Metis Hyperion: Opening a New Chapter for AI Narratives on Ethereum

1. Overview of Metis Hyperion

Metis, as an important member of the Ethereum L2 ecosystem, launched the Andromeda mainnet early on based on Optimistic Rollup technology. One of Metis's distinctive features compared to other L2 networks is its decentralized sequencer, which hands over the transaction ordering rights to community participants. In March 2025, Metis announced a dual-chain strategy: launching the high-performance Hyperion chain on top of the existing general-purpose chain Andromeda. Andromeda is positioned as a secure and reliable general L2, while Hyperion focuses on high-frequency, high-throughput, and AI-driven application scenarios.

The Hyperion architecture is built on top of the Metis SDK, with its core being the brand new MetisVM virtual machine. The MetisVM is not only EVM compatible but also supports AI-optimized instructions, aiming to enhance scalability and decentralization while significantly improving transaction efficiency. According to reports, Hyperion is committed to creating a "high-performance, AI-native" L2 network that can achieve near millisecond transaction confirmations and ultra-high transaction throughput, providing technical support for on-chain LLM inference, decentralized AI agents, and other AI-native applications.

The development roadmap of Metis can be summarized in two directions: first, continuously improving the core L2 infrastructure, such as introducing 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, promoting modularity and multi-chain interoperability, lowering development thresholds through the Metis SDK, and fostering multi-chain ecosystem development. The launch of Hyperion has, to some extent, reshaped the value logic of the METIS token, transforming Metis from merely an L2 into a comprehensive platform of "multi-chain infrastructure + AI dedicated chain."

2. The Implementation Logic of On-Chain LLM

Metis promotes ecological construction through three major systems: SDK, Hyperion, and LazAI, laying the foundation for on-chain LLM.

Hyperion, as an Optimistic Rollup solution, inherits the security model of Metis and Optimism series, and innovates in parallel computing, data availability, and decentralization, primarily optimized for AI and high-frequency application scenarios. This is specifically reflected in the following aspects:

1. Parallel Execution Engine: Introduces parallel execution technology similar to Block-STM, using optimistic concurrency control and dynamic DAG scheduling algorithms, allowing independent transactions within the same block to run simultaneously, significantly enhancing throughput.

2. Decentralized Sorter: The transaction sorting authority is shared by a multi-node network, utilizing mechanisms such as rotating leaders and encrypted memory pools, combined with the proposer-builder separation (PBS) technology, to prevent front-running and centralized interference.

3. Data Availability: Plans to fully utilize Ethereum's new features and external DA services. With the advancement of EIP-4844, Hyperion will directly publish transaction data to L1 through blob transactions, inheriting Ethereum's security and reducing costs.

4. Fraud Proof Mechanism: An upgraded optimistic model is adopted, introducing an interactive error correction mechanism. After the sorter publishes a new block, the "observers" in the network have a certain time window (e.g., 7 days) to submit challenges to prove the block is invalid. A successful challenge will result in the rollback of the malicious block, and the responsible party will be punished.

In terms of AI-native infrastructure, the Metis SDK allows users to independently build L2 or L3 blockchains, integrating an upgraded version of EVM (MetisVM) and parallel processing capabilities, along with a decentralized sorting mechanism. Hyperion is a high-performance AI-specific Layer2 built on this SDK, combining Optimistic Rollup, parallel execution, and distributed sorting technology to achieve near real-time transaction confirmation and on-chain AI inference.

MetisVM enhances transaction efficiency by approximately 30% through dynamic optimization of opcodes and a parallel execution mechanism. Meanwhile, MetisDB utilizes memory-mapped Merkle trees and concurrency control, achieving state access at the nanosecond level, virtually eliminating storage bottlenecks. The combination of these technologies allows Hyperion to execute AI inference tasks such as large language models (LLM) directly on-chain, laying a solid foundation for the development and deployment of AI contracts.

In terms of AI project incubation, Metis actively promotes the development of the LazAI protocol. LazAI is an open network focused on "trusted AI data assets," aiming to address the issues of data opacity and inconsistency in AI usage. It leverages verifiable computing and standardized mechanisms of blockchain to build an open and transparent data market, ensuring that AI models use high-quality data and supporting cross-chain applications.

