the main chain, the situation becomes complicated when using Layer 2.

Especially for users who are not very familiar with the ecosystem, when they want to cross-chain from one Layer 2 to another, they may need to consult DefiLlama to know how to operate, and when users are actually performing operations, they may face various token standard confusion issues.

Therefore, Initia decided to build a new ecosystem to simplify cross-chain operations and enhance the overall user experience, giving birth to an interwoven network of multi-chain interoperability.

In terms of specific implementation, the previous sections mentioned Enshrined Liquidity, InitiaDEX, and Minitswap, among others. For the user interface, the following image illustrates a user transitioning from Minitia A (EVM L2) to Minitia B (MOVE L2).

Through the built-in liquidity of Initia Layer 1, users can seamlessly swap USDC from Minitia A to BTC on Minitia B with one click; similarly, USDC on Minitia A and USDC on Minitia B are the same, avoiding different standards like USDC.e.

This significantly reduces the complexity of user operations, whether in bridging or token standards.

The Most Comprehensive Development Suite for Developers

The prosperity of an ecosystem relies on developers. To encourage more projects, many public chains attract numerous Grant Hunters through aggressive Grant programs, which often leads to a lack of loyalty among projects.

For Initia, they have primarily focused on two aspects:

1- Providing Three Types of VMs to Embrace the Most Developers

As mentioned earlier, Initia supports EVM, MoveVM, and WASM. EVM and MoveVM are well-known, but the key point is WasmVM, i.e., WebAssembly VM, which can run on different blockchains and supports multiple programming languages such as C, C++, and Rust. This will bring more potential developers to the platform, providing an important foundation for ecosystem prosperity.

Last month, Arbitrum launched Stylus, which also supports WebAssembly VM, highlighting the importance of this virtual machine to an ecosystem. This means that for the current Initia, almost all mainstream blockchain developers and applications could potentially become sources for its ecosystem.

2- Developers Can Move In with Their Bags, Focusing Only on Users and Applications

Initia co-founder Zon mentioned that they are influenced by Apple's design philosophy. He compared Rollups on Ethereum to Android, pointing out that this architecture provides infrastructure, but users face many choices when selecting service providers, bridging, oracles, etc. In contrast, Initia has taken a more decisive stance in its design, clarifying the direction of system evolution.

In Initia's Layer 1 and Layer 2 framework, many components are embedded within the system. For example, bridging only uses IBC and Layer0, while DA relies on Celestia, among others. They believe that all applications should evolve in a direction consistent with Layer 1, thereby bringing value to users and the ecosystem.

Each Minitia is a fully equipped L2 environment, allowing applications with different needs to move in seamlessly, becoming plug-and-play application chains without reinventing the wheel from 0 to 1.

Specifically, in addition to high performance and interoperability, Initia's built-in key components include but are not limited to: unified wallet service, username service, blockchain explorer, oracles, economic incentive programs, one-click receipt of native USDC, and various SDK support.

Through these plug-and-play facilities, each Minitia provides the best environment for specific applications. This design not only lowers the entry barrier for developers but also accelerates application deployment and market promotion, allowing developers to focus on innovation rather than infrastructure building.

By Xangle

Ecosystem Development: Users/Developers/Initia Interwoven into a Community of Interests

VIP Program: Users/Developers/Initia Moving in One Direction

We have mentioned the "VIP" program multiple times; why is it so important to Initia?

Initia will allocate a portion of $INIT specifically for the "VIP" program. These $INIT will be distributed as specific rewards to Minitia operators and users based on the operational status of each Minitia. The specific distribution and amounts will be decided by voting.

User rewards are tied to their activities on specific platforms. For example, if users remain active on a particular application, they can unlock more tokens. This incentivizes users to continue participating, thereby driving the growth of the ecosystem.

The two co-founders previously mentioned that the VIP program will eliminate intermediaries in traditional grant programs, ensuring that all rewards go directly to the end users rather than being consumed by teams or treasury. Developers will also benefit from this, as they attract users and create economic value for the ecosystem.

The goal of the VIP program is to coordinate the interests of all participants within the ecosystem, including Minitia teams, Minitia users, and the broader Initia ecosystem.

Seeking Innovative Teams to Support Native Application Development

Building an ecosystem can be easy or difficult.

The easy part is that you can attract some mature projects to fork onto your chain through incentive methods; the difficult part is that these projects that fork onto your chain may seem to enrich your ecosystem but actually lack loyalty and sustainability.

Initia does not wish to attract projects from other ecosystems and attempt to "normalize" them; instead, they encourage unique and innovative teams to build their own native applications for Initia. At the same time, Initia will provide these teams with marketing, incentives, and development support.

From the official website, there are currently 12 disclosed ecosystem projects (Minitias) covering AI, DeFi, GameFi, and NFTs, as follows:

Many of these projects also involve institutions such as Binance Labs, Hashed, Polychain, and HackVC, reflecting market recognition of Initia's narrative.

Advocating Value Data: Mainnet + TGE Launch in Q4

Recently, Initia completed a 12-week testnet activity where users needed to complete multiple activities and remain active to receive the final Jennie NFT reward (Jennie is the pet of the Initia team and a major source of various memes). Additionally, users who deeply participated in the VIP program and interacted with MinitSwap, Minitias, etc., could receive specific Stickers.

The following is the activity data shared by the official team. Overall, this event attracted over 3 million active wallet addresses, with more than 100 million transactions.

From my personal experience participating, Initia's testnet activity required long-term activity and certification requirements (such as Github scores, Google scores, etc.), which to some extent avoided simple bot participation.

Moreover, it is worth noting that Initia also revealed in this funding round that it will launch the mainnet and TGE in the next two months.

Many people may pay attention to Initia because of Binance Labs' early involvement. Personally, I believe that a strong background in VC is just one aspect; the influence of "well-known VCs" is gradually diminishing. A previous survey indicated that users are increasingly skeptical of "well-known VCs."

If a project lacks a solid community foundation and does not engage with users and ecosystem projects, it is destined to become an empty shell.

I initially focused on Initia simply because I saw cultural tags and elements I liked, such as Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, and Neon Genesis Evangelion, being variously utilized in the team's social media.

It wasn't until I discovered how they infused culture into the team, community, activities, and ecosystem projects that I truly realized the importance of "having fun" and "making the ecosystem interesting" for building a community.

We are all Jennie's fans.