Metis Hyperion: Igniting Hope for AI Narratives on Ethereum?

Author: YBB Capital Researcher Ac-Core

1. Overview of Metis Hyperion

Metis is an Ethereum L2 ecosystem, which is based on Optimistic Rollup, and launched the Andromeda mainnet in the early days. In March 2025, Metis officially announced its dual-chain strategy: to launch a high-performance Hyperion chain based on the existing universal chain Andromeda. The former is positioned as a safe and reliable general-purpose L2, while the latter focuses on high-frequency, high-throughput, and AI-driven application scenarios. The Hyperion architecture is built on top of the Metis SDK, and at its core is the new MetisVM virtual machine (EVM-compatible to support AI-optimized instructions), with the goal of optimizing scalability and decentralization, while greatly improving transaction efficiency.

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According to the official introduction from Metis, Hyperion is dedicated 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 emphasizes security and decentralization through a dual-chain architecture with Andromeda, while Hyperion emphasizes high performance and AI applications, providing complementary support for different application scenarios.

Overall, Metis' development path can be summarized into two points: first, continue to improve the core L2 infrastructure, such as adding real-time data availability migration and fraud proof mechanisms to the Andromeda upgrade in May 2025, making it the industry's first "truly decentralized" Layer 2, and second, moving towards modularization and multi-chain interoperability, lowering the development threshold through the Metis SDK, and promoting the development of the multi-chain ecosystem. The launch of Hyperion has reshaped the value logic of the METIS token to a certain extent: Metis is no longer just an L2, but a platform that transforms into a "multi-chain infrastructure + AI dedicated chain".

2. On-chain LLM? What is the logic implemented by Metis?

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Source of the image: Metis

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

Hyperion, as an Optimistic Rollup, inherits the security models of Metis and Optimism, mainly evolving in aspects of parallel computing, data availability, and degree of decentralization, with the primary optimization direction focusing on AI and high-frequency application scenarios. Specifically, Metis promotes ecological development through the three main frameworks of Metis SDK + Hyperion + LazAI.

• Parallel Execution Engine: Traditional blockchains typically execute transactions in order. Hyperion introduces parallel execution technologies like Block-STM, allowing independent transactions within a block to run together. By employing optimistic concurrency control and a dynamic DAG scheduling algorithm, independent transactions in the same block can run simultaneously, significantly increasing throughput;
• Decentralized sequencer: Hyperion's transaction ordering power is shared by a multi-node network, not controlled by a single node or a small number of operators. Specific mechanisms include Leader Rotation and Encrypted Mempool combined with PBS to prevent front-loading and centralized intervention;
• Data Availability: The Hyperion project fully leverages Ethereum's new features and external DA services to ensure data availability. With the advancement of Ethereum EIP-4844, Hyperion (and Andromeda) will directly publish transaction data to L1 via blob transactions, inheriting Ethereum's security and reducing costs. According to official statements, Metis is also preparing to integrate EigenDA.
• Fraud Proof Mechanism: Hyperion continues to adopt the optimistic rollup model but has upgraded its fraud proof. Metis committed early on to introducing a complete fraud proof mechanism and data availability scheme; its ReGenesis roadmap also proposed "executing the latest fault proof system from the OP Stack." In other words, Hyperion will adopt an interactive error correction mechanism: after the sorter publishes a new block, there will be a window period for "observers" in the network to submit challenges (such as a 7-day period) to prove the block invalid. If such a challenge is successful, the malicious block will be rolled back, and the responsible party will be penalized.

AI native infrastructure: The Metis SDK allows users to build L2 or L3 blockchains by themselves, which already integrates an upgraded version of the EVM (called MetisVM) and parallel processing capabilities, and is also equipped with a decentralized ordering mechanism. Hyperion is a high-performance AI-specific Layer 2 built with this SDK, which combines optimistic rollup, parallel execution, and distributed ordering to achieve near-real-time transaction confirmation and on-chain AI inference. Officially, MetisVM has improved transaction efficiency by about 30% by dynamically optimizing opcodes and parallel execution mechanisms. At the same time, MetisDB uses memory-mapped Merkle trees and concurrency control, and state access can be achieved in nanoseconds, almost eliminating storage bottlenecks. Together, these technologies allow Hyperion to run AI inference tasks like large language models (LLMs) directly on-chain, laying a strong foundation for AI contracts.