Based on the LazAI protocol, Metis has launched the Alith framework, which is a development tool tailored for blockchain AI agents. Developers can quickly develop and deploy AI Agents on Metis using the Alith SDK. For example, users can complete DeFi operations like lending by sending commands in natural language through a Telegram chatbot, without the need to write smart contracts themselves. This design significantly lowers the barrier for ordinary users to use AI applications while simplifying the workflow for developers.

Three, Metis's Response Strategy

Assuming Ethereum focuses on the development of its own L1 (such as underlying consensus and sharding upgrades), rather than continuing to directly expand L2, L2 platforms like Metis need to adopt strategies to maintain and expand their influence. According to the All in AI strategic roadmap released by Metis, its current strategy mainly follows a modular and multi-chain approach.

The dual-chain architecture of Metis and MetisSDK provides the capability to build multiple dedicated chains. The launch of Hyperion marks the transformation of Metis from a "single L2" to a "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, on-chain storage, and more. 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, gaming chains, etc., to meet the needs of different scenarios.

Metis emphasizes cross-chain interoperability and a collaborative ecosystem. The official roadmap and community communications have repeatedly mentioned the introduction of cross-chain bridging and data/computation aggregation mechanisms. Metis plans to 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 interconnection" 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 up the role of the sorter, anyone can become a block proposer by staking and receive 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 and provide on-chain AI capabilities.

Metis's All in AI strategy aims to drive ecological development through AI. To address the centralization risks and performance bottlenecks faced by on-chain AI services, Hyperion and LazAI have collaborated to introduce the Alith AI agent framework. Developers can use the Alith SDK to develop "AI agents" that are deployed as contract modules on Hyperion. These agents can handle functions such as model selection, inference logic, and fault response, and can be directly called by other contracts on the chain, enabling functionalities like chatbots, prediction tools, or DAO assistants.

Through mechanisms such as precompiled contracts, Hyperion incorporates AI reasoning into the on-chain execution process. The reasoning results can be fixed on the chain through logs, reproducible operations, or trusted execution environments, achieving verifiable trust. This design preserves the transparency of the blockchain while meeting the computational needs of AI, promoting true "AI on-chain".

Hyperion's parallel processing and low latency features are particularly well-suited for AI tasks. As long as there are no conflicts between requests, they can be executed simultaneously, which is much more efficient than the sequential execution of traditional L2. MetisVM has also been specifically optimized for AI, such as using Rust/WASM to improve performance and supporting various inputs like text and images, allowing AI models to run directly on-chain. This entire design aims to achieve what Metis claims to be "the first Layer 2 protocol capable of running large language models natively on-chain."

4. ETH Hyperion vs. Solana AI

Currently, the market enthusiasm for Crypto+AI has achieved significant success on Solana. The Solana community has promoted open protocols such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which aims to allow off-chain AI models to query on-chain data through standardized interfaces. However, most AI solutions on Solana run AI models off-chain and call the results on-chain.

The uniqueness of Hyperion lies in its attempt to execute AI inference on-chain, something that Solana has not yet achieved. If Hyperion succeeds in becoming the first Layer-2 protocol to support native on-chain execution of LLMs, it means that it not only provides a data interface but also directly offers on-chain computing power for AI models to run within MetisVM, with each computation being completed within the blockchain's execution environment. This design decentralizes AI more thoroughly than Solana's solution, and the AI inference results on Hyperion can be verified and traced on-chain, thus naturally resisting tampering and censorship.

However, Solana has a natural advantage in high concurrency processing capabilities and a mature GPU chip support architecture. Hyperion focuses on compatibility and ecological linkage with the Ethereum ecosystem, including 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 the blockchain + AI integration: Solana relies on its network performance and traditional LLM interfaces (MCP), while Metis leverages its smart contract platform to introduce native on-chain reasoning capabilities.

Although Hyperion is not the current universal key, it brings new possibilities for Web3 AI and provides important leverage for the Ethereum camp to participate in the AI narrative. Hyperion primarily addresses issues related to computational architecture and trust foundation, including vast parallelizable computing power, on-chain verifiable execution processes, modular toolchains, and native support for AI's special needs. These efforts create possibilities for the emergence of truly practical blockchain + AI applications (such as on-chain autonomous agents and high-frequency data analysis), adding substantive content to the AI narrative in the crypto space.