As blockchains scaled, they also splintered. Liquidity became fragmented across Layer 2s, bridges faced persistent security issues, and "data availability" emerged as the latest critical bottleneck. The project Impact is engineered to solve all three challenges simultaneously. Initially established to offer verifiable, scalable data availability, the platform has now evolved into a comprehensive integration hub. This includes a robust Data Availability (DA) base layer, Linkage for proof-based interoperability, and Range for shared security, enabling the restaking of ETH, BTC, and rollup tokens. The thesis is both straightforward and ambitious: developers should be able to build once and deploy everywhere, while users should not have to worry about the underlying chains.
In this exclusive CryptoSlate Q&A, Impact's co-founder Anurag Arjun details how this vision is transitioning from roadmap to reality. We begin with a major real-world test case: Sophon's $60 million node sale, which leveraged Impact's light client technology for data throughput and hinted at new, verifiable fundraising primitives for app-specific chains. From there, we dive deep into EnigmaDA—an encrypted data availability solution designed to meet institutional privacy mandates without reintroducing trusted intermediaries. Arjun explains how banks and TradFi pilots can achieve confidentiality, attorney-client privilege, and auditability on-chain.
Interoperability is another cornerstone. Rather than building just another bridge, Linkage promises "one SDK, nine chains, no new network," aiming to streamline flows across multi-chain stablecoin and DeFi liquidity while minimizing replication and quorum risks through Network of Guardians (NOG) and zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. On the user front, Impact's light client is designed for less than 1 MB/s bandwidth and can run on mobile phones and browsers via data availability sampling and validity proofs—pioneering the concept of "a full node in your pocket" for emerging markets.
We also explore the speed-vs-decentralization trade-offs behind TurboDA's 250 ms pre-confirmations and the team's "giga blocks" research goal of processing 10 GB blocks in approximately 600 ms. We cover the validator growth trajectory from 105 validators with a Nakamoto coefficient of 34, and the lessons Impact is learning from flagship deployments like Lens Protocol (650k profiles) and Sophon. With over 50 integrations in the pipeline, Arjun outlines how Impact prioritizes partners based on technical compatibility, ecosystem value, and formality—plus how community growth (600k+ members in year one) is anchored in substantive contributions rather than vanity metrics.
If Impact's thesis proves correct, the next phase of crypto won't be defined by "L2 vs. L2" competition. Instead, it will be a landscape of app-centric rollups communicating through a common, proof-based infrastructure—privacy-preserving when necessary, maximally neutral by design, and finally usable at internet scale. Read on for the full conversation.
Sophon leveraged Impact's light client to power its $60 million node sale. What did this deal teach you about Impact's scalability and developer UX, and what other "real-world money" milestones can we expect next?
The Sophon partnership was a defining moment. They required a custom light client deployment capable of handling massive throughput for their node sale and supporting their validium strategy, which Impact delivered. This proved our technology isn't just theoretical; it's production-ready and expanded Impact's scope, providing a tangible framework to assist projects with fundraising.
What it taught us is that our validity-proof-based strategy can provide mathematical correctness to all network participants. Networks can both fundraise and deploy on this technology, even with minimal technical skills—typically, running verifying nodes requires server-based infrastructure and command-line experience. The developer UX enabled Sophon to integrate the existing light client and add features seamlessly.
This has sparked a trend, with more projects looking to Impact's light client framework not only to support their verifiable data needs but also to adopt the fundraising use case pioneered by Sophon.
EnigmaDA lets rollups post fully encrypted blobs while still proving data availability. How does this satisfy TradFi privacy mandates (KYC, transaction confidentiality) without reintroducing central points of trust?
Rollups can post fully encrypted data blobs while cryptographically proving data availability and integrity. The encryption happens at the data availability layer, so sensitive information is never exposed to the public, satisfying strict regulatory mandates.
