Network use cases

The new software modules, whether EVM compatible or not, introduce their own validation semantics for verification and, therefore, can implement various distributed systems and decentralized networks with inherited crypto-economic security. Below are some of the ideas of what can be built on Nektar:

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E - Economic trust, D - Decentralization trust, Ξ - Ethereum inclusion trust

Rollups

Use case	E	D	Ξ	Description
Sequencer		⬤		Decentralized transaction ordering service offers rollups a solution to the manipulation and short-term censorship of execution
Data availability		⬤		Short-term data availability of transaction blobs ensures state execution correctness and liveness in rollups, particularly for data-heavy applications like gaming and social networking
Fast finality	⬤			Fast finality layer enables nearly instantaneous economic finality through rollup state claims validated by a supermajority of nodes
Single-slot finality			⬤	Nodes can opt into signing off on a block’s finality and committing not to build on any chains that exclude that block, if they are willing to accept higher risk due to less verification time
Delayable keeper network	⬤			Non-time-sensitive tasks like challenging optimistic rollups or managing bridge relays
Urgent keeper network			⬤	Time-sensitive tasks like preventing collateral liquidation or executing token trades, backed by strong guarantees of inclusion of these event-driven actions
Watch tower	⬤			Vigilant monitoring for incorrect state executions and timely challenges are essential to ensure the security of optimistic rollups
Reorg resistance	⬤			Nodes with substantial stake attest to the block header of the most recently finalized block to ensure confirmation rules and establish resistance to chain reorganizations
Light client bridges	⬤			Verify and accept bridge inputs off-chain with strong quorum to avoid paying high gas costs of the light client smart contract
Fast-mode bridges	⬤			Verify ZK proofs off-chain, and certify that proofs are correct on-chain, to improve security

Coprocessors

Use case	E	D	Ξ	Description
ZK Provers		⬤		Quick and cost-effective zk proof generation through parallelization methods
Relays		⬤		Bridges can utilize a decentralized network of relay operators
Risk		⬤		Engage a subset of nodes to simulate transactions and perform comprehensive risk analysis to safeguard against malicious actions
AI execution	⬤	⬤		Cost-effective and computationally secure AI inferences can be run on-chain to achieve program integrity, session privacy, and federated learning
Off-chain compute	⬤	⬤		Blockchains need serverless cryptoeconomic coprocessors for historical data access and off-chain high-performance compute, while preserving decentralization, in use cases like decentralized databases, game engines, etc.

Cryptography

Use case	E	D	Ξ	Description
Threshold		⬤		Encrypted message can only be decoded by a large subset of signers, the application useful for commit-reveal and privacy protection, e.g. multiparty computation in Shamir Secret Sharing scenarios
FHE		⬤		Fully homomorphic encryption allows nodes to perform functions on the data without knowing the entirety of the data, delivering a robust privacy guarantee
TEE	⬤	⬤		Decentralized network of TEEs enhances their security by adding a guarantee that majority of nodes are acting honestly
Naysayer proofs		⬤		Naysayer proofs offer an efficient and cost-effective method for handling proofs on-chain, initially accepting proofs optimistically and relying on "naysayers" to flag errors

MEV management

Use case	E	D	Ξ	Description
Varied		⬤	⬤	A variety of MEV management methods can enhance functionality and protect against targeted frontrunning: PBS, MEV smoothing, threshold encryption for transaction inclusion, multi-lane block proposal, event-driven activation, slot auctions, etc.

Other ideas

Use case	E	D	Ξ	Description
Proofs	⬤	⬤		On-chain verification for out-of-protocol computation (proof of machinehood), physical decentralization (proof of location), trustless confidentiality (proof of identity), querying big data (proof of storage), etc.
Execution environments	⬤	⬤		Virtual machines to allow developers build Ethereum apps in their favorite programming language
Oracles	⬤			Oracles that enshrine price feeds into Ethereum can be built if they require majority trust on restaked ETH
Sidechains	⬤	⬤		Settlement for sidechains with new consensus protocols which have low latency and high throughput
Off-chain Infrastructure	⬤	⬤		Bootstrapping general decentralized network with advanced features like circuit breakers (ensure protocol integrity by pausing or disabling functions), decentralized RPC (verifying data authenticity and appending signatures to responses), etc.