Double Zero: Building a New Internet for Blockchain

In a groundbreaking episode of the Midcurve podcast, host Justin sits down with Austin Federa, formerly of the Solana Foundation and now co-founder of Double Zero, to discuss how this innovative company is revolutionizing blockchain infrastructure. Double Zero is on a mission to create a "new internet" specifically designed for high-performance blockchain networks, with the potential to make Solana up to 10 times faster in the next two years.

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Austin Federa's Journey in Crypto

Austin Federa's crypto journey began in late 2017 when he was working for a FinTech company attempting to pivot into the blockchain space. This experience opened his eyes to the potential of smart contracts and on-chain programs. Unlike many early crypto enthusiasts, Federa wasn't drawn to the "bunker Bitcoin" mentality. Instead, he saw the technology's broader potential beyond just surviving catastrophic scenarios.

After his initial foray, Federa worked with Republic, launching Republic Crypto, before moving on to Bison Trails. His time at Bison Trails, which was later acquired by Coinbase, provided him with valuable experience in blockchain infrastructure. However, the prospect of working for a large, pre-IPO company like Coinbase didn't align with his desire to continue learning and innovating in the rapidly evolving crypto space.

The Solana Connection

Federa's introduction to Solana came through a connection with Ben Sparango, who encouraged him to speak with Raj and Anatoly from the Solana team. Despite initial skepticism due to limited interactions with Solana during his time at Bison Trails, Federa was quickly won over by Solana's unique approach to blockchain scalability.

What particularly impressed Federa was Solana's commitment to maintaining a single global state, in contrast to the sharding approaches popular at the time. He recognized that Solana's strategy was a bold "zag" in an industry full of "zigs," and saw an opportunity to learn from and contribute to this innovative project.

The Solana Foundation Experience

Joining the Solana Foundation proved to be an invaluable experience for Federa. He approached the role with the mindset of making the foundation a truly impactful entity, rather than just a bureaucratic checkbox. This approach set the Solana Foundation apart from many other blockchain foundations of the time.

Federa's time at the foundation taught him crucial lessons about aligning incentives between different teams, setting up reward structures, and implementing checks and balances. He emphasizes the importance of these systems in maintaining the integrity and culture of a decentralized network, especially as it scales and brings in more contributors.

The Birth of Double Zero

Double Zero emerged from Federa's experiences working on the Firedancer project, a high-performance validator client for Solana. Discussions with engineers revealed that while they had built a client capable of processing millions of transactions per second, running such a system on the public internet with thousands of nodes presented significant challenges.

This realization led Federa to explore alternative networking technologies used in high-frequency trading and other performance-critical industries. However, the challenge was to implement these technologies in a way that maintained the decentralized and trustless nature of blockchain networks.

What is Double Zero?

Double Zero is a rethink of communication layers between high-performance distributed systems. In simpler terms, it's a new internet designed specifically for blockchain and other high-performance computing needs. The project aims to replace the public internet connections currently used by blockchain validators with high-bandwidth, low-latency private fiber networks.

Federa explains, "We know better ways to move data around the world than using the public internet. We've known it for 20 years or more. Every single large company utilizes private networking and private fiber."

The Problem with Public Internet for Blockchain

The current reliance on public internet infrastructure presents several challenges for blockchain networks, particularly high-performance ones like Solana. These issues include:

1. High latency and jitter between geographically distant nodes
2. Limited bandwidth, especially for intercontinental connections
3. Vulnerability to network congestion and DDoS attacks
4. Inability to prioritize different types of network traffic

Federa illustrates this with an example: "If you run a Solana validator today, you know that it's pretty rough to get from Amsterdam to Tokyo. There's a lot of packet loss. There's a lot of jitter. There's a lot of latency."

How Double Zero Works

Double Zero leverages existing private fiber infrastructure, much of which is currently underutilized. The company doesn't lay new fiber but instead takes leases on existing fiber or unused bandwidth. This approach allows Double Zero to create a high-performance network without the massive capital expenditure typically associated with fiber infrastructure projects.

The network is designed to be run by multiple independent contributors, maintaining the decentralized ethos of blockchain while providing the performance benefits of private fiber networks. Federa emphasizes, "No one's laying new fiber for Double Zero. What they're doing is they're taking leases on existing fiber or what they've done is they've taken a lease for say, 200 gigabits per second of data from one place to another place."

The Technology Behind Double Zero

At the heart of Double Zero's technology are several key innovations:

1. Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs): These devices are placed inline with networking equipment to perform tasks like duplicate transaction filtration and signature verification at line speed.

