Introducing GOSH Ethereum Layer 2
Making Web3 Work
TL;DR
GOSH Ethereum Layer 2 (GOSH L2) is the fastest, most scalable, and first and only Freemium-model Ethereum L2 on the market
This is ensured because GOSH is an advanced scalable asynchronous multi-threaded TVM-based blockchain, tailored for a sharded development environment on top of Ethereum, providing high speeds and great scalability, and allows select partners to run smart contracts on-chain for Free
GOSH L2 is an operating system on top of Ethereum with an aim to become an interoperable operating system of all blockchains
Any DAO on GOSH can become Ethereum Layer 2 with a click of a button. DAO members can choose to have their token available on Ethereum, effectively making any project its own L2. And because GOSH L2 supports ERC-20 Tokenization, GOSH offers easy ecosystem integration for any project
GOSH decentralization and security is guaranteed by Ethereum. In final production, all contract state transitions on GOSH L2 are verified by Ethereum, withdrawing funds from either blockchain is easy, and to break the system would require both Ethereum and GOSH to be corrupted or stopped simultaneously
GOSH L2 is launching with 12 Partners: The Government Blockchain Association (GBA), Ethernity Cloud, DeVote, GEX, DeSci World, Q, deScier, WOW DAO, Pruvendo, Hero2Quest, Triscale, Viete
GOSH L2 includes free transfers between wallets, so users can transfer ETH for free inside GOSH, with USDT functionality coming soon after
GOSH is a production ready on-chain Git DAO platform that can be accessed via app.gosh.sh while GOSH L2 is a fully trustless solution, accessible with limited functionality as a Beta right within the GOSH user interface
Part I: Why We Don’t Need New Layer 1 Blockchains
Just typing the words “why Ethereum…” into a Google search yields suggestions reflecting two very common, and diametrically opposed, views about the future of the world’s foremost blockchain network not named BTC. Namely: “Why Ethereum will fail,” and “Why Ethereum will succeed.” This discourse is no doubt vital, if a bit of a nuisance, and like most things in Web3, we can’t possibly make a definitive statement about what will happen in two decades one way or another. What we can rely on are facts, of which the most striking is that since Ethereum, not a single new Layer 1 blockchain has succeeded in achieving its own stated aims. We don’t say this to criticize and point fingers, most things are beyond our control. No, we say this to truly ask: What is the motivation to build a new Layer 1 blockchain?
Ethereum is a winning proposition. The majority of blockchain developers build projects for Ethereum, and speak to any of them to ask why and they’ll point you to users, liquidity, decentralization — in other words, they’ll point you to the fact that Ethereum works.
At this point I hear you, dear reader, rising from the chair and wailing: “It’s slow!” “It’s expensive!” And various expletives of ever increasing hurtfulness. And yes, you are correct: That’s precisely why we built GOSH L2, to take what already works on Ethereum, and fix what doesn’t. Many of the new L1s (like Solana, Aptos, Everscale, NEAR, etc.) have great, but really great, tech. They are lightning fast, scalable, cheap… But they have not achieved mass adoption. As a result, because the architecture of most L1s requires a stake be put down, these smaller chains are always (yes always) effectively centralized. GOSH was, until recently, no exception. An obvious issue solved by GOSH’s new Ethereum Layer 2 functionality.
The reason, at its core, for why a blockchain needs to be decentralized is to ensure a group of colluders does not jointly agree to corrupt the state of the blockchain. This is the central guarantee any blockchain must provide. Having a decentralized network is the most effective, and workable, solution to this conundrum. With the launch of its Layer 2, GOSH’s decentralization is secured by Ethereum; providing, for the first time, a full guarantee of the incorruptibility of the GOSH blockchain. This is ensured by the ability of Layer 2 to prove any state on the blockchain. If there is a threat that someone corrupts the network, users can securely retreat from Layer 2 back to Ethereum. If a proof is written to verify the state of Layer 2 and any subsequent stage gets compromised, users can revert to the preceding, uncompromised state. Should a Collator maliciously create a compromised block, the system will revert to the state of the previous block. This is because a verified and intact Layer 2 state exists on Layer 1. Hence, if any transition in Layer 2 gets corrupted, the previous clean state can be used as an exit point. This also emphasizes censorship-resistance: because users can exit if any form of censorship emerges, there is zero incentive for a Layer 2 to censor transactions. All block producers always possess the potential to censor on any blockchain, but because exit actions are uncensorable by design, it serves as a guarantee of censorship-resistance. In Bitcoin or Ethereum it is always possible any block producer could refuse to include a transaction in a block. If a user can’t find a single block producer who would include their transaction, it is effectively censored — and effective transaction censorship happens every day in BTC and ETH. That does not mean they are not censorship-resistant however. Censorship-resistance is not an absolute possibility to post anything at all, after all the dissemination of information is never purely individual and always, by necessity, includes other people. So when we say censorship-resistance what we mean is that the power of censorship is not concentrated in one single party.
Returning to GOSH’s decentralization being secured by Ethereum: In the final stages of Layer 2 production, all contract state transitions on GOSH L2 are verified by Ethereum, withdrawing funds from either blockchain is easy, and to break the system would require both Ethereum and GOSH to be corrupted or stopped simultaneously
And so the aim of GOSH L2 is to take the unadopted, and revolutionary, advances in blockchain innovation and bring them to where they can benefit users en masse. And in so doing to ensure the decentralization of GOSH.
Part II: The Vision Behind GOSH L2
Instead of fragmenting the community of people who care about decentralization by building a new Layer 1, the principle behind GOSH here is to unite all blockchain networks into a single interoperable operating system. Whether or not Ethereum or Bitcoin or anyone at all emerges as a leader in the blockchain space, GOSH will execute this principle either way. The proof protocols that run GOSH L2 can be adapted to any blockchain. For some networks this will require more adaptation than to others, but for all: It can be done. And Ethereum is, today, the most practical solution to ensuring the decentralization which is at the core of this project to build a single operating system for all of Web3.
