Shared Sequencers Unlock Composability
Multiple rollups sharing a sequencer enables atomic cross-rollup transactions. The fragmentation problem might have a solution.
Shared sequencers are the missing piece for cross-rollup composability. Right now each rollup is an island. You bridge assets slowly and expensively. Shared sequencing changes that equation entirely.
The concept is elegant. Multiple rollups use the same sequencer. That sequencer sees transactions on all rollups simultaneously. It can order them to enable atomic operations across chains.
Imagine a DEX trade where the tokens start on different rollups. Today that requires multiple transactions, bridges, waiting. With shared sequencing it could be one atomic operation. Either everything executes or nothing does.
The centralization concern is obvious. Shared sequencers become critical infrastructure. If they go down, multiple rollups stop. The reliability requirements are extreme.
Decentralizing shared sequencers is the next challenge. You need consensus among sequencer operators while maintaining the speed benefits. Some projects are working on this but it's hard.
I think shared sequencing will become standard for rollups that want to be part of a larger ecosystem. Isolated rollups will exist for specific use cases but the mainstream will be interconnected.