The Web3Port Foundation recently successfully completed a new round of investment in the Lumoz project. This financing was participated in by several well-known institutions, including IDG Blockchain, OKX Ventures, HashKey Capital, Polygon, NGC Ventures, and others. Lumoz is a modular computing layer and ZK-RaaS platform that provides computational power support for Rollup, zero-knowledge machine learning (ZK-ML), and zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) verification through a PoW mining mechanism. The launched ZK-RaaS platform helps developers "one-click" launch their application-specific ZK-rollup.

According to official news, Lumoz launched the esMOZ airdrop globally a week ago, with the total airdrop amount accounting for about 10%, reaching up to $30 million. As of now, the cumulative query volume for the airdrop has exceeded 5 million users. The esMOZ airdrop query is still ongoing and is expected to last for a month, with airdrop claims starting after the Lumoz mainnet goes live at the end of this year.

The Lumoz OG NFT event officially launched on November 12 at 16:00 and will last until December 5. Through Lumoz OG NFT, users can directly exchange esMOZ for MOZ at a 1:1 ratio after the mainnet goes live, without any lock-up period. Lumoz OG NFT is divided into three different levels of scarcity, each corresponding to different exchange amounts. Lumoz has opened various ways to acquire NFTs, such as participating in Galxe activities, contributing to Discord community activity, applying for global KOL incentive programs, direct airdrops for Lumoz node holders, and incentives for ecosystem project parties/developers. In the future, Lumoz OG NFT will also support various gameplay such as natural circulation, destruction, and staking. For more details, please follow Lumoz's official Twitter!

Background

Ethereum aims to become the "computer of the decentralized world," but since its inception, it has faced the "impossible triangle" challenge of public chains, which is the difficulty of balancing "decentralization," "security," and "scalability." This has led Ethereum to face high Gas fees and network scalability issues for a long time.

To achieve Web3 Mass Adoption, solving Ethereum's scalability problem is crucial. Therefore, various solutions have been proposed in the industry regarding Ethereum's scalability. Among them, Rollup is considered the most promising technical path due to its excellent security and scalability, becoming the most mainstream solution for Layer 2.

The core idea of Rollup is to bundle multiple transactions on Layer 2 and submit them as a whole to the mainnet (Layer 1) for verification and settlement, thereby improving transaction speed and reducing the difficulty of verifying transaction validity. Depending on the data verification method, Rollup is divided into two categories: Optimistic Rollup and ZK-Rollup.

• Optimistic Rollup: Uses a "fraud proof" mechanism. The Rollup contract records the complete history of the state root and the hash value of each batch. If a new state root for a batch is found to be incorrect, a proof can be submitted on-chain to demonstrate that the batch computation is erroneous. After the contract verifies the proof, it will roll back the batch and penalize the malicious party while rewarding the reporter. Representative Optimistic Rollup solutions include Arbitrum One, Base, Optimism, Mantle, Blast, Metis, Boba Network, etc.
• ZK-Rollup: Uses a "validity proof" mechanism, generating a zk-SNARK cryptographic proof for each batch to ensure that the new state root is the correct execution result of the batch. Regardless of the computation size, the proof can be quickly verified on-chain. Representative ZK-Rollup solutions include Scroll, Linea, ZKsync Era, Starknet, Loopring, ZKSpace, etc.

According to the latest data from Defilama, the current market TVL and applications are still dominated by Optimistic Rollups, including Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Blast, Mantle, etc., while the market share of ZK Rollups such as Scroll, Linea, and ZKsync is relatively low.

Although ZK Rollup solutions have significant advantages in scalability, throughput, costs, withdrawal speed, and latency, and have been recognized by Vitalik as one of the Ethereum scalability solutions, they still face a series of technical challenges that limit their large-scale application development. These challenges include:

• High ZKP computation costs: ZK computation has extremely high requirements for hardware performance and specialized skills, significantly increasing the cost of building ZK computation nodes, which becomes a major obstacle to large-scale deployment.
• Centralization issues of provers: Some ETH ZK-Rollup projects use centralized provers for ZKP verification. This means that when these centralized nodes fail, are attacked, or go offline, it may affect the entire network and hinder transaction confirmations.
• Network security risks: In some cases, centralized ZKP nodes may prioritize their own interests, selectively generating or delaying the creation of proofs, thereby harming the rights and interests of network users.
• Complexity of ZKEVM: The initial design of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) did not consider compatibility with ZK technology, thus generating zk-SNARK validity proofs for EVM programs requires complex cryptographic transformations and smart contract compatibility handling, further increasing technical complexity.