The natural next question is why not use, for example, Cosmos, which built a layer of interoperability across all blockchains? The answer is: it’s not just about interoperability. Meaning, it’s not about one blockchain communicating with another… it’s having one blockchain guarantee another. And Cosmos does not provide what we call outsourced decentralization. Interoperability is not a guarantee.
Part III: Free For All, All For Free
The cornerstone of GOSH’s mission to build an interoperable operating system for all blockchains is not only about closer cross-network integration; it rests on the free use of the blockchain that is afforded possible by GOSH Ethereum Layer 2. A free blockchain allows anyone (developers, scientists, government officials, environmental activists, gamers, financiers, etc.) to leverage the technology of a decentralized, distributed ledger — it’s security, immutability, transparency — while using it exactly as they would Android, or Linux. We believe that the only way for Web3 applications to compete with Web2 is not, as has previously been suggested, the easy management of seed phrases or other such appeals to efficiency. While it is important to make products that are easy for users to navigate, what is most important is to make it free.
Let us look to the past to illustrate our example: The voiceover IP revolution would not have happened if it was just cheaper calls. By the 1990s (especially with calling cards having become commonplace) calling was already very cheap. After the breakup of AT&T in 1984, the price of long-distance and international calls tremendously decreased. It was sometimes as low as 1¢ per minute. And none of this had any real bearing on what the world of telephone communication would become once Skype burst onto the scene with free calls and clear voice quality. That was a revolution. Telecommunications companies tried to compete by moving their minutes to voiceover IP, promising better quality, decreasing prices ever more, but still, still 1¢ per minute could not compete with free. The same thing is happening with blockchains now. We have per transaction costs, except on GOSH… This is GOSH’s raison d’etre.
But how, I hear you ask, will you protect against spam? There are many free product providers (think GitHub, YouTube, or your own darling mother), with an option to pay for premium services. And that is what GOSH replicates with what we call the Free Zone, where any decentralized application can be built, distributed, and used for free. Only apps in the Zone can benefit from free smart contract usage — if you want to build your app for free, you must submit it to the Free Zone, which is governed by the GOSH DAO. The DAO votes for acceptance into the Zone, in line with the requirements set out to make sure people don’t spam or extract gas to wallets. The DAO will check contract code, and decide whether or not to host a contract. It’s as simple as that.
Part IV: O, What A Freemium Blockchain Can Do
Let’s agree on a premise: The only truly successful use case for blockchain technology today — built at scale, playing a major role in the discourse around and adoption of blockchain, having generated trillions of dollars in growth — is financial trading (And yes, NFTs are purely about trading). One of the reasons behind this is because today the only real avenue decentralized projects have of generating revenue is through tokenization. GOSH offering free app development and a platform on which to distribute them, is in fact GOSH offering decentralized businesses new avenues of revenue generation that go beyond trading and tokens.
Returning for a moment to Ethereum being a pricey platform to use, we claim that the only transactions people are willing to pay for are financial transactions. So that could mean transferring someone else money, for which they are prepared to pay an, at times significant, fee. But ask people to pay ongoing fees to use an app, and the scope of apps on the market concentrates around finance. Take away the fees and new possibilities appear, offering users of blockchains the chance to really use them.
With GOSH’s Free Zone our aim is very simple: Any decentralized application can be built, distributed, and used for free. GOSH L2 launches with 12 partners (The Government Blockchain Association (GBA), Ethernity Cloud, DeVote, GEX, DeSci World, Q, deScier, WOW DAO, Pruvendo, Hero2Quest, Triscale, Viete), each of which represents a new unique application on, and for, GOSH; planting the early seeds of what will, we hope, be a slew of new revolutionary use cases never before seen in Web3.
One of the important steps GOSH has taken to ensure that such uses of GOSH L2 remain, in every way, decentralized, was to offer functionality for any DAO on GOSH to become Ethereum Layer 2 with a click of a button. With GOSH L2, the members of any DAO can choose to have their token available in Ethereum, effectively making any project its own L2. And because GOSH L2 supports ERC-20 Tokenization, any project’s integration across ecosystems is, well, easy.
GOSH L2 includes free transfers between wallets, so users can transfer ETH for free inside GOSH, with USDT functionality coming soon after.
Part V: Some Quotes From Our Partners
“From the beginning, GOSH has played an integral part in driving discourse on blockchain adoption in the private and public sectors through the AI and Secure Software Supply Chain GBA Working Groups. GOSH becoming a Layer 2 on top of Ethereum now offers exciting opportunities to drive blockchain adoption in a way that ensures decentralization, security, and efficiency.”
— GBA Executive Director Gerard Daché.
“Adding an Ethereum Layer 2 functionality on top of a decentralized git on-chain was a major driver in uniting DeSciWorld with GOSH. The potential offered by cross-network integration to the advancement of decentralized science is immense, and we look forward to seeing the many use cases that come from it.”
— DeSciWorld Founder Joshua Bate.
“We are thrilled to offer GOSH support through this new stage of development and provide all their users with the infrastructure to run development tasks privately and with the highest level of security. GOSH Ethereum Layer 2 is, without a doubt, going to open the door for more developers to benefit from their unique software development environment.”
— Ethernity Cloud Founder and CEO Iosif Peterfi.
GOSH is a production ready on-chain Git DAO platform that can be accessed via app.gosh.sh while GOSH L2 is a fully trustless solution, accessible with limited functionality as a Beta right within the GOSH user interface.
We will be posting more about GOSH L2 and our launch partners. Don’t miss out and: