Why Another Layer 1?
There have been vast changes to the design of blockchains, specifically Layer 1s and the architecture surrounding them. What began with Bitcoin's single-chain model has expanded into a dense landscape of interconnected networks—featuring complex consensus mechanisms, multi-layer structures, and varied optimization techniques. The research and development driving these changes are grounded by an underlying goal of the community: 'improve blockchain performance to become equal to, or better than, traditional centralized systems'.
Whilst real progress has been made, particularly in the realms of throughput and programmability, many of the underlying challenges remain unresolved:
- Fragmentation between ecosystems.
- Siloed liquidity.
- Security trade-offs or compromises.
- Protocol incompatibilities.
So, why create Amaroo as a standalone L1?
Because the architecture required to natively unify diverse chains, embed a protocol native DEX, and scale collaboratively could not be bolted onto existing networks. It had to be (and was) re-imagined from the ground up.
In essence, Amaroo isn't just another chain. It's the groundwork for secure, scalable, and truly cross-chain collaboration engineered to solve problems that others can't.
The DEX we want; the infrastructure we required
Facilitating secure exchanges between ecosystems is an area of increasing interest, especially with the number of chains on the market today, paired with the growing acceptance of digital assets in the retail world.
Amaroo's DEX gives users the ability to securely do just this. The users have the ability to exchange from the safety of their own wallet, on their chain of choice; interacting across ecosystems and really using the potential of the larger 'web3 ecosystem'.
It's not just the DEX we wanted; it's the DEX the ecosystem needs for true, decentralized, cross-chain settlement.
But to achieve this securely, chains must be able to communicate trustlessly with infrastructure or data pipelines in-place.
This leads to three approaches:
- Find an intermediary solution to facilitate communication between the two chains.
- Develop a messaging protocol so that messages can be passed between chains and processed in a way that is useful.
- Find a way for chains to be brought into context of each other, so that exchanges can be facilitated natively.
By embedding cross-chain awareness directly into its consensus via Proof of Reflection, Amaroo enables fully on-chain, non-custodial interactions without the involvement of intermediaries.
Proof of Reflection
Proof of Reflection sits at the core of Amaroo bringing a new perspective to chain interactions. It allows any chain to acknowledge and embed the state of another chain into their blocks, enabling true cross-chain awareness without intermediaries.
For example, if Chain L tracks, or 'images', another Chain R by embedding R's block headers into its own blocks, then Chain L can recognize and verify the context of Chain R in its own execution; performing actions such as acknowledge and verify the existence of a transaction executed within an R's block. This creates a verifiable link between separate chains.
For the DEX, this is the perfect recipe; allowing chains to natively interact across other chains.
By enshrining this directly into protocol, the Amaroo network now has the ability to image foreign chains, bringing the blocks of external chains into context without imposing design or protocol changes externally.
While the idea of tracking one chain from another has been done before, a deeper look can be achieved when this happens mutually. If Chain R simultaneously images Chain L, both chains can now see and confirm each other's histories. This mutual imaging unlocks not just interoperability, but cooperative AND performant security.
But that's not all - at this point, Chain L can also see its own blocks being imaged on Chain R, it can see a reflection of its own history being confirmed on another chain.
To read more about this, visit the whitepaper or see our lightpaper, or visit the visualization on the landing page.
Ultra Terminum
Amaroo's network builds upon this: what if we used these reflections directly in the consensus, built into the protocol? If we can see our own history being confirmed in other chains, can we use this to make our chain more secure by using the efforts of the other chains as our own? With careful conversions, Amaroo's consensus makes it such that all the chains within the network secure one-other; forming a cohesive, collaborative network of chains.
Instead of isolated chains running independent consensus mechanisms, Amaroo's network acts as a unified, mutually reinforcing system. This not only brings cooperative security to the network, it paves the way to scale while bringing network-wide security and maintaining decentralization.
A unified design
With this foundation, Amaroo achieves something unprecedented: the Layer 1 consensus and orderbook DEX are not separate systems - they are one and the same.
Transactions from external chains (e.g., BTC) can be acknowledged and validated, and market execution occurs as part of block production, without external validators, oracles, or bridges.