(to read this article in Japanese please click here)
We are excited to announce Sunrise, a new player in the modular paradigm.
Sunrise is empowering developers to build the next generation of web applications with enhanced liquidity and sovereignty, and we are very proud to finally share all of our progress with everyone!
What is Sunrise?
Sunrise is a specialized Data Availability (DA) Layer for Proof of Liquidity. It is designed to enhance the current playing field and drive the new modular paradigm forward through unique added functionalities. Synergy between Sunrise and Gluon (Sunrise’s sister project — our strategic yield hub) enables DA fee abstraction and sovereign proof of liquidity for users of the Sunrise DA layer. Added ecosystem benefits, such as integration with rollups as a service (RAAS) providers and support for restaking, further enhance the Sunrise user experience. Sunrise is on a mission to drive modularity forward with a focus on liquidity and sovereignty.
Why Sunrise?
“As the sun sets in the West it rises in the East”
While Sunrise is a global protocol, the Sunrise team remains deeply rooted in Japan; our name isn’t merely a cultural reference but embodies the essence of our inception. The Sunrise project originated within Japan’s vibrant blockchain ecosystem, which despite its strength remains isolated from the world. Even with favorable legislation and robust liquidity, Japan remains technologically insular, a characteristic that has persisted over time. While the global stage focuses on new advances in modular blockchain technology, Japan has not yet had the opportunity to experience such benefits.
Therefore, Sunrise will prioritize expanding globally and supporting its current partners, while simultaneously introducing modularity to Japan, and securing its position as Japan’s Chief DA layer as our first source of traction. Japan is a jumping-off point to bring our unique functionalities to the world.
How did Sunrise start? (our Story)
Initially, the Sunrise team began by building a Strategic Yield Hub for the Modular Era, named Gluon (fka. UnUniFi). This Yield hub would be developed using the cosmos-sdk for maximum interoperability. It would bring products such as Interest Rate Swaps, Fixed Yield Tranches, and Yield Tokenization to the broader interchain (IBC) ecosystem, eventually supporting multichain assets & deposits for a truly specialized experience. A public beta of this product was launched Q4 2023, generated over 20,000 unique wallet addresses and maxed out the TVL of its initial test vault, but was shutdown so the team can continue improving its functionality.
IN THE MEANTIME… While leveraging our deep connections to Japan, Gluon formed a partnership with $40bn Japanese internet provider and mobile operator NTT Docomo. DOCOMO is the largest internet provider in Japan with over 40M users. DOCOMO is also a mobile-focused arm to its parent company NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) the third largest company in Japan, 55th largest company in Fortune Global 500, and 4th largest telecommunications company in the world.
IN THE INTERIM… Some of our closest partners were looking for scaling solutions, but remained unsatisfied by current AltDA providers. As a strategic advisor to some of these protocols, we knew that scaling with Sovereign Rollups and Data Availability was the right direction, but they failed to meet certain economic criteria for our use-cases.
This occurred simultaneously while looking to scale Gluon to support a larger user-base, with the team initially considering re-deploying Gluon as a sovereign rollup itself.
Yield x Modularity
In researching modular blockchain structures, an idea came to our developers to explore the overlap between yield and modularity. As a result, we identified synergies within our yield hub that would enhance the DA experience not just for ourselves, but for other protocols too. In order to accomplish this, Gluon would have to be redeployed as a sovereign rollup — not to scale, but to enable this new functionality. This synergy would boost liquidity and sovereignty for DA users. This research project was codenamed “Sunrise”.
and so we built it
By combining our existing Gluon infrastructure with a new DA layer, we could deliver a solution that would not only solve the problem, but provide brand new value as well. We could not find a scaling solution that met our demands, so we developed Sunrise for ourselves. Our partners (which include multiple, billion-dollar protocols) could not find a scaling solution that sufficiently met their demands, so we developed Sunrise for them too. There was a gap in the market that only we could deliver.
How does Sunrise + Gluon work?
At base layer, Sunrise is a Data Availability Layer 1 based on Celestia’s architecture. This allows Sunrise to retain all of the advantages and functionality of Celestia, while adding our own functions on top of it. Gluon is a Layer 2 deployed as a sovereign rollup onto Sunrise. By combining a data availability layer 1 with a sovereign rollup yield hub layer 2, we can offer and enhance a variety of unique functions to our users including altDA fee abstraction, and proof of liquidity. Gluon is our sister project, and can be used independently of Sunrise.
