Metis Hyperion: An AI-Driven New Chapter for Ethereum Layer 2

1. Overview of Metis Hyperion

Metis, as an important member of the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem, launched the Andromeda mainnet early on, based on Optimistic Rollup technology. Its biggest feature is the decentralized sequencer, which hands over the transaction ordering rights to community participants. In March 2025, Metis announced a dual-chain strategy: launching a high-performance Hyperion chain on top of the existing general-purpose Andromeda chain. The former is positioned as a safe and reliable general L2, while the latter focuses on high frequency, high throughput, and AI-driven application scenarios. The Hyperion architecture is based on the Metis SDK, with the core being the brand new MetisVM virtual machine (, which is EVM compatible and supports AI-optimized instructions ), aiming to optimize scalability and decentralization while significantly improving transaction efficiency.

Hyperion is committed to building a "high-performance, AI-native" L2 network that can achieve near millisecond transaction confirmation and ultra-high transaction throughput, making AI-native applications ( such as on-chain LLM inference and decentralized AI agents ) possible. Overall, Metis provides complementary support for different application scenarios through a dual-chain architecture, with Andromeda emphasizing security and decentralization, while Hyperion emphasizes high performance and AI applications.

The development roadmap of Metis can be summarized in two points: First, continuously improving the core L2 infrastructure, such as adding real-time data availability migration and fraud proof mechanisms in the Andromeda upgrade in May 2025, becoming the industry's first "truly decentralized" Layer 2; Second, moving towards modularization and multi-chain interoperability, reducing development thresholds through Metis SDK, and promoting the development of the multi-chain ecosystem. The launch of Hyperion has reshaped the value logic of the METIS token: making Metis no longer just an L2, but transforming into a platform of "multi-chain infrastructure + AI dedicated chain."

2. The Implementation Logic of On-chain LLM

2.1 AI ecosystem closed-loop three-piece set: SDK, Hyperion, LazAI

Hyperion, as an Optimistic Rollup, inherits the security model of Metis and the Optimism series, primarily iterating on aspects of parallel computing, data availability, and decentralization. The optimization direction focuses on AI and high-frequency application scenarios. Specifically, Metis promotes ecological construction through the three major systems of Metis SDK + Hyperion + LazAI.

• Parallel Execution Engine: Hyperion introduces parallel execution technologies such as Block-STM, allowing independent transactions within a block to run simultaneously. By adopting optimistic concurrency control and dynamic DAG scheduling algorithms, it significantly increases throughput.

• Decentralized Sorter: The transaction sorting rights of Hyperion are shared by a multi-node network. The specific mechanism includes rotating leaders and a cryptographic memory pool combined with proposer-builder separation (PBS), preventing front-running and centralized interference.

• Data Availability: Hyperion plans to leverage new features of Ethereum and external DA services to ensure data availability. As EIP-4844 progresses, Hyperion will directly publish transaction data to L1 through blob transactions, inheriting Ethereum's security while reducing costs. Metis is also preparing to integrate EigenDA.

• Fraud Proof Mechanism: Hyperion adopts an optimistic system model but has made upgrades on fraud proof. It uses an interactive error correction mechanism: after the sorter publishes a new block, the "observer" has a window period to submit challenges to prove the block is invalid. If the challenge is successful, the malicious block will be rolled back and the responsible party will be punished.

In terms of AI-native infrastructure, the Metis SDK allows users to build L2 or L3 blockchains on their own, integrating an upgraded EVM(MetisVM) and parallel processing capabilities, equipped with a decentralized sorting mechanism. Hyperion is a high-performance AI-specific Layer 2 built using this SDK, combining Optimistic Rollup, parallel execution, and distributed sorting to achieve almost real-time transaction confirmation and on-chain AI inference. MetisVM enhances transaction efficiency by approximately 30% through dynamic optimization of opcodes and parallel execution mechanisms. MetisDB uses memory-mapped Merkle trees and concurrency control, achieving nanosecond-level state access and nearly eliminating storage bottlenecks. These technologies combined enable Hyperion to run large language models(LLM) and other AI inference tasks directly on the chain, laying the groundwork for AI contracts.

In the AI narrative project incubation sector, Metis is actively incubating AI-related projects, such as the LazAI protocol. This is an open network focused on "trustworthy AI data assets," designed to address the issues of data opacity and inconsistency in AI usage. LazAI leverages blockchain's verifiable computation and standardized mechanisms to create an open and transparent data market, ensuring that AI models use high-quality data and support cross-chain usage. Based on this protocol, Metis launched the Alith framework, which is a development tool specifically designed for AI agents customized for blockchain. Developers can quickly write AI Agents on Metis using the Alith SDK and deploy them online.

2.2 The Differentiated Competitive Advantage of Hyperion

Hyperion is still based on Optimistic Rollup. Metis builds differentiated competitiveness through forward-looking technology and strategic layout: Hyperion and other technologies meet the performance requirements of AI applications, the dual-chain and SDK model caters to both general and specialized needs, and decentralized ordering enhances ecosystem trust. The differentiated competition with other Layer 2 primarily manifests in aspects such as Hyperion architecture, dual-chain strategy, Metis SDK, and decentralized orderers.

• High-performance execution layer: Hyperion is a high-performance Layer 2 designed for AI, achieving near real-time settlement and Web2-level response speed through Optimistic Rollup, parallel execution, and distributed sorting technology. It introduces MetisVM, customized for high-frequency trading and AI tasks, featuring dynamic opcode optimization, parallel execution, and caching mechanisms, significantly enhancing the execution efficiency of smart contracts.

