Introducing the Forta Chain

This post is the second in Forta’s Firewall series, and will discuss the Forta chain and its role within Forta Firewall.

Forta Firewall is an exploit prevention network that screens and blocks malicious transactions before execution. Firewall can be integrated directly into rollups and smart contract applications, and is superior to previous methods of exploit prevention like frontrunning.

The Forta Chain is an L3 rollup with the core function of supporting the Forta Firewall. The chain is not intended to support third party developers and applications.

The Firewall writes certain encrypted details to Forta Chain, including:

– Information about batches of transactions screened by the Firewall
– Information about blocked/delayed transactions

Most importantly, the chain will maintain an inbox of transactions blocked by the Firewall. These transactions are not permanently blocked however, as they can be resubmitted after some delay period and processed normally. The motivation behind delaying as opposed to permanently blocking was rooted in a desire to maintain some level of censorship resistance and alignment with the broader Ethereum community.

Data written to the Forta chain will be encrypted and will only be available to the relevant Firewall user. The chain essentially serves as a decentralized record about the work performed by, and results of, the Firewall.

Why a chain?

Given that Forta Firewall will be screening and blocking/delaying malicious transactions, as stated above it was important to maintain some level of censorship resistance. Having a Forta Chain, and an inbox contract that maintains a queue of delayed transactions, prevents unintentional censorship, a healthy level of decentralization and minimizes single points of failure. Data that would have otherwise been stored centrally in a Forta Foundation backend is being stored and secured on the Forta Chain.

The Forta Chain is expected to have external nodes, and there will be an opportunity for all the current Forta scan node operators to maintain Forta chain nodes in the near future.

Partnering with Conduit

The Firewall team is excited to work with Conduit to support Forta Chain. The Forta Foundation has also entered into a broader partnership with Conduit to collaborate on integrating Firewall into Conduit’s rollup ecosystem.

Impact on FORT Token

Forta Chain represents additional utility for the FORT. The current FORT token will be the native gas token of the Forta Chain. No migration is necessary; FORT on Ethereum will be bridged to the Forta Chain for gas purposes.

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