2. Multicast: This technology allows for efficient data replication, significantly reducing bandwidth requirements for validators.

3. Quality of Service (QoS): The network can prioritize different types of data, ensuring critical information like votes and state propagation always gets through.

4. Deterministic Latency: Unlike the public internet, Double Zero's network provides consistent, predictable latency between nodes.

Federa explains the power of these technologies: "One FPGA can support numerous downstream validators. So we'll just drop those transactions. So this is a protection layer for the validators."

Benefits for Solana and Other Blockchains

The implementation of Double Zero's technology could have transformative effects on Solana and other high-performance blockchains:

1. Increased Speed: Federa claims Double Zero could make Solana 10 times faster in the next two years.

2. Larger Blocks: With improved network performance, block sizes could be increased significantly, allowing for more transactions per block.

3. Improved Validator Economics: Faster and more efficient networks could lead to more profitable validator operations.

4. Enhanced Security: The network's ability to filter malicious traffic and prioritize critical data improves overall network resilience.

5. Global Scalability: Double Zero's technology could enable truly global validator distribution without sacrificing performance.

Federa envisions a future where "we can start 2xing and then 4xing and then 10xing the block size and, you know, the devs at Ansa and Foundation and Labs can start raising protocol limits."

Beyond Blockchain: Potential Applications

While Double Zero is initially focused on improving blockchain infrastructure, the technology has potential applications far beyond this space. Federa suggests several possibilities:

1. ZK Proving Networks: High-bandwidth, low-latency networks could accelerate zero-knowledge proof generation and verification.

2. High-Availability Storage Networks: Content creators could benefit from decentralized, high-performance storage solutions.

3. Multiplayer Game Engines: Game developers could leverage Double Zero's network for improved online gaming experiences.

4. Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): High-performance, decentralized CDNs could challenge traditional centralized services.

Challenges and Misconceptions

Despite its promising technology, Double Zero faces several challenges:

1. Recruitment: Finding engineers with both high-performance networking expertise and interest in crypto has been difficult.

2. Technical Complexity: Building a decentralized, high-performance network without a single point of control presents unique engineering challenges.

3. Misconceptions: Many in the crypto space initially misunderstood Double Zero as another L2 solution or a new blockchain, rather than a fundamental infrastructure layer.

Federa addresses these misconceptions: "This is an OSI layer 1, 2, and 3 network. This is way below the stack and where traditional blockchain comes in."

The Future of Blockchain Infrastructure

Federa believes that projects like Double Zero are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in blockchain technology. He argues that the current ambitions in the space are too small, with even the fastest networks struggling to achieve truly transformative transaction speeds.

By removing networking constraints, Double Zero aims to unleash the full potential of blockchain technology. Federa envisions a future where blockchain networks can compete with centralized systems in terms of speed and efficiency, while maintaining the benefits of decentralization.

He states, "If we're successful in this, we basically remove the entire networking layer as a constraint from software engineers. And the sort of magical thinking that never ends most software engineering today of networks are perfect bandwidth is infinite, actually is real when these folks are talking about it."

Milestones and Future Plans

Double Zero has several exciting milestones on the horizon:

1. Mainnet Launch: The team is aiming to launch their mainnet by the end of the year.

2. First 100 Gigabit Link: Expected to go live later this spring, this will be a significant technical achievement for the network.

3. Multicast Implementation: This technology is expected to have a "step function change" effect on networks like Solana.

Implications for the Crypto Ecosystem

The success of Double Zero could have far-reaching implications for the entire crypto ecosystem. By enabling faster, more efficient blockchain networks, it could open up new use cases and applications that were previously impractical due to performance limitations.

Federa provides an example: "If you are doing, let's take something very boring, foreign currency trading, FX trading, right? Like, that is a low margin high volume business that is very sensitive to pricing and time. And it's very hard to build that on a blockchain today because you don't have certainty about how long things take to execute."

Conclusion: A New Era for Blockchain Technology

Double Zero represents a significant leap forward in blockchain infrastructure. By addressing the fundamental networking challenges that have long plagued high-performance blockchains, the project has the potential to unlock new levels of scalability, efficiency, and real-world applicability for crypto technologies.

As Federa and his team work towards their ambitious goals, the crypto community watches with keen interest. If successful, Double Zero could usher in a new era of blockchain technology, one where the lines between decentralized and centralized systems blur, and where the true potential of crypto can finally be realized.