• Dual Chain Strategy: Retain the Andromeda chain as a general-purpose L2, continuing to provide stable infrastructure for applications such as DeFi; while launching Hyperion specifically to serve AI scenarios. This "dual network" architecture addresses the trade-off between generality and specialization.

• Metis SDK and Developer Ecosystem: The Metis SDK is a modular toolkit for developers, integrating blueprints, building tools, and standard interfaces, enabling developers to quickly build custom execution layers or applications. It allows developers to rapidly deploy Layer 2/Layer 3 using mature modules, facilitating smooth migration or interaction between projects on Andromeda and Hyperion.

• Decentralized Sorter: In 2024, the industry’s first fully decentralized sorter will be successfully launched, transferring the authority of transaction sorting to community nodes and a staking mechanism. By rotating consensus nodes and incentivizing token governance, fault tolerance and anti-censorship capabilities will be achieved, eliminating the risk of single points of failure.

3. Metis's Strategy in Response to Ethereum's Focus on L1

3.1 The Autonomous Development Path of Metis

Assuming Ethereum focuses on L1 development ( such as base layer consensus, sharding upgrades ), rather than continuing to directly expand L2, Metis's strategy is to take a modular and multi-chain approach.

First, Metis's dual-chain architecture and MetisSDK provide the ability to build multiple dedicated chains. The launch of Hyperion marks Metis's transformation from "single L2" to "modular multi-chain infrastructure". With MetisSDK, any team can quickly create customized blockchains, configuring components such as parallel execution consensus, EVM compatible layers, AI optimized VMs, and on-chain storage. This means that Metis not only operates two chains but can also support more "industry-specific chains": such as AI computing chains, DePIN infrastructure chains, and gaming chains, each catering to different scenario needs.

Secondly, Metis emphasizes cross-chain interoperability and collaborative ecosystems. The official roadmap mentions multiple times the introduction of cross-chain bridging and data/computation aggregation mechanisms. Metis will integrate Chainlink CCIP, allowing assets and smart contracts to flow freely between Metis and other public chains. The Hyperion architecture also emphasizes "shared bridges + cross-chain interconnectivity" and proposes "decentralized data and computation aggregation," connecting AI applications with various data networks and computing resources.

The community is not only users but also direct participants and beneficiaries of the network's operation. By opening the role of sorter, anyone can become a block proposer by staking and earn sorting rewards. At the same time, Metis is planning to introduce an AI node operation incentive mechanism to encourage more developers to deploy inference services to provide on-chain AI capabilities.

3.2 Metis All in AI strategic-driven ecological development

To address the centralization risks and performance bottlenecks of on-chain AI services, Hyperion and LazAI collaborate to introduce the Alith AI agent framework. Developers can use the Alith SDK to write "AI agents" as contract modules deployed on Hyperion, handling functions such as model selection, inference logic, and fault response. Other contracts on the chain can directly call these agents, enabling functionalities like chatbots, prediction tools, or DAO assistants. Through mechanisms like precompiled contracts, Hyperion incorporates AI inference into the on-chain execution process, with inference results fixed on the chain through logs, reproducible operations, or trusted execution environments, achieving verifiable trust. This design retains the transparency of blockchain while meeting the computational needs of AI, promoting "AI on-chain."

Hyperion's parallel processing and low latency are particularly suitable for AI tasks, allowing non-conflicting requests to be executed simultaneously, which is far more efficient than traditional L2 sequential execution. MetisVM is specifically optimized for AI, using Rust/WASM to enhance performance, and supports various inputs such as text and images, enabling AI models to run directly on-chain. This entire design aims to achieve what Metis calls the "first Layer 2 protocol that can run large language models natively on-chain."

4. ETH Hyperion vs. Solana AI

4.1 AI competition scene comparison

The Solana community is promoting open protocols such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP), attempting to allow off-chain AI models to query on-chain data through standardized interfaces. QuickNode demonstrated how to set up an MCP server for Solana, enabling AI like Claude to directly access Solana blockchain information via RPC. However, most AI solutions on Solana run AI models off-chain, with on-chain calls to the results.

Hyperion aims to enable AI reasoning to be executed on-chain, something that Solana has not yet achieved. If Hyperion implements the first Layer-2 protocol that supports on-chain local execution of LLM, it means not only providing data interfaces but also directly providing on-chain computing power for AI models to run within MetisVM, with each computation completed in the blockchain execution environment. This design decentralizes AI more thoroughly than Solana's approach; AI reasoning results on Hyperion can be verified and traced on-chain, inherently resisting tampering and censorship, while Solana's MPC relies more on trusting external models and only ensures the security of the data pathway.

Solana has a natural advantage in high concurrency processing capabilities and a mature GPU chip support architecture, while Hyperion focuses on compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem and ecological interaction: EVM compatibility, MetisSDK ecosystem, and METIS token liquidity.

Overall, Hyperion and Solana are not in a direct substitution relationship, but rather provide an alternative approach to blockchain + AI: Solana relies on its network performance + traditional LLM interface (MCP); Metis relies on its smart contract platform, launching native on-chain reasoning capabilities.

4.2 Hyperion's Positioning in the Ethereum AI Ecosystem

Hyperion is not the current universal key. Most "AI + blockchain" projects are still at the conceptual level, and there are very few cases that can be verified as productivity applications. Mo