ABCI v2 Unlocks This

This is a curated list of use-cases that ABCI++ unlocks for application builders. To recall, ABCI++ is a codename for ABCI v2, released in CometBFT v0.38, and integrated in Cosmos SDK v0.50.

This page is WIP.

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Optimistic block execution

Briefly, this is the ability of the application to execute a block before that block is finalized. Without optimistic execution, the normal flow is (1) CometBFT finalizes a block, then (2) the application executes that block, and finally (3) the application gives control back to CometBFT. These 3 steps execute in a sequence. With optimistic execution, roughly speaking, steps (1) and (2) can run in parallel with one another. This enables shorted block production times.

Optimistic block execution is an optimization feature, and is in the same spirit as speculative execution from conventional computing fields (eg databases, computer architecture).

The SDK team describes this feature in more detail here for SDK release v0.50.

Threshold Decryption for Mempool Privacy

https://eprint.iacr.org/2022/898

Further references

RFC 013: ABCI++: The first RFC that proposed ABCI++ has a very good table describing improvements that ABCI++ unlocks.