What is this about?

This discussion revolves around the economics of rollups, a layer 2 solution for Ethereum, and how they might react to a proposal. The conversation was initiated by Kakia's paper, which models the cost of a rollup as a sum of blob posting costs and delay costs. The paper suggests that small rollups may opt for posting in a regular blockspace market, while large rollups will post in the new data market. It also discusses the joint blob posting strategy for two rollups and its effect on the equilibrium price¹.

How is the community reacting?

The community has shown mixed reactions to the paper. Sam.ng raised concerns about the initial state of the blobs, suggesting they might be mostly empty due to rollups not having a significant user base to fully utilize them at the outset. He also questioned whether dapps will have the option to dictate if the transactions of their users will be incorporated into a blob in every single block².

However, Edfelten disagreed with Sam.ng's idea of initially empty blobs. He argued that if the blob price is very low, every rollup will want to buy a blob in every block, driving up the price until enough rollups slow down their posting. He also mentioned that the batch posting mechanism needs to post transactions in the order that they execute on-chain, making it complex to post more delay-sensitive transactions faster than other transactions³.

Why this is positive?

The discussion is positive as it brings to light the potential economic implications of rollups and how they might react to a proposal. It also highlights the importance of understanding the cost dynamics of rollups and how different rollups might react differently to market conditions. The discussion also encourages the community to think about the initial state of blobs and the role of dapps in dictating transaction incorporation^1,2.

Why this is negative?

The negative aspect of the discussion lies in the complexity of the batch posting mechanism and the potential for initially empty blobs. The batch posting mechanism's need to post transactions in the order they execute on-chain could complicate the posting of more delay-sensitive transactions faster than other transactions. Additionally, the possibility of initially empty blobs due to a lack of a significant user base for rollups could lead to inefficiencies³.