These technical challenges hinder the widespread application of ZK Rollup solutions. Solving these issues will be key to promoting the large-scale adoption of Web3 through ZK Rollup in the future.

Lumoz Solution

Lumoz addresses the challenges faced by ZK-Rollup through a modular computing layer service and ZK-RaaS platform, simplifying the costs and ZKP verification of ZK-Rollup.

Modular Computing Layer for ZK & AI

Lumoz is a modular computing layer & RaaS platform that provides a powerful, secure, and flexible computing platform for global users. It utilizes PoW mining mechanisms to provide computational power support for Rollups, ZK-ML, and ZKP verification.

The Lumoz computing layer, as a computing module, has the following characteristics:

1. Decentralized Computing: The Lumoz computing layer operates in the form of a blockchain network, employing a hybrid consensus mechanism of Proof of Stake (POS) and Proof of Work (POW) to ensure decentralized computing power. This architecture provides continuous ZKP computing power for ZKRollups and offers a secure data processing and model training environment for AI applications.
2. Strong Computing Stability: Lumoz computing nodes consist of thousands of GPU/CPU nodes, ensuring not only continuous computing power for ZKP and ZKFP but also supporting large-scale parallel computing required by AI, guaranteeing efficient execution of computing tasks.
3. High Compatibility: Lumoz is highly compatible with mainstream Rollup solutions in the blockchain industry (such as Polygon ZKEVM, ZKSync, Scroll, Starknet) while meeting various computing needs in the AI field, providing strong support for different technology stacks through a unique computing mechanism.
4. Cost Efficiency: The decentralized computing layer of Lumoz, combined with a well-designed economic model, achieves low-cost ZKP generation. This cost efficiency also applies to AI computing tasks, providing users with economical and efficient AI and blockchain computing solutions.
5. Strong Security: Lumoz utilizes the EigenLayer standard to build an Active Verification Service (AVS). The staking mechanism of EigenLayer enhances the security of AVS.

Through modular design, the Lumoz computing layer not only provides a secure and efficient computing environment but also offers strong cloud infrastructure support and flexible, cost-effective solutions for zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) computing. At the same time, Lumoz leverages its rich experience in the ZKP field to innovate and optimize circuits and algorithms, significantly improving computing efficiency, effectively addressing the high costs and low efficiency issues of Rollup projects, and lowering the threshold for ordinary users to participate in the ZK computing market.

Core Components of the Lumoz Protocol

The modular computing layer of Lumoz consists of two core components:

1. ZKProver Node: Serving as the computing engine of the network, responsible for executing tasks within the Lumoz network and generating corresponding ZKP or ZKFP. These proofs not only verify the correct execution of tasks but also ensure the privacy and security of information during the process.
2. ZKVerifier Node: Plays a crucial role in the Lumoz network, responsible for strictly verifying the computation process and results of the ZKProver Node, thereby ensuring the accuracy of computation results and the reliability of the network. It is a key element in maintaining the integrity of the entire system.

ZKProver Node

ZKProver is one of the core components of the Lumoz protocol, responsible for ZKP computation within the protocol. By utilizing task decomposition, parallel computing, and proof aggregation, it effectively enhances the efficiency of ZKP computation and reduces overall costs. The workflow of the ZKProver node is shown in the diagram below:

1. Listening for Tasks: The node continuously listens for corresponding tasks published on-chain based on proof types and initiates computation accordingly.
2. Proof Computation: A single task is recursively decomposed into multiple sub-tasks to achieve parallel computing. At the same time, the node checks the local cache for any reusable pre-computed or cached results to optimize the process.
3. Sub-task Aggregation: Once all sub-tasks are computed, the results are aggregated into a complete proof.
4. Aggregation and Submission of Multiple Proofs: The node does not immediately submit a single proof after generation but waits to aggregate it with subsequent proofs. The combined proof and node information are merged into a compact submission, which is then published on-chain to minimize cost overhead.
5. Waiting for Subsequent Verification Steps: After submission, the node enters the next phase of the verification process.

