What is Topia?

Topia is the first dStorage Layer2 solution.

What problem(s) is Topia going to solve?

(WHY DO WE NEED TOPIA?)

With the development of Web3 dApps such as DeFi/NFT/GameFi/SocialFi etc, data storage requirements are becoming more and more apparent. But the existing blockchains, including Ethereum, don’t meet the demands.

Many protocols are scaling the computing capability of Ethereum, like various Layer2's, namely, Optimism, Arbitrum, ZKsync, etc. But why do we ignore the data storage capacity of Ethereum? This is exactly what Topia, the first EVM-compatible dStorage Layer2 solution, aims to solve.

Topia will greatly improve the interoperability of smart contracts and distributed storage, expand Ethereum's data storage capabilities (x1,000) while significantly reducing data storage costs (1/10,000). Ultimately achieve fully on-chain applications and personal data sovereignty.

TECHNICAL SOLUTION (How Topia solve it?)

Topia aims to expand Ethereum's KV Storage Capabilities to Significantly Reduce KV Storage Costs.

Overall Architecture:

The technical solution consists of three parts:

• Storage Proof Contract This contract is used to receive and verify the storage proofs submitted by storage nodes.
• Interaction between Dapp smart contracts and decentralized storage systems Option A: Plugin Solution: Without modifying the Solidity language, CUD operations are performed by calling the interfaces provided by the storage management contract. Data retrieval (query) is achieved by providing original data and corresponding witnesses within transactions. Option B: Integrated Solution Extend the Solidity language and add new storage-related instructions to the virtual machine. Smart contracts can directly perform CRUD operations using built-in methods.
• Decentralized Storage System

Advantages of Topia over our competitors?

1. Topia is currently the first and only dStorage layer2 solution which can significantly increase the TPS and reduce Gas fees, while also greatly scaling Ethereum's Key-value data and static file storage capabilities and reducing the storage costs.

All current layer2 solutions, including Arbitrum and Optimism, aim to scale TPS and reduce gas costs, but have yet to resolve the issue of extremely high key-value storage costs, nor have they been able to scale key-value storage capacity as Topia.

2. Comparative Advantages over Filecoin, AR, and IPFS:

• Enhanced interoperability with smart contracts
• Secure storage backed by Ethereum Layer 1
• Higher storage and retrieval efficiency
• Advanced usage features (Key-value, account permission control)
• Direct payment using ETH
• Token incentive system (in comparison to IPFS)

3. Topia is EVM-compatible.

4. Topia supports programmability and CRUD.

5. The decentralized storage system of Topia can support data volumes up to the PB level.

6. Topia uses a storage proof of availability based on the Merkle tree.

7. So Topia can support: (1) Social media

• Decentralized media (Mirror), dTwitter, dPersonal blog, etc (2) Composable NFT
• NFT with on-chain programmability.
• Fully on-chain NFT and NFT exchange
• Store NFT traits and image in decentralized way (3) Personal Data Market
• Store your encrypted personal data in your own account and only allow use after permission. (4) Website hosting
• Every dApp frontend can be hosted in a decentralized way (5) Fully on-chain GameFi
• 95% code of GameFi is currently deployed on centralized cloud servers (6) Other Web3 and Metaverse applications

Roadmap and tasks

2022 Q4 - 2023 Q4: Mainnet (main objectives)

Tasks and Deliverables:

• Conducting research and designing technical solutions (October to December 2022)
• Developing OP contracts and Topia Storage contracts (March 2023)
• Developing decentralized storage and key-value databases (June 2023)
• Developing the EVM which will enable direct interaction with dStorage (September 2023)
• Launch the testnet in mid-2023 (July) and mainnet by the end of 2023 (December)
• Begin building the Topia ecosystem (June 2023)

2023 Q4 - 2024 Q4: ZK & Data Privacy (main objectives)

Tasks and Deliverables:

• Upgrading the Layer 2 solution by combining OP and ZK (March 2024)
• Developing privacy data management and transaction solutions (September 2024)
• Achieve on -chain governance and optimize the Topia network (December 2024)

2024 Q4+: Topia Decentralized Cloud Server (main objectives)

Tasks and Deliverables:

• Upgrading the EVM to Wasm,which will enable support for more complex smart contracts and additional smart contract languages (March 2025)
• Upgrading the Topia Layer 2 solution to better support the personal data market (June 2025)
• Exploring the development of a Topia decentralized cloud server based on blockchain technology (December 2025)

Team profile

(1) 90% of engineers graduated from top 50 universities in the world or top 20 universities in China, eg. Columbia Univ./NUS/USTC/WB. (2) 20 full-time team members, previously from Morgan Stanley, Bell Labs, GE, IBM, ByteDance, etc. (3) Core members are based in Silicon Valley, Singapore, Hongkong, Shanghai and Beijing. (4) Previously served tens of thousands of users in more than 80 countries or regions around the world.

Core members:

1. Mingyang

• Founder, CEO, and CTO of Channels and Larix.
• 2 successful DeFi projects managing $2.5 Billion.
• 4 years' smart contract development experience (Ethereum, Solana, BSC, and Heco).

2. LINGXIAO YANG

• Engineering trained Investment Banking & Management Consulting professional.
• Co-founder of Channels and Larix
• Serial Entrepreneur focusing on Crypto Asset Management.

3. Liam

• Structurer for ONTO chain (Ontology).
• 10 years at General Electric, Bell and Lenovo.
• 15 years of programming experience and 4 years of blockchain development experience.

4. Cobb

• COO of Channels and Larix
• 2 successful DeFi projects managing $2.5 Billion.
• 4 years' experience in crypto operations, good at growth hacking and community management.

5. Cong

• Front-end director of the projects Larix and Channels
• 2 successful DeFi projects managing $2.5 Billion.
• 5 years of programming experience and 2 years of blockchain development experience.

Plans for Funding

We want to accelerate the development of Topia to validate our ideas. If Topia can really bring great changes to the Ethereum ecosystem, it would be a very cool thing for everyone!

All funds received from this grant will be used to recruit engineers and pay for development costs. We will recruit at least another three contract engineers to develop our distributed storage system.

In addition, to ensure the sustainable development of Topia, our team members have raised $200,000 in funding.

Please describe the main areas on which you plan to spend the money?

70%: Expanding the dev team 30%: Marketing, Branding & Community Building

Appendex:

1. Topia has received a grant of ​​ETH Research Grant Round 2.

2. Topia has passed the review of a Small Grants application of the Ethereum Foundation Ecosystem Support Program.

3. Topia is an open-source community project. As an infrastructure platform, Topia will publish all research results and encourage community users to actively participate in the building and governance of Topia. At the same time, we will open up APIs and SDKs, encouraging developers to develop various applications based on Topia for different scenarios. Github has gone open source.

4. Deck