In terms of AI narrative project incubation: Metis is also actively incubating AI-related projects, such as the LazAI protocol. It is an open network focused on "trusted AI data assets", with the goal of solving the problem of opaque and inconsistent data used by AI. LazAI leverages blockchain's verifiable computation and standardization mechanisms to create an open and transparent data marketplace that ensures that AI models use high-quality data and can be used across chains. Based on this protocol, Metis has also launched the Alith framework, an AI agent development tool tailored specifically for blockchain. Developers can use the Alith SDK to quickly write AI agents on Metis and deploy them online. The official also gave a very down-to-earth example: users only need to send instructions in natural language through the Telegram chatbot to complete DeFi operations such as lending, and there is no need to write smart contracts by themselves. This design greatly lowers the threshold for ordinary people to use AI applications, and also makes the work of developers a lot easier.

2.2 Compared to other L2s, what capabilities does Hyperion enhance for Metis?

Hyperion is still based on Optimistic Rollup, and Metis has built differentiated competitiveness through forward-looking technology and strategic layout: technologies like Hyperion meet the performance requirements of AI applications, the dual-chain and SDK model caters to both general and professional needs, and decentralized sorting enhances ecosystem trust. The differentiation in competition with other L2s mainly lies in aspects such as Hyperion architecture, dual-chain strategy, Metis SDK, and decentralized sorters.

High-performance execution layer: Metis Hyperion is a high-performance Layer 2 for AI, which is officially said to achieve near-real-time settlement and Web2-level response speed through optimistic rollup, parallel execution, and distributed ordering technology. Hyperion introduces MetisVM, a virtual machine tailored for high-frequency trading and AI tasks, with dynamic opcode optimization, parallel execution, and caching mechanisms to greatly improve the efficiency of smart contract execution, while Hyperion has designed on-chain inference support for AI inference, including dedicated precompiled contracts and execution engine optimization;

**Dual-chain strategy (Andromeda + Hyperion):**Metis retains the original Andromeda chain as a general-purpose L2 and continues to provide stable infrastructure for DeFi and other applications; At the same time, Hyperion was launched to serve AI scenarios. This "dual-network" architecture solves the trade-off between versatility and professionalism: it not only avoids the deadlock with other L2s in homogeneous competition, but also finds an exclusive bearing space for AI applications.

Metis SDK and Developer Ecosystem: Metis SDK is a modular toolkit aimed at developers, integrating blueprints, construction tools, and standard interfaces, allowing developers to quickly build custom execution layers or applications. Metis SDK enables developers to rapidly deploy Layer2/Layer3 using mature modules and facilitates smooth migration or interaction between Andromeda and Hyperion, significantly enhancing the efficiency of ecosystem development and interoperability.

Decentralized Sequencer: In 2024, Metis successfully launched the industry's first fully decentralized sequencer, which puts the transaction ordering power in the hands of community nodes and a staking mechanism that achieves fault tolerance and censorship resistance by rotating consensus nodes and incentivizing token governance, completely eliminating the risk of a single point of failure.

3. If Ethereum focuses on L1, how will Metis respond?

Source: investx.fr

3.1 If the main chain does not distribute rewards, Metis will build its own sugar factory.

Assuming that Ethereum then focuses on its own L1 development (e.g., underlying consensus, shard upgrades) rather than continuing to scale L2 directly, how can an L2 platform like Metis maintain and expand its influence? In the All in AI strategic roadmap released by Metis, Metis' strategy at this stage is to take a modular and multi-chain route.

First of all, Metis's dual-chain architecture and MetisSDK enable it to build multiple dedicated chains, while the launch of Hyperion marks Metis's transformation from a "single L2" to a "modular multi-chain infrastructure." With MetisSDK, any team can quickly create customized blockchains like building blocks—configuring components such as parallel execution consensus, EVM-compatible layer, AI-optimized VM, on-chain storage, etc. 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, each meeting different scenario needs.

Secondly, 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. It is not difficult to see that 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 interconnection" and proposes "decentralized data and computation aggregation," connecting AI applications with various data networks and computing resources.