As a ZKProver in Lumoz, participants can contribute decentralized computing power to the network while earning Lumoz protocol tokens as rewards. This not only incentivizes broader community participation but also ensures the stability and transparency of the network.

ZKVerifier Node

ZKVerifier is another key component in the Lumoz architecture, responsible for verifying the ZKP generated by the ZKProver. It ensures the correctness and validity of the proofs submitted to the chain, thereby safeguarding the trust and security of the system. Through optimized verification processes, ZKVerifier can efficiently handle proofs, thereby reducing operational costs and gas consumption. The workflow of the ZKVerifier node is shown in the diagram below:

1. Proof Submission: The proof generated by the ZKProver is submitted to the Lumoz Chain, initiating the verification task.
2. Proof Verification: The Lumoz Chain sends the verification task to multiple zkVerifier nodes, each of which independently performs distributed verification.
3. Collective Decision: At least two-thirds of the verifying nodes confirm the validity of the proof, ensuring the authority and consistency of the verification results.
4. Verification Result Processing: Valid proofs and their results are sent back to the Lumoz proof contract on the blockchain via the Lumoz AVS Oracle, and the task results are recorded and responded to by the task management contract on the Lumoz chain.

To build a highly transparent, thoroughly decentralized, and censorship-resistant verification network, Lumoz's ZKVerifier Node adopts a licensing mechanism, where the license is the official recognition of the ZKVerifier node's identity and is a necessary binding condition when setting up a ZKVerifier node.

In the process of participating in network data verification and computation, the ZKVerifier Node will also receive economic incentives from the network. In Lumoz's token economics, the total supply of MOZ is 10 billion, of which 25% of the tokens will be allocated to ZKVerifier nodes, which will also have the opportunity to receive potential token airdrops from the Lumoz ecosystem chain.

Lumoz has set a total of 100,000 node NFT licenses, divided into 10 tiers for sale, with sales starting on June 17, 2024. After three rounds (pre-sale, whitelist, public sale), only a small portion of the public sale tier remains, while other tiers have sold out. These nodes will officially provide data verification services for Web3 enterprises and users as Lumoz's mainnet goes live, continuously creating value in the process.

Lumoz ZK-POW and Two-Step Submission Model

To support the massive hardware resource demands brought by a large number of ZK-Rollups, Lumoz adopts the ZK-POW mechanism in its operational model, providing a unified ZKP computing power market that encourages miners to generate ZKP for these ZK-Rollups.

In the ZKP computing power market network built by Lumoz, participants including miners, developers, and users can benefit from Lumoz's network, facilitating the large-scale application of ZK-Rollup. As the miner community expands, the decentralized computing layer network they build will also leverage its economies of scale.

To encourage more miners to participate in ZKP computation tasks simultaneously, Lumoz proposes a two-step submission algorithm for ZKP verification (first submit the hash, then verify the ZKP) to achieve decentralized proof of work.

This algorithm can prevent ZKP competitive attacks, allowing miners to execute multiple ZKP tasks simultaneously and earn rewards, thereby incentivizing more miners to stay online and provide stable and continuous ZKP computing power, improving ZKP generation efficiency.

Lumoz significantly lowers the entry barrier by optimizing ZK computing algorithms, allowing ordinary users to easily join the Lumoz ZK computing network and helping to promote the decentralization process of ZK computing.

RaaS Platform:

Lumoz provides ZK-RaaS services for Web3 applications and currently supports Op roll-up, enabling developers to create their own Rollup through Lumoz's Rollup Launchbase. In Lumoz's design, each Web3 application can have its dedicated ZK-Rollup and can freely choose the underlying chain.

Currently, Lumoz supports 5 underlying chains, various ZKEVM types, and multiple DA and Sequencer configurations. Developers can flexibly choose to deploy ZK-Rollup as if building with Lego blocks, greatly reducing the difficulty of issuing ZK Rollup.

