Towards Stream-Based Monitoring for EVM Networks

TL;DR

The paper argues that real-time, cross-network monitoring of EVM-based rollups is valuable for developers and governance but lacks standardized pipelines. It proposes a basic stream-based CEP architecture that collects data via Trackooor Zellic, buffers it with Apache Kafka, and applies data-normalization to harmonize rollup-specific semantics before CEP processing. The authors demonstrate the approach by assessing volatility of gas price and block usage across Arbitrum, OP Mainnet, Linea, and Ethereum over ~12 hours, highlighting differences in stability between rollups and the main chain. This work offers a practical monitoring blueprint for decision-making in a rapidly evolving rollup ecosystem and sets the stage for comparative evaluation with alternative data feeds such as Firehose or Substreams.

Abstract

We believe that leveraging real-time blockchain operational data is of particular interest in the context of the current rapid expansion of rollup networks in the Ethereum ecosystem. Given the compatible but also competing ground that rollups offer for applications, stream-based monitoring can be of use both to developers and to EVM networks governance. In this paper, we discuss this perspective and propose a basic monitoring pipeline.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: Gas price monitored over 12 hours
• Figure 2: Used block capacity monitored over 12 hours