Network Architecture

Pod Network consists of four types of entities: clients, full nodes, validators, and the native bridge on Ethereum.

Clients

Clients submit transactions to full nodes via JSON-RPC using standard Ethereum tooling (ethers.js, viem, web3.py, alloy). After submission, the client receives a stream of attestations from the validator set. Once a quorum of attestations is collected, the transaction is final.

Full Nodes

Full nodes are the entry point to the network. They accept JSON-RPC requests from clients, broadcast transactions to the validator set, and relay attestations back. Full nodes maintain a local view of the current state but do not participate in validation.

Validators

Validators form the core of Pod's consensus. Each validator independently receives transactions, validates them, timestamps them, and signs an attestation. Validators do not coordinate with each other before attesting - they respond directly and in parallel. A transaction is final once the client collects attestations from a supermajority (4/5) of the validator set by stake.

Validators also observe deposit events from the native bridge contract on Ethereum and credit balances accordingly.

Native Bridge

The Pod native bridge is a smart contract deployed on Ethereum. Users deposit ETH or ERC-20 tokens into the bridge contract, which emits deposit events. Validators observe these events and increase the user's balance on Pod. Withdrawals follow the reverse flow - the user initiates a withdrawal on Pod, and once finalized, can claim their tokens from the bridge contract on Ethereum.

See Native Bridge for the full deposit and withdrawal flow.