• 5 underlying chains: Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, and Solana
• ZKEVM types: Lumoz supports Polygon ZKEVM, ZKSync, Scroll, StarkNet, Linea, Taiko, and other ZKEVMs
• DA: Layer1, Celestia, EigenLayer, Ethstorage, Avail, Espresso
• Sequencer: Single Node, Espresso, Astria, Radius

Many public chains have adopted Lumoz's RaaS solution to build ZK-Rollups chains, including:

• MerlinChain: MerlinChain is a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution that integrates advanced technologies such as ZK-Rollup networks, decentralized oracle networks, data availability, and on-chain BTC anti-fraud modules. Its main goal is to enhance Bitcoin's native assets, protocols, and products on Layer 1 through its Layer 2 network, ultimately achieving the goal of "making Bitcoin interesting again."
• ZKFair: ZKFair is a community ZK-Rollup based on Polygon CDK and Celestia DA, with 100% token airdrop, requiring no investors, reserves, or pre-mining, relying entirely on the community. ZKFair is a 100% community-owned and community-driven experimental L2 network.
• MATR1X: MATR1X is an innovative cultural entertainment platform that integrates gaming, artificial intelligence, esports, and blockchain infrastructure, dedicated to revolutionizing the global gaming and digital content industry through blockchain and AI technologies.
• Ultiverse: Ultiverse is an integrated Web3 platform that combines GameFi, NFT, DeFi, Marketplace, and Liquid Staking. Ultiverse aims to build the next-generation gateway connecting Web3 with global players.
• DuckChain: DuckChain is an EVM-compatible TON L2 solution supported by TONSCALE LABS and Arbitrum. This solution aims to provide unprecedented scalability and liquidity, attracting users from the EVM and Bitcoin ecosystems to join TON.
• REVOX: REVOX is an agent in smart contracts that redefines the paradigm of DAPP creation through autonomous agency.

At the same time, to address cross-chain communication and asset interoperability issues among various Rollups, Lumoz directly utilizes native bridging to achieve multi-Rollup interoperability. The specific operation is to deploy a Rollup Recognition Contract (RRC) on each Layer 1, responsible for managing all participating ZK-Rollups in the Native Cross Rollup Communication (NCRC), including adding, pausing, and exiting Rollups. Throughout the cross-chain process, the path through which users' assets flow is: Rollup1 -> Rollup1's L1 bridge contract -> Rollup2's L1 bridge contract -> Rollup2. The entire process is secure and trustless, enhancing the smoothness of user experience.

Product and Ecosystem Progress

In the past two years, Lumoz has completed multiple testnets and technical upgrades. In the Pre-Alpha testnet, a total of 87,567 users participated, driving the success of early testing; in the Alpha testnet, the number of participants reached 286,179, showcasing the enthusiasm and support of the community; while in the Quidditch testnet, the number of participating users exceeded one million, fully reflecting the broad recognition and trust of the community.

At the market level, Lumoz has attracted the attention and support of over one million users and more than 30 top ecosystem projects, demonstrating strong market heat and discussion; at the technical level, the Lumoz team has conducted in-depth optimization of the ZK-POW algorithm, successfully improving the proof efficiency of ZKP by about 50%. This esMOZ airdrop event and PoW testnet are important steps for Lumoz to expand its ecosystem, supporting over 20 high-quality ETH/BTC Layer 2 ecological chains. Additionally, high-quality ecological chains such as Merlin Chain, ZKFair, Ultiverse, MATR1X, and DuckChain will also participate in this airdrop event.

Network and Progress:

May 2023: Pre-alpha incentive testnet, with over 450,000 participants joining the Pre-alpha testnet, ultimately accumulating over 13.5M transactions, 240,000 independent users, 25,000+ PoS validators, and 100+ PoW miners. In terms of ecosystem, over 100 high-quality projects applied to participate, of which 14 projects successfully launched their dedicated ZKEVM application chains through Opside ZK-Rollup LaunchBase.

September 2023: Alpha incentive testnet, with 697,779 community users participating, attracting 286,179 followers, 25,000 POS validators, and 145 miners contributing hashing power, with 15 ZKEVM chains running stably.

