Here’s How Optimism Plans To Solve Superchain and Ethereum Interoperability

• Optimism has unveiled its plans to connect chains built with the OP Stack and beyond.
• Optimism’s plans involve introducing native interoperability to the OP Stack and leveraging open-source Ethereum standards.
• The team has already set a timeline for the mainnet launch of the interoperability feature.

With the proliferation of Ethereum Layer 2 solutions , a problem of fragmentation has arisen, hampering the experience of users and the growth potential of chains and applications. In light of this challenge, several Ethereum scaling technology providers have proposed solutions to abstract away the complexities and hurdles that come with a multichain ecosystem to create a unified and seamless experience.

The latest to join the fray is Optimism Labs, developers of the prominent Ethereum Layer 2 OP Mainnet and the Ethereum Layer 2 building toolkit OP Stack. The team has recently explained how it intends to create a unified experience for its multichain ecosystem, dubbed the Superchain, and the broader Ethereum ecosystem to incentivize exponential growth and innovation across the ecosystem.

Optimism Talks Native Interoperability and Open Source Standards

Optimism Labs wants users to experience the Superchain and broader Ethereum ecosystem like a single blockchain where they jump from one application to another and execute transactions without bothering about the blockchain they are on. The team disclosed this desire in a blog post on Monday, August 12, unveiling a plan to make the vision a reality. Per the blog post, to achieve this unified vision, Optimism intends to introduce native interoperability to the OP Stack. 

To introduce native interoperability, Optimism Labs outlined plans for “a secure communication layer.” This interoperability layer will comprise a message passing protocol for interchain communication, a Superchain token standard called the SuperchainERC20 standard, which builds on the ERC20 standard to allow asset fungibility between OP Stack chains, a shared proof system for security, and an interoperable chain set, which the team explained comprised chains configured to read data from other chains.

Extending beyond the Superchain to the broader Ethereum ecosystem, Optimism Labs noted that it would offer users more seamless asset transfers with other ecosystems by incorporating open-source standards like the Uniswap and Access Protocol proposed cross-chain trade execution standard ERC-7683 .

Wen Mainnet Launch of Optimism’s Native Interoperability Layer?

Optimism Labs expects the proposed interoperability layer to go live on the mainnet by 2025. However, before getting to the mainnet, the team has outlined a near devnet launch and testnet launch to allow for extensive protocol testing.

The team also noted that it intended to leverage modular smart contract systems and ZK proofs in the future.

The unveiling of Optimism’s interoperability plans comes on the heels of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggesting that interoperability concerns would soon be a thing of the past, asserting that several efforts were underway to tackle the issue.

Popular Optimistic rollups include Coinbase ‘s Base , Worldcoin ‘s Worldchain, and Zora.

On the Flipside 

• Optimism is not the only Ethereum scaling team building an interoperability layer as Matter Labs, the developers of the zkSync Era chain, and Polygon Labs, the developers of the eponymous Polygon network , have also announced similar products. In the case of Polygon, the ZK-powered solution would allow as many chains as possible to plug into the interoperability layer regardless of their consensus mechanism, virtual machine, or tech stack, including even Optimistic rollups.

Why This Matters

Better interoperability between Optimistic rollups promises to supercharge growth and innovation within Optimism’s Superchain while creating a significantly simplified user experience, which could further bolster adoption.

Read this for more on Optimism and the broader Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem:
Polygon (MATIC), Others Beaten as Optimism Wins Celo’s L2 Bid

Find out why community members are celebrating the pause in Grayscale’s ETHE outflows:
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