Rufus Chain

The following proposal has been reviewed by the Dogelon DAO and will be posted on the Arbitrum DAO if a YES vote is reached. Please read over the final draft again and vote YES to move forward with posting this on the Arbitrum DAO forum or NO to further modify/comment on the proposal to improve it.

If approved, the following text will be posted as-is on the Arbitrum DAO forum, found here: https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/

Abstract

This proposal outlines the intention of the Dogelon Mars community to establish Rufus Chain, a dedicated Layer 2 (L2) chain powered by the advanced technology of Arbitrum Nitro. This is an integral part of our commitment to helping humanity reach the stars. We boast one of the deepest locked liquidity pools in the Ethereum network, a testament to our strong community and trading activities. Our collaboration with Arbitrum DAO serves as a win-win proposition offering financial, promotional, and operational benefits. With your approval, we plan to roll out Rufus Chain, operated by the Dogelon DAO, which is dedicated to enhancing the accessibility of our ecosystem while setting the stage for future L2 projects.

Motivation

Dogelon Mars is a cryptocurrency established in April 2021 with the purpose of helping humanity reach the stars. Our mission has always been more than mere words, as demonstrated by our sponsorship of International Space Station missions in low Earth orbit. We understand the power of memes as a focal point for attention and a catalyst for action.

The Dogelon ERC20 token has one of the deepest locked liquidity pools on the entire Ethereum network, $10,500,000 liquidity in Uniswap V2 (of which 99.7% of it is LOCKED forever in the 0x0000dead / burn / black hole address) as well as over $600,000 in liquidity in Uniswap V3. Volumes on these pairs are higher than on centralized exchanges; despite Dogelon’s listing status on many centralized exchanges, the community trades ELON mostly using DeFi protocols on Ethereum.

We aspire to expand our reach and our mission by establishing a dedicated L2 chain – Rufus – that will serve as a hub for innovative applications supporting our space-faring goals. To achieve this, we would like to partner with the leading L2 project on Ethereum: Arbitrum.

The Arbitrum community will benefit from accepting this proposal in three ways:

• Monetary: We commit to contributing 10% of the fees collected by Rufus Chain to Arbitrum DAO, thereby supporting its ongoing development and operations.
• Awareness: Our expansive Dogelon Mars community (including 50,000 Telegram members, 500,000 Twitter followers, and 7,000,000 Instagram followers) will bring significant attention and potential growth to the Arbitrum network.
• Pioneering L2 Development: As the inaugural L2 proposal for the Arbitrum DAO, our community is prepared to do the work and pave the way for future projects seeking to make use of Arbitrum’s L2 codebase.

Here we request permission to build Rufus, which will be powered by Arbitrum Nitro, and governed by the Dogelon DAO (dogelondao.org). This venture will combine the differentiated strengths of our respective projects to bring wider adoption to crypto by leveraging the unique advantages of Arbitrum-powered chains.

Rationale

This AIP is strictly aligned with the Arbitrum DAO community values.

• As a decentralized project, Dogelon Mars is deeply aligned with the Ethereum community, and as such, the new chain will be governed by the Dogelon DAO (dogelondao.org).
• This AIP is a sustainable effort as is the Arbitrum One L2. We have a strong community backing our project, and there are several potential use cases for Rufus Chain already being proposed from the Dogelon Mars community. These include gaming, DeFi, payments, longevity research, and other activities that are otherwise priced out by the gas market on L1 Ethereum.
• We seek the same level of security provided by Arbitrum L2 by settling on the Ethereum mainnet.
• This proposal does not include any changes to the Arbitrum protocol running on Arbitrum One or Nova.
• The Dogelon Mars community welcomes all users regardless of their experience level. We have taken a user-friendly approach in our existing ecosystem and this will remain a priority when building a layer 2 chain.

The alternative is to build an L3 that settles on Arbitrum’s L2. This does not align with one of our central values specified in our mission: to be technically inclusive and user-focused. There is an additional barrier to entry because users are required to go through an extra educational and operational step (bridging their assets), which adds more complexity to an already confusing process.

Another alternative is to bring the Dogelon Mars activity directly to the Arbitrum One or Nova chains. However, we do not favor this option, because it could creatie conflict with other projects on-chain in case of fee surges or congestion. In addition, we would prefer to use the $RUFUS token to govern the future of our chain, and to be able to make our own decisions exclusively relevant to Rufus, which may or may not necessarily align with the best interests of Arbitrum One or Nova.

Thus, launching the Rufus Chain with the Arbitrum Nitro codebase provided by the Arbitrum DAO is the most desirable and incentive-aligned path forward.

Key terms

Dogelon Mars: A cryptocurrency, established in April 2021, dedicated to aiding humanity in reaching the stars.

