Reducing Costs through Trust Assumptions

At the core of the Arbitrum protocol lies the necessity for all Arbitrum nodes, including validators who verify the chain's correctness and stake on accurate results, to have access to the data of every Layer 2 (L2) transaction within the Arbitrum chain's inbox. Traditionally, an Arbitrum rollup ensures data access by posting data on Layer 1 (L1) Ethereum as calldata, a process incurring substantial Ethereum gas fees, which is the primary cost component in Arbitrum.

AnyTrust, however, introduces a paradigm shift by entrusting an external entity known as the Data Availability Committee (the "Committee") with the storage and on-demand provision of data. The Committee consists of N members, with a trust assumption that at least two members are honest. This trust assumption guarantees data availability for the proper functioning of the rollup protocol, as even if N-1 Committee members promise to provide access to certain data, at least one of the promising entities must be honest, ensuring data availability up to the specified expiration time.