Exploring the Complexity and Scalability of Sui Infrastructure

Recently, we interviewed George Danezis, co-founder and chief scientist of Mysten Labs, who is also a professor in the field of security and privacy engineering at University College London, to discuss the complexity and scalability of the Sui infrastructure, as well as how Sui's transaction processing system facilitates a high-performance network.

Academic Background and Research Focus

Professor Danezis's research focuses mainly on the fields of security and privacy. He conducted extensive early research on peer-to-peer systems and anonymous systems, most of which are large distributed systems focused on storage. With the development of blockchain technology, especially the emergence of Ethereum, he developed a strong interest in distributed ledgers and blockchain, as well as how to execute smart contracts. His research group at UCL began exploring how to build higher-performance systems and founded Chainspace to commercialize some ideas.

The Relationship Between Application and Research

Danezis believes that there is not much difference between application and research. During the research process, all possibilities for achieving specific goals are considered, while in the actual construction of the system, the most relevant and valuable solutions need to be selected from them. This is not only out of intellectual curiosity but, more importantly, to create value for the users.

From Theory to Practical Application

Danezis's research primarily focuses on how to expand the different functionalities of blockchain, especially how to increase transaction throughput and reduce latency. This issue is particularly evident on platforms like Ethereum, where transaction congestion and skyrocketing fees occur whenever a contract becomes popular. This has prompted both academia and industry to continuously explore solutions.

Differences Between L2 Networks and New L1 Networks

L2 is an expansion solution in the Ethereum ecosystem, but it is relatively complex for developers to use. The asset transfer between the L2 network and L1 requires bridging, which is not user-friendly, especially when dealing with complex assets. In contrast, Sui, as a new type of L1 network, adopts a large database solution where all states are replicated by validating nodes, allowing users to avoid frequent asset transfers between different networks.

Key Innovations of Sui Lutris

Sui Lutris is the core of the Sui protocol, and it encompasses two key concepts:

1. Many blockchain operations do not require consensus.
2. When consensus is needed, a high throughput method can combine these two situations.

Sui Lutris provides two different paths: the fast path (which does not require consensus) and the consensus path. The fast path is suitable for operations involving the user's own objects, with very low latency; the consensus path, on the other hand, is used for operations involving shared objects, featuring higher latency but also greater capacity.

How Developers Can Utilize the Quick Path

Smart contract developers can control whether an object is exclusive or shared through design, thereby fully leveraging the fast path. By designing most operations to be performed on exclusive objects, very low latency can be achieved, providing a better user experience.

The Role of Programmable Trading Blocks

Programmable transaction blocks can operate on either the fast path or the consensus path. For operations that only involve exclusive objects, multiple operations can be executed in a single chain operation, greatly improving efficiency. If shared objects are involved, it will enter the consensus path, resulting in slightly higher delays.

Performance After the Launch of the Sui Mainnet

More than 100 days after the mainnet launch, Sui's performance has confirmed the design philosophy in certain aspects, especially excelling in handling high transaction volumes. However, some unexpected challenges have also arisen, such as object locking issues. A range of technologies is currently being developed to address these issues and further optimize system performance.

The Balance Between Privacy and Transparency

Balancing transparency, traceability, and privacy in public chains is a complex issue. Sui provides some native cryptographic support, such as the ability to verify zero-knowledge proofs, allowing application developers to design privacy protection measures according to their own needs.

The Future Development of Sui

In the next 6 to 12 months, Sui will make targeted improvements based on user-developed applications. In the long term, the Sui Lutris protocol will be improved to achieve lower latency, simpler protocols, and enhanced scalability and economic efficiency. At the same time, efforts will be made to enable validator nodes to run on more constrained hardware, improving resource utilization efficiency.