Crucially, it still uses Impact's public infrastructure as the network to transmit and acknowledge the data, even without knowledge of the data's content or public exposure. This way, L2s can expand on their privacy offerings while leveraging Impact's public DA layer. This grants institutions the benefits of blockchain without introducing new trust assumptions or central points of failure.
Impact now markets itself as a full-range integration hub (DA + Linkage + Range). What pain points convinced you to go wider instead of doubling down on DA alone?
The mission of Impact has always been to enable a connected and thriving blockchain ecosystem. It started with a scalable and cryptographically verifiable DA layer because that was the most pressing bottleneck at the time. However, once you solve that problem, you're left with a landscape of many L2s and an exacerbated fragmentation problem. How will all the liquidity move? Linkage is our solution to this problem, enabling both ecosystems native to Impact and external ones to interoperate freely.
The first version of Linkage, for example, enables interoperability between nine networks on mainnet, and only one of those is native to Impact: Sophon. Through this connectivity, Sophon (and other Impact-native chains) automatically tap into the multi-chain liquidity enabled by Linkage ($145 billion in multi-chain stablecoin TVL and $95 billion in multi-chain DeFi TVL). That's what true interoperability looks like.
Bridges are notoriously risky; Linkage promises "one SDK, 9 chains, no new network." Under the hood, how does Linkage avoid the replication, quorum, and liquidity fragmentation risks that still plague most bridge tech?
Linkage offers a comprehensive cross-chain solution leveraging our Network of Guardians (NOG) and ZK proofs. This ensures that identity fragmentation doesn't compromise the trust and security that make blockchains valuable. We have much more to share on this in the coming months.
The result is a system where one SDK integration provides access to multiple chains without requiring users to switch networks, manage multiple wallets, or navigate complex bridging interfaces. Developers integrate once and instantly gain access to users and liquidity across all connected chains, while users experience seamless cross-chain interactions without ever leaving their preferred application.
Is the future a tangle of "app-centric L2s" all communicating via Linkage-provided proofs? What stops competing DA layers from forking the idea?
The future we're building centers on app-centric rollups communicating through proof-based interoperability protocols. Think of this evolution as similar to how TCP/IP became the universal communication protocol for the internet—a standard layer that enables seamless interaction between diverse systems without requiring them to understand each other's internal workings. This meta-interoperability layer abstracts away blockchain complexity while maintaining the security and decentralization benefits that make blockchain technology valuable.
This approach becomes the new standard because it aligns with fundamental market demands. Developers consistently express the desire to build once and deploy everywhere, rather than rebuilding applications for each blockchain ecosystem. Users demand seamless experiences without needing to know which chain powers their applications, just as internet users don't think about which servers host websites. Capital efficiency emerges through shared liquidity pools and composability across chains, creating network effects that benefit all participants in the ecosystem.
Forking a concept is simple, but the foundation matters. Impact delivers the most elegant, production-ready interoperability foundation today, eliminating trust assumptions and bottlenecks while paving the way for mass adoption. Impact's technology has been in development for over 4 years, and that institutional knowledge is not easy to replicate.
Your community grew to 600k+ members in Year 1, no small feat in a bear market. What specific programs or narratives drove that growth, and how do you prevent community bloat from turning into empty hype?
The foundation of our 600K+ member community was built through genuine developer engagement, including extensive resources, hackathons, and grants that empowered builders to create applications they couldn't build elsewhere. People joined because our platform enabled real utility, from Lens Protocol's social applications to Sophon's gaming ecosystem, rather than speculative promises.
Transparent communication has been critical to our organic growth. Instead of pure marketing messaging, we provide clear updates on technical progress, sharing both breakthroughs and challenges. This transparency builds trust and attracts community members who understand the technology's real potential. Additionally, our ecosystem benefits create tangible value for community members who see direct advantages from our partnerships and integrations, making their involvement meaningful beyond passive participation.
