SubDA: A Substrate based DA and inscription solution

[JesusCrust]

SubDA - A substrate based DA (Data Availability) and inscription solution

Intro

Dear Polkadot Community,

At Crust Network, we have been dedicated contributors to the Polkadot ecosystem, consistently providing essential infrastructure and native decentralized storage solutions to both Polkadot and Kusama. Through our parachains, we have established the largest data storage network and infrastructure within the Polkadot ecosystem, serving the needs of developers and users for more than 3 years.

Our latest project, SubDA, marks a significant milestone in the journey of Crust Network. With SubDA, we’re leveraging our extensive experience in decentralized storage combined with State-of-the-Art technology to pioneer modular Data Availability and inscription solutions within Polkadot. These new narratives share many foundational principles with decentralized data storage systems which allows us to build on top of our vast expertise from our previous endeavors.

Motivation

The upcoming implementation of Proto-Danksharding by the Ethereum community is set to introduce a groundbreaking transaction type known as “blob carrying transactions,” wherein Blobs function as versatile data containers. Typically, these Blobs encapsulate batched transaction data (calldata) published by roll-ups to their Data Availability (DA) layer. Moreover, Blobs can be extended to use cases of Inscriptions/DStroage such as NFT, social content, etc.

With SubDA our objective is to pioneer the integration of blobs and blob transactions within the Polkadot ecosystem as well as expanding and abstracting the concept of blobTx. We are committed to achieving this goal by not only developing various blob-related Substrate pallets but also by constructing a dedicated parachain tailored to support decentralized, secure blob storage services. These services will cater to a diverse range of use cases, including inscriptions, decentralized data storage, and Data Availability related services both within and beyond Polkadot.

The SubDA also aims to contribute to the common good of Polkadot ecosystem by extending the DOT use case and use re-staked DOTs to provide the network security.

The Proposal

SubDA’s proposed contribution to the Polkadot ecosystem can be categorized into the following three major components, as indicated by the overall architecture diagram:

1. Substrate: SubstrateDA Package

• Blob related core tech pallets: Blob Tx, sidecar storage, DAS
• Pallet for blob verification and service interfaces
• SDK and supporting packages: substrateda.js

2. Parachain: SubDA Parachain to provide DA and inscription services

• Blob DAS network with customizable/up-to-permanent blob availability
• Restaked DOT to protect the network
• Services: BlobTx interface, Blob retrieval, XCMP interfaces

3. Tools & Tech Influence around blob concept:

• SDK, Polkadot.js Files update
• Better Ethereum engagement like EIP7588

Users and Use Cases

Any Parachain:

• Be able to introduce blob storage/DA tech with substrateDA package
• Benefit parachain and its users in any DA or inscription scenarios, for example, a Parachain can store NFT metadata in blobs.

Any User:

• Be able to send blob transactions for inscription/dstorage use cases

Ethereum / L2s:

• Be able to use SubDA as modular DA layer within Ethereum
• Be able to support potential Polkadot L2/roll-up ecosystem (AppChains)

Highlights

1. Extend the usage of DOT to cover DA related scenarios

2. Service to broader Web3 users

• Serve Ethereum L2s as AltDA
• Serve broader users for inscription and dstorage scenarios like NFT, SocialFi, etc.

3. Service and Collaboration within Polkadot Ecosystem

• Extend substrate and serve parachains for inscriptions/dstorage
• Collaborate with AppChain and other Polkadot-Rollup projects like Tanssi and Magsteam

Team and Track Record

We are a team with core developers from Crust Network and its derived applications including EVM Storage, Crust Files and Crust Cloud. Our experience spans over four years with significant achievements in the field of decentralized storage as well as the broader Polkadot ecosystem. Please find some of our past deliverables and achievements below:

Crust Network

• A dStorage substrate parachain with native IPFS support
• MainNet running for 2+ years with 650PB / 1500+ nodes, 2.2M+ storage orders
• Web3 Grant / Substrate Builders Program / Web3 Bootcamp
• Built and maintain Substrate xstorage pallet

EVM Storage

• EVM storage contract available on EVM-compatible chains, including L1 and L2s

Storage dApps

• Crust Files - Dropbox-like cloud storage for personal use
• Crust Cloud - NFT based data storage containers
• Combined 10K subscribed users + >100K free users

[leo40k]

Data availability and blob type does not only scale up L2s but also potentially extend the support for dstorage use cases such as NFTs and Social contents, inside and ouside of Polkadot ecosystem.

Would like to support and contribute to this initiative!

[Akitoriowo]

I wholeheartedly support this proposal! The SubDA project’s contributions to the Polkadot ecosystem are poised to be significant. Leveraging Crust Network’s extensive experience in decentralized storage, coupled with cutting-edge technology, SubDA will bring modular Data Availability and inscription solutions to Polkadot. This will offer developers and users more choices and flexibility, potentially driving further development and innovation within the Polkadot ecosystem. Looking forward to seeing SubDA make a meaningful impact within the Polkadot ecosystem!

[David]

Thanks for sharing the application here. I noticed that the https://crust.network/evm doesn’t work for me. Could you update this?

[JesusCrust]

Thanks! Noted

[xcavate]

We have integrated the Crust IPFS data storage for the Xcavate protocol. The amazing team at Crust are always helpful and supportive.

We fully support this new initiative as it will certainly be utilised and bring added value the Polkadot ecosystem and wider interoperability with other chains.