(Talking about Celestia, keep reading to learn more about how we will create value alignment with the Celestia ecosystem).
AltDA Fee Abstraction
Current AltDA solutions like Celestia require the acquisition of their native token ($TIA) in order to pay for gas fees and use their DA services. This problem becomes scalable for larger users with high DA requirements, leading to a net value extract for the DA user. The Sunrise solution enables rollups, layer2s, layer3s, etc., to provide liquidity on Sunrise in lieu of payment for fees when using Sunrise’s DA services. The liquidity pool is hosted on Sunrise itself, managed by an internal DEX, and can be composed of tokens of the DA users’ choice, ranging from pre-existing stable pools, to pools for various settlement layer tokens, to even meme coins (haha). The supported tokens are endless, and with cross-chain integration, can incorporate tokens from external ecosystems at user request. Providing liquidity in order to use Sunrise DA replicates a similar process to Proof of Liquidity on Berachain. An example of this would be a sovereign rollup or smart contract rollup (rollup on Berachain), providing liquidity to a pool such as USDC/RISE, or BERA/USDC, or iBGT/USDC. Integrations with bridging protocols such as Axelar and Wormhole can allow Sunrise to become secured by liquidity from various ecosystems — anything can be used for DA on Sunrise even a WIF/SOL pool.
Proof of Liquidity (PoL)
In similar function, Sunrise both replicates and extends Berachain’s Proof of Liquidity for its own governance. LPs on Sunrise will receive $vRISE for holding the LP tokens of the various pools that exist on Sunrise. $vRISE will be used for governance in the Sunrise protocol, but can be swapped 1:1 back to the native token $RISE if desired. Native support for Berachain’s governance token $BGT and Liquid Staking Token $iBGT further enhance the utility and optionality for composability of security on Sunrise. By extending Berachain’s Proof of Liquidity mechanism to work natively with sovereign rollups, both parties experience a mutual increase in liquidity and security. This creates a continuous feedback loop between the rollup and Sunrise. As Sunrise’s security or liquidity increases, the rollup benefits. As the rollup grows, experiences success, increases in volume, etc., it will strengthen the relationship with Sunrise, which benefits Sunrise, which strengthens the PoL pair, which benefits the rollup. A more detailed breakdown about how PoL works can be found in Sunrise’s documentation (still under construction at the time of publication).
Sunrise Launch Date & Airdrop Details
Sunrise is preparing to launch our mainnet in Q3, 2024. Currently, Sunrise is aligning with our launch partners and testing the protocol internally to ensure a smooth launch. Stay tuned for continued details as we proceed.
Sunrise Airdrop:
In the coming weeks, we will also be releasing additional details about the Sunrise Airdrop. This will occur in multiple waves, with user eligibility criteria changing based on the wave. Over time, the number of eligible users to qualify for Sunrise’s airdrop will increase. A snapshot date for Wave 1 & Wave 2 has recently been announced for June 14, 2024.
Token Allocation:
A total of 7% of the token supply will be distributed.
Value Alignment:
Sunrise is the product of multiple ecosystems and years of development coming together in one great convergence of ideas. As a result, Sunrise will work diligently to align and reward the communities that are integral to its spirit, while creating value flow with the protocols that underpin it. These include the Gluon (formerly UnUniFi) community and ecosystem, interchain (IBC) ecosystem, Celestia ecosystem, Berachain ecosystem, and many more.
Sunrise Airdrop Waves:
Wave 1: Gluon/ex-UnUniFi ($GUU/$GLU) Stakers
• $GUU will be renamed $GLU
• total delegation amount to be announced
• snapshot date to be announced
Wave 2: Celestia ($TIA) Stakers
• total delegation amount to be announced
• snapshot date to be announced
Wave 3: TO BE ANNOUNCED
Wave 4: TO BE ANNOUNCED
Follow Sunrise
Please make sure to follow us at the links below for the latest updates about Sunrise!
Website: https://sunriselayer.io/
Discord: https://discord.gg/sunrise
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/SunriseLayer
Medium: https://sunriselayer.medium.com
Gitbook: https://docs.sunriselayer.io/