Rufus Chain: An L2 chain specifically dedicated to Dogelon Mars, utilizing the Arbitrum Nitro protocol.

Dogelon DAO: The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that governs the Dogelon Mars community.

Specifications

Blockchain Node

Rufus Chain will use the latest stable version of Arbitrum Nitro, the same software used to operate the Arbitrum One blockchain. Much like Arbitrum One, Rufus Chain will start with a single sequencer, and gradually decentralize as distributed sequencer technology matures. Upgrade authority over this sequencer will be shared by the Dogelon Mars and Caldera teams.

Both a sequencer (”write instance”) and a historical node (”read instance”) will be maintained, allowing users and developers on Rufus Chain to access complete blockchain data.

Block Explorer

The Rufus Chain block explorer, based on Blockscout, will provide a user-friendly, intuitive interface for viewing and analyzing all transactions on the network. The block explorer will provide details of each transaction, including the sending and receiving addresses, timestamps, transaction values, gas metrics, and block metadata. This tool will allow anyone to verify transactions and examine the state of Rufus Chain.

The block explorer will include all expected features, for example, a search function that allows users to look up addresses, transactions, and blocks; real-time updates of the latest blocks and transactions; as well as list views showing accounts sorted by token holdings.

Bridging Interface

The Rufus Chain native bridge will allow users to move assets between Rufus Chain and Ethereum. The bridge will provide an easy-to-use, intuitive interface where users select the amount and type of asset they want to transfer across chains. This interface will leverage Arbitrum’s native token bridge.

Steps to Implement

The Caldera team has already launched Arbitrum orbit chains. Many of these steps have already been taken before by their team. For thoroughness, we will describe the whole process of bringing the chain to a production state:

Step 1: Launch Rufus Chain on cloud infrastructure

• Cloud Infrastructure Setup: We will start by setting up a cloud infrastructure using Amazon Web Services (AWS). We will use AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to create and manage cryptographic keys and control their use across a wide range of AWS services and in our applications.
• Deploy Arbitrum: We will use the Arbitrum Nitro software to launch our chain, ensuring that we have selected an appropriate instance type based on our anticipated workloads.
• Kubernetes Setup: We will use Kubernetes to manage our deployed applications. Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
• Monitoring and Observability: We will set up monitoring and logging to track the performance of our blockchain network. For this, we will use AWS CloudWatch, which will provide us with data and actionable insights to monitor system-wide performance changes, optimize resource utilization, and get a unified view of operational health.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Step 2: Test Rufus Chain

• Load Testing: We will perform load tests to assess how the chain behaves under peak loads and identify any bottlenecks that could affect performance.
• Integration Testing: We will conduct integration tests to ensure that all parts of our chain are working together as expected. This includes testing the interaction of our chain with other services and components like wallets, bridges, etc.
• Benchmarking: We will carry out benchmarking to compare the performance of our chain against predetermined standards or similar systems. This will help us identify areas where our chain can be optimized.​​​​​​​

Step 3: Deploy Auxiliary Infrastructure

• Block Explorer: We will set up a block explorer to enable users to view and analyze transactions on Rufus Chain. The block explorer will provide detailed information about transactions, blocks, addresses, and other relevant data.
• Bridge: We will establish a bridging interface to enable users to seamlessly move assets between Rufus Chain and other compatible blockchains. The bridge will support a variety of digital assets and ensure the secure and accurate transfer of those assets.
• Documentation: We will prepare comprehensive documentation for users and developers. This will include guides on how to use the network, API documentation for developers, best practice guidelines, and FAQs. We will use a documentation platform that supports versioning and collaboration.

Timeline

Start date: ASAP. The Caldera team is ready to begin this project with us and will dedicate engineering resources to complete it in a timely manner.

Based on Caldera’s prior experience launching Arbitrum orbit chains, we’re confident that we can complete this launch in under a month. Please consider these timelines as a conservative estimate, with extra time budgeted for potential unforeseen issues and integration work.

Week 1

• Launch Sequencer on AWS Kubernetes setup, using industry-standard tools (Docker, Kubernetes, etc.).
• Implement initial monitoring and observability measures with AWS CloudWatch, Grafana, etc.
• Create a status page.

Week 2

• Continue the integration, optimization, and testing of the Arbitrum Nitro software.
• Perform initial load and integration tests to ensure system compatibility and performance under heavy strain.
• Begin the setup process for the Block Explorer, starting with backend integration for transaction tracking.

Week 3

• Complete the Block Explorer setup with a user-friendly frontend interface.
• Launch bridging interface for asset transfers.

Week 4

• Launch of Rufus Chain to the public.

Overall Cost

This AIP has no cost to the Arbitrum DAO.