The journey of Double Zero is just beginning, but its impact on the future of blockchain and beyond could be truly transformative. As Federa puts it, "I think there's really good incentive alignment around like, you know, making this stuff work and making it better for everyone."

Facts + Figures

• Double Zero aims to make Solana 10 times faster in the next two years by implementing private fiber networks.
• The project doesn't lay new fiber but leases existing infrastructure, often taking advantage of underutilized capacity.
• FPGAs used by Double Zero can support multiple downstream validators and perform tasks like transaction filtering at line speed.
• The biggest DDoS attack seen on Solana was about 80 gigabits per second. Double Zero's FPGAs can handle 100 gigabits or more of deduplication and signature verification at line rate.
• Double Zero is aiming for a mainnet launch by the end of the year.
• The first 100 gigabit network link on the Double Zero network is expected to go live later this spring.
• Some validators are already exceeding Solana's 50 million CU (Compute Unit) limit. Double Zero could potentially enable limits of 250 million CUs or more.
• The minimum time to synchronize state globally with a distributed validator set is about 200 milliseconds, due to the speed of light limitations.
• Solana's market cap was around $300 million when Federa joined the team, significantly lower than its peak in later years.
• Austin Federa's crypto journey began in late 2017, working on a "borrow lens token" project on Ethereum.
• Double Zero is being built by a team that includes veterans from high-frequency trading and global telecommunications industries.
• The project is designed to support multiple independent network contributors, maintaining decentralization while improving performance.
• Double Zero's technology could enable new blockchain networks to operate with as few as 16 nodes distributed across different countries and continents while maintaining high performance.

Questions Answered

What is Double Zero?

Double Zero is a new internet infrastructure designed specifically for blockchain and other high-performance computing needs. It aims to replace public internet connections currently used by blockchain validators with high-bandwidth, low-latency private fiber networks. This system leverages existing private fiber infrastructure to create a more efficient and deterministic network for blockchain operations.

How does Double Zero improve blockchain performance?

Double Zero improves blockchain performance by providing a more reliable, faster, and more deterministic network infrastructure. It uses technologies like FPGAs for inline packet processing, multicast for efficient data distribution, and quality of service controls to prioritize critical network traffic. This allows for larger block sizes, faster transaction processing, and more efficient validator operations, potentially making networks like Solana up to 10 times faster.

Who is behind Double Zero?

Double Zero was co-founded by Austin Federa, formerly of the Solana Foundation, along with other team members with backgrounds in high-frequency trading and global telecommunications. The project brings together expertise in blockchain technology, high-performance networking, and distributed systems to create a novel solution for blockchain infrastructure challenges.

How does Double Zero maintain decentralization?

Double Zero maintains decentralization by allowing multiple independent contributors to operate parts of the network. Unlike traditional private networks that are centrally controlled, Double Zero's infrastructure is designed to be run by various entities, much like how blockchain validators operate today. This approach preserves the decentralized ethos of blockchain while providing the performance benefits of private fiber networks.

What are the potential applications of Double Zero beyond blockchain?

While initially focused on blockchain, Double Zero's technology has potential applications in various high-performance computing areas. These include ZK proving networks for accelerated zero-knowledge proof operations, high-availability storage networks for content creators, multiplayer game engines for improved online gaming experiences, and decentralized content delivery networks (CDNs) that could challenge traditional centralized services.

How does Double Zero address DDoS and other security concerns?

Double Zero incorporates several security features to address DDoS and other attacks. The network uses FPGAs to perform inline packet filtering, removing duplicate transactions and malformed data before they reach validators. The system can also prioritize critical network traffic like votes and state propagation, ensuring the network remains functional even under stress. Additionally, the private nature of the network provides an inherent layer of protection against many types of attacks that plague public internet infrastructure.

What are the main challenges faced by Double Zero?

The main challenges faced by Double Zero include recruiting engineers with both high-performance networking expertise and interest in crypto, overcoming the technical complexity of building a decentralized high-performance network, and addressing misconceptions about the nature of the project within the crypto community. The team also faces the challenge of coordinating with multiple independent network contributors while maintaining the network's performance and security.

How might Double Zero impact the future of blockchain technology?

Double Zero has the potential to significantly impact the future of blockchain technology by removing networking constraints as a limiting factor in blockchain performance. This could enable the development of new types of blockchain applications, particularly those requiring high throughput and low latency. It may also allow blockchain networks to better compete with centralized systems in terms of speed and efficiency, potentially accelerating the adoption of blockchain technology in various industries.