August 27 - September 27, 2024: Lumoz Quidditch incentive testnet, at the end of the event, the number of testnet users exceeded one million, the number of participating nodes reached 752, and 58,183 staking licenses were issued, with a total of 154,414 participants in the staking test. The total number of submitted verifications was 7,230,356. The event also received support from over 30 top ecosystem projects such as OKX Wallet and Bitget Wallet.

November 2024: Lumoz launched the PoW testnet, which is a significant update before the launch of the Lumoz mainnet. On the technical level, the team further optimized the ZK-POW algorithm, improving ZKP proof efficiency by about 50%. On the application side, the launch of the PoW testnet will provide a more stable, secure, and low-cost decentralized computing power network service for over 20 Layer 2 chains within the Lumoz ecosystem (such as Merlin Chain, ZKFair, Ultiverse, MATR1X, etc.).

By the end of 2024: Lumoz is expected to launch the Lumoz mainnet and TGE before the end of 2024, with the team currently preparing for the mainnet launch and TGE.

Ecosystem Progress

In December 2023, Lumoz announced the launch of Fair-L2 LaunchBase following ZKFair, supporting more high-quality ZK-L2 projects with fair launches. Currently, over 20 project parties have submitted applications for Fair-L2 launch, including BTC L2, gaming platform chains, DePIN chains, social application chains, and other tracks.

In April 2024, Lumoz announced support for the Op Stack + ZK Fraud Proof second-layer architecture, pioneering a new Layer 2 architecture model.

In May 2024, Lumoz launched the AVS computing layer based on EigenLayer, consisting of ZKProver and ZKVerifier, ensuring the security and profitability of the entire service process through EigenLayer's re-staking mechanism. In October 2024, Lumoz network upgraded, leading the ZK-PoW algorithm, with ZK computing efficiency improved by 50%.

In October 2024, Lumoz RaaS launched Layer 2 solutions in the Move ecosystem, enabling Ethereum-based projects to seamlessly integrate into the Move ecosystem (including Sui, Aptos, and Movements).

Team and Financing

Lumoz, formerly known as Opside, has been dedicated to making ZK-Rollup technology more accessible and user-friendly since its establishment in 2022. The core team has been conducting research and development on ZK technology since 2018, accumulating rich technical experience and project development and operation capabilities.

Lumoz's co-founder and CEO, NanFeng, graduated from Tsinghua University and previously worked at ByteDance, where he was deeply involved as a core developer in the underlying construction and subsequent iteration of multiple projects. He is also the founder of Trustless Labs.

In terms of financing, Lumoz completed Pre-A round and strategic financing in the first half of this year, with a total financing amount reaching $14 million to date, and the latest round of financing valued at $300 million, with participating institutions including OKX Ventures, HashKey Capital, KuCoin Ventures, and Polygon.

Conclusion

As a leading modular computing layer & RaaS platform, Lumoz effectively provides computational power for Rollups, ZK-ML, and ZKP verification through PoW mining, addressing the high costs and low efficiency issues faced by the ZK Rollup sector. At the same time, it significantly lowers the threshold for developers to deploy and implement ZK Rollup chains through its ZK-RaaS service platform. Additionally, by building a decentralized ZKP computing power market network, it brings profits to miners and lowers the entry barrier for ordinary users to participate in the ZK computing market.

After three rounds of incentive testnet operations, Lumoz has successfully attracted over 1.5 million ordinary users, 200+ projects, 28,137 validators, and 145 PoW miners. As Lumoz officially approaches the countdown to the mainnet launch, we expect Lumoz to continue expanding its ecosystem, attracting more projects and community users to join, and maintaining a leading advantage in the ZK Rollup sector, facilitating the large-scale application of ZK-Rollup.

Lumoz airdrop query website: https://lumoz.org/airdrop

References:

1. Lumoz Official Documentation: https://docs.lumoz.org/

2. ZkVerifier Node public sale is imminent, how does Lumoz build a modular computing layer?

https://foresightnews.pro/article/detail/63116

3. Lumoz Research Report: Modular Chain Launch, Significantly Reducing ZKP Computing Costs

https://www.techflowpost.com/article/detail_18515.html

4. Understanding the ZK Modular New Star Lumoz in One Article

https://www.panewslab.com/zh/articledetails/5uuyffma.html

5. Lumoz Blog: https://mirror.xyz/lumozorg.eth