Definition ∞ Economic security inheritance refers to a property where a layer two blockchain or sidechain derives its security directly from the underlying layer one blockchain. This means the secondary chain relies on the robust economic incentives and consensus mechanisms of the primary chain to validate its state and transactions. It functions by periodically committing its state or proofs of its operations back to the more secure base layer. This approach allows for scalability while maintaining a high level of trust.
Context ∞ Economic security inheritance is a core concept in the architecture of many scaling solutions for major cryptocurrencies, particularly Ethereum. News reports frequently highlight how this mechanism enables faster and cheaper transactions on layer two networks without sacrificing the security assurances of the main chain. The discussion often involves the different ways layer two protocols achieve this inheritance, such as rollups or validity proofs, and their respective security models.
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