Avail collaborates with SarkWare to reduce costs for ‘Layer 3’ Madara appchains.

According to the December 20 announcement, Avail is now an option for data delivery on StarNet-based networks. The new feature allows these so-called “Layer 3” networks to reduce data publishing costs by up to 90% compared to using Ethereum for data availability and without relying on a permissioned solution, according to the announcement.

Madara Networks publishes zero-knowledge proofs of authenticity to Starknet, which itself is Ethereum 2's layer. For this reason, they are often referred to as “layer 3s”. These networks use a decentralized shared network by default. The blockchain's decentralized nature should help ensure that transactions cannot be censored, the team said. Madara chains are customized for specific applications. Mangata Finance, Kakachain, Tobi and Alakazam are a few examples of these custom networks.

Avail is a network designed to host data delivery for the Ethereum ecosystem. If Ethereum Layer-2 uses Avail for data availability, it will publish authentications to Ethereum but leave the compressed transaction data on Avail. This reduces the cost of transactions but requires Avail to be operational at all times to facilitate deposits and withdrawals. The network that stores transaction data in this way is called “validum”, which is often contrasted with the full “package”, but it publishes all data to Ethereum.

Before the feature is implemented, Madara Networks can choose to use the Data Access Committee (DAC) instead of Ethereum for data availability. This also reduces transaction costs. DAC has trusted organizations on its whitelist to provide this service.

Related: Why ZK-rollups need data availability – Avail Co-Founder

According to the announcement, the new partnership will allow Madara Networks to choose Avail instead of DAC to store their compressed data. This may be preferable for networks that want to use a decentralized alternative to this service. “Instead of relying on a group of trusted parties, developers can send transaction data to Avail's decentralized blockchain, which is working to support 1,000 external validators,” he said.

DACs were invented in the early days of zero-knowledge proof technology. But some experts believe that the industry should avoid using them for a long time. For example, Offchain Labs engineer Daniel Goldman says DACs are “difficult” and “fruitless” because they could allow a malicious committee to “freeze money on the chain indefinitely.”

Avail was created by Polygon Labs in 2021, but was later spun off as a separate project. In July, the Testnet bridge was released to Ethereum. Avail is just one example of a blockchain network that focuses on data availability. Celestia, a network that recently integrated with the Polygon CDK, is another example.