What Is BeaconKit? ⛵✨
BeaconKit is a modular and customizable consensus layer for Ethereum-based blockchains.
Check out the official BeaconKit GitHub Repository.
BeaconKit is an innovative framework that makes the CometBFT consensus algorithm available to arbitrary EVM execution environments. In other words, BeaconKit is a modular consensus layer that is adaptable for Ethereum-based blockchains.
BeaconKit packages the CometBFT consensus algorithm with a modular middleware layer capable of receiving blocks from any execution environment that conforms to the Engine API specification. This allows those blocks to be processed through CometBFT consensus. In practice, this enables support for unmodified EVM execution clients to run on top of BeaconKit, allowing chains to be EVM identical.
The framework is built with modularity in mind and can be extended with different layers that may include a custom block builder, a rollup layer, a data availability layer, and others. This modularity enables the building of not only Layer 1 blockchains but also serves as a framework for Layer 2 solutions.
BeaconKit Advantages
Running a BeaconKit-based chain provides several advantages (assuming the default configuration of pairing with an EVM execution client):
- Single slot finality (compared to Ethereum's ~13 minutes)
- Optimistic payload building (executing block proposal in parallel with voting) reduces block times by up to 40%
- Conformity to Eth2 modularity
- Full EIP compatibility