To prevent hype bloat, we focus relentlessly on activity metrics over vanity numbers. Active developers building on our platform, meaningful partnerships that drive real usage, and genuine transaction volume matter far more than member counts. Our community programs are designed to encourage actual contribution, whether through development, engagement, or ecosystem building, rather than just membership.
With 11 chains live and 50+ queued, what criteria determine who gets in next? How do you vet TradFi-facing dApps for compliance before they use EnigmaDA?
With 50+ chains queued for integration, we apply selective criteria focused on quality and strategic fit rather than simply maximizing numbers. Our chain onboarding process evaluates four key areas: technical compatibility to ensure new chains can properly support our proof systems and security model; ecosystem value that brings unique use cases or significant user bases to strengthen the overall network; development maturity demonstrated by active development teams with clear roadmaps; and community alignment with values that match our connectivity vision rather than fragmentation.
Our technical review covers proper implementation of EnigmaDA's encryption features, ensuring sensitive data remains protected while maintaining cryptographic guarantees. We require security audits for applications handling sensitive or institutional use cases and establish ongoing monitoring capabilities for compliance adherence and performance to meet regulatory standards.
The core goal isn't maximizing the number of integrations; it's building an ecosystem where every addition strengthens the entire network. Each new chain or application should enhance interoperability, bring new users or use cases, and align with our vision of seamless blockchain connectivity.
Impact's light client claims to run on phones, smartwatches, and even browsers, using <1 MB/s bandwidth. What cryptographic breakthroughs make that possible, and how big a deal is this for emerging-market adoption?
For decentralized technologies, this is a necessity. What we've done with the Impact Light Client is entirely novel. The light client conducts Data Availability Sampling (DAS) and verifies validity proofs from KZG polynomial commitments. In simple terms, it uses mathematics to check if the network is operating correctly, and your device can find out for itself when it's not. This is what extends the capability of a full node to a user's pocket.
Traditional light clients rely on a trusted full node, but because we have DAS and validity proofs (along with erasure coding and other technologies), we remove the need for Impact light clients to have a trusted full node they're connected to—they instead sample the network directly. We believe this is the only way to create a scalable blockchain ecosystem that extends full node capabilities to every network user.
Speed is addictive, but does slashing confirmation times compromise liveness or validator diversity? Where's the sweet spot between UX and security?
TurboDA offers a rapid pre-confirmation which provides immediate UX benefits, although Impact's finality time (to date) is still 20 seconds. There is a constant trade-off between UX and security, but the goal is to improve the decentralized technology to a point where the UX doesn't suffer.
This is why our giga blocks roadmap has taken a radically integrated approach to achieving throughput, speed, and security—aiming for 10GB blocks in 600ms without any trusted setup. This is one of the areas our development team is working hard on, and we've already begun implementing the foundational elements.
For banks experimenting with tokenized deposits, how do encrypted blobs, attorney-client privilege, and auditability coexist on EnigmaDA?
With EnigmaDA, Impact's encrypted Data Availability solution, institutions can encrypt their data before posting to the base layer, keeping sensitive transaction data private while maintaining public availability and verifiability. This allows them to meet regulatory requirements for confidentiality and auditability on a public, immutable ledger.
Lens Protocol (650k profiles) and Sophon both built their core infra on Impact. What have these deployments exposed as the next technical bottlenecks?
Impact DA is robust and reliable. While we have other initiatives underway to improve throughput, speed, and interoperability, the existing DA layer is extremely solid as it stands.
You're at 105 validators and a Nakamoto coefficient of 34. What's the roadmap to multiply those numbers without sacrificing security?
The Delegated Proof of Stake strategy that Impact's mainnet is built on is capable of handling higher validator counts, which will continue to grow as the ecosystem expands.
Benchmarks show 128 MB today and an ambition for 10 GB / 600 ms tomorrow. What major breakthroughs (erasure coding, blob markets, state pruning) must land before that's production-ready?
Anurag Arjun, the co-founder and CEO of Impact, stands as one of the key figures shaping the next generation of blockchain infrastructure.
