Facet is an Ethereum scaling solution without compromises: fully decentralized and with 100% uptime. Everyone is on equal footing within the Facet protocol. There are no privileged users controlling the processing of transactions, there are no administrators of bridges, and no one can shut Facet off.

Facet is not a blockchain itself but a new way of thinking about and using Ethereum. Facet leverages Ethereum's robust consensus mechanism while offloading the execution of smart contract logic to the Facet Virtual Machine (FVM). This approach ensures reduced gas fees while maintaining Ethereum's security and decentralization.

Facet is not a blockchain itself but a new way of thinking about and utilizing existing blockchains, specifically Ethereum. Facet leverages Ethereum's robust consensus mechanism while offloading the execution of smart contract logic to the Facet Virtual Machine (FVM). This approach ensures reduced gas fees, increased transaction throughput, and maintains Ethereum's security and decentralization.

Users interact with Facet by sending Ethereum transactions to the Facet Inbox (0x00000000000000000000000000000000000face7).

For a detailed understanding, review the Facet Docs.

Facet operates as a unique scaling solution distinct from traditional Layer 2 (L2) rollups like Optimistic and ZK rollups. Unlike these rollups, which batch transactions off-chain and later submit them to Ethereum, Facet processes transactions directly on Ethereum's mainnet. This ensures immediate finality and 100% uptime, directly linking its reliability to Ethereum’s uptime.

Key differences include:

Facet guarantees 100% uptime by directly using Ethereum's network for transaction initiation and finality. Anyone can send Facet transactions directly to Ethereum with no intermediaries. Since every Facet transaction is inherently an Ethereum transaction, Facet remains fully functional as long as Ethereum is operational.

Facet also has no privileged party responsible for broadcasting the state of the protocol, and whose ceasing to function could limit access to Facet state. Rather Facet state is equally available to anyone through the open source Facet VM software.

Moreover, even if every Facet VM in the world were to go down, any single party could still compute the state on their own using the VM. This ensures that the system's integrity and functionality can be maintained independently, providing an additional layer of reliability. This direct dependence on Ethereum’s robust and widely trusted network, coupled with the ability for independent state computation, ensures continuous service availability with no downtimes associated with Facet's operations.

In short - Facet runs on Ethscriptions.

The original intent of Ethscriptions was for you to transmit “digital artifacts” (images, videos, text, etc) through the calldata field.

Facet turns this idea on its head by using the calldata field not to represent a “digital artifact” but rather to represent a command to a smart contract—calldata’s original intended use case! The Facet twist is that it uses the calldata field to represent a command to a contract in a different virtual machine.

Facet leverages the Ethscriptions protocol to facilitate its unique approach to (1) transaction processing and (2) off-chain computation.

While traditional Layer 2 solutions deploy centralized sequencers for transaction ordering and batching (at the expense of decentralization), Facet leverages Ethereum's existing consensus mechanism to ensure all transactions are transparently ordered and finalized into blocks by Ethereum’s validator network. Thus, no single party is in a position to exploit MEV opportunities (as is the case with centralized sequencers). Moreover, Facet’s off-chain transaction processing is only used for deterministic tasks to enhance scalability without compromising security. This approach ensures that Facet’s operations are neutral, fair, and reliable, embodying the core principles of blockchain technology.

Facet's security model is based on the innate, objective reality that is derived from (1) immutable transaction history and (2) deterministic computation. FacetVMs don’t create that objective reality - they merely report it.

If two people agree on the state of Ethereum, they will also agree on the state of Facet.

While having multiple FacetVMs might create a perception of increased security because they would independently compute and align on the same state, the actual security of Facet does not rely on the number of FacetVMs. This contrasts with proof-of-stake operating models, where more validators equate to greater security. With Facet, anyone can independently verify the correctness of the state by running the FacetVM themselves.

Even if you do act on incorrect Facet state data it is unlikely to cost you money because the transactions you send will be conditional. For example, if someone reports to you that an asset you hold is worth 10x what it’s actually worth, and you decide to sell on the basis of that knowledge, your transaction will include a slippage value that will cause the transaction to revert.

The concept of an "honest operator" is central to Facet's security model. As long as there is at least one honest operator running a FacetVM, it is difficult for any malicious party to alter the state without being detected. This honest operator can independently verify the state and call out any discrepancies, maintaining the integrity of the system.

And of course - you yourself can run the FacetVM and be that “honest operator.”

The potential pruning of calldata and blob data, as proposed in certain Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), poses considerations for the Ethereum ecosystem, including Facet and Layer 2 solutions. However, it’s important to clarify that these prunings do not threaten Facet's operation.

This is because of two factors:

Even today, most people, operating according to this principle, get their Ethereum data from a third party provider instead of a node they themselves operate. This is a secure practice today because all such data can be verified, and it will remain a secure practice even when data is pruned.

Pruning would only become an issue for Facet if (2) was no longer true, but such a massive loss of Ethereum historical data would indicate a much larger systemic failure beyond just impacting Facet.

Rubidity is a high-level, object-oriented programming language designed for creating Facet smart contracts. Rubidity retains the structure of Solidity but introduces Ruby-like syntax and concepts, with the goal of making Facet smart contract development intuitive for developers familiar with both languages.