The community is not only a user, but also a direct participant and beneficiary of the operation of the network. By opening up the sequencer role, anyone can become a block proposer by staking and earn a sorting reward. 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 strategy, how to drive ecological development through AI

Let's look at the problem directly: the current on-chain use of AI services, such as the transmission of results through oracles, has obvious centralization risks and performance bottlenecks. To address these issues, Hyperion and LazAI have partnered to introduce an AI proxy framework called Alith. Developers can use the Alith SDK to write "AI agents" and deploy them as contract modules on Hyperion, which can handle functions such as model selection, inference logic, fault response, etc., and other contracts on the chain can be directly invoked, such as chatbots, prediction tools, or DAO assistants. Through mechanisms such as precompiled contracts, Hyperion incorporates AI inference into the on-chain execution process, and the inference results can also be fixed on-chain through logs, reproducible operations, or trusted execution environments, so as to be verifiable and credible. This not only retains the transparency of the blockchain, but also satisfies the computing needs of AI, truly promoting "AI on the chain".

Moreover, Hyperion's parallel processing and low latency are particularly suitable for AI tasks; as long as there are no conflicts between requests, they can run simultaneously, making it much more efficient than traditional L2 sequential execution. MetisVM has also specifically optimized for AI, for example, using Rust/WASM to improve performance, supporting various inputs such as text and images, allowing AI models to run directly on the chain. This entire design is aimed at achieving what Metis calls "the first Layer2 protocol that can run large language models locally on-chain."

4. ETH Hyperion vs. Solana AI

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Source: Self-made

4.1 AI Competition Arena

The market enthusiasm for Crypto+AI has undoubtedly been a huge success on Solana, and the Solana community is also pushing open protocols such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to allow off-chain AI models to query on-chain data through a standardized interface, and QuickNode demonstrates how to build it Solana's MCP server enables "legitimate" AI such as Claude to access Solana blockchain information directly via RPC. But AI solutions on Solana mostly run AI models off-chain and call the results on-chain.

As pointed out in "Solana and Base, which ecosystem is more suitable for AI Agents?": "Currently, all models including all agents run off-chain, with input data, training, and output information not on-chain; neither EVM chains nor Solana/BASE support the combination of AI and contracts," solutions like Solana+MCP have not truly "put AI models on-chain to run," but rather allow AI models to securely access on-chain data.

What's interesting about Hyperion, though, is that it tries to get AI inference itself to be executed on-chain, which Solana doesn't implement. If Hyperion implements the first Layer-2 protocol that supports local execution of LLMs on the chain, it means that Hyperion not only provides a data interface, but also directly provides on-chain computing power for AI models to run in MetisVM, and each step of computation is completed within the execution environment of the blockchain. This design decentralizes AI more thoroughly than Solana's solution, and AI inference results on Hyperion can be verified and traced on-chain, making it naturally resistant to tampering and censorship. Solana's MPC, on the other hand, is more about trusting the external model and only securing the data path.

Of course, Solana has a natural advantage in fundamental performance due to its high concurrency processing capability and mature GPU chip support architecture. Hyperion focuses on compatibility and ecological interaction with the Ethereum ecosystem: EVM compatibility, MetisSDK ecosystem, and METIS token liquidity.

As a whole, Hyperion and Solana are not directly replaced, but provide another path into blockchain + AI: Solana relies on its network performance + traditional LLM interface (MCP); Metis relies on its smart contract platform to launch native on-chain inference capabilities.

Is Hyperion 4.2 the universal key to unlocking Ethereum AI?

To put it directly, Hyperion is not the current universal key. Most of the claimed "AI+ chain" projects are still at the conceptual level, with very few cases that can be verified as productive applications. The issues of model ownership and trust have not yet been resolved: how to track the origin of models trained off-chain and how to prove the correctness of their execution results on-chain? These are all questions that need to be answered at the infrastructure level.

Hyperion's system design addresses the above pain points to a certain extent, and it solves some of the computing power problems by providing support for AI inference at the protocol layer: parallel execution and the optimization of MetisVM make the on-chain computing power greatly exceed that of traditional L2, but this does not mean that Hyperion solves all the problems at once.

What is certain, however, is that Hyperion brings new possibilities to Web3 AI and provides the Ethereum camp with leverage to participate in the AI narrative. It mainly solves the problems of computing architecture and trust foundation: a large number of parallelizable computing power, on-chain verifiable execution processes, modular toolchains, and native support for special AI needs. These efforts have created the possibility for the emergence of truly practical blockchain + AI applications (e.g., on-chain autonomous agents, high-frequency data analytics) in the future, adding substance to the AI narrative in the crypto space.