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Optimism announces upgrades enabling ‘one-click’ roll-up deployment

As competition between layer-two scaling solutions heats up, Optimism has announced one-click roll-up deployments.

According to a blog post published by Optimism on Sept. 18, the team anticipates Ethereum-native protocols will be able to launch on its network in a single click by the end of October.

“Any tooling that can run on Ethereum will run identically on Optimistic Ethereum,” the post highlighted, adding:

Optimism, the Ethereum Foundation-backed team building developing a layer-two roll-up network, has announced upgrades to its protocol that will enable developers to deploy on its network in just “one-click.”

“Anyone who has written code targeting Geth can now deploy without change — even for advanced features like traces and gas.”

The post asserts that Optimism overhauled its code in a bid to extend beyond Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility to achieve “EVM equivalence” through shrinking the protocol down to its most lightweight and efficient form possible. 

To realize their minimalist philosophy, Optimism’s custom compiler was deleted alongside more than “25,000 lines” of other code as part of the upgrades.

“Building an EVM-compliant rollup poses an even greater challenge: supporting the entire Ethereum stack within the new science,” the post asserts. “Re-implementing security-critical EVM features is costly; every additional line of code introduces the risk of vulnerabilities.”

While the team says it has achieved full EVM equivalence with the Geth Ethereum client, they now hope to facilitate compatibility with alternative node implementations such as OpenEthereum and Erigon with “under 1,000 lines of code.”

Optimism added that no changes have been made to its current security model through the latest release.

Related: Uniswap v3 launches Optimistic Ethereum layer-two scaling in alpha

Optimism’s progress comes as capital migrates from the Ethereum mainnet to EVM compatible chains and layer-two scaling solutions in a bid to mitigate the high fees associated with transactions executed on Ethereum’s base layer.

According to Dune Analytics, rival rollup network Arbitrum currently boasts the largest Ethereum bridge by total value locked (TVL) with $2.62 billion despite having launched roughly three weeks ago.

Arbitrum is followed by the Polygon ERC-20 Bridge with nearly $2.35 billion, the Avalanche Bridge with $1.86 billion, and the Fantom Anyswap Bridge with $476 million.

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SushiSwap CTO reveals why the project isn’t scaling on Optimism anytime soon

Joseph Delong feels that rival DEX Uniswap had preferential treatment from the L2 solutions provider.

The chief technology officer of the SushiSwap decentralized exchange has revealed why the protocol is no longer keen to scale using layer two solutions from Optimistic Ethereum.

The layer two solutions provider OΞ whitelisted several projects last year including Uniswap and Synthetix, granting them preferential access to its platform as it was being built.

SushiSwap was also keen to get on this whitelist but it was not forthcoming, resulting in a decision to delay any further development. In its official documentation, Optimism clearly states “contract deployments to the Optimistic Ethereum mainnet are currently restricted by a whitelist.”

In a thread on Aug. 11 titled “Why Sushi isn’t coming to Optimism," SushiSwap CTO Joseph Delong stated that being rebuffed for whitelisting means the protocol is not “super eager to deploy yet” on the layer two scaling platform

He cited “non-preferential treatment” as the reason after Sushiswap deployed the scaling solution to testnet and tried to negotiate with Optimism leadership.

He added that there was a long discussion with a “lot of dancing around”, so they finally had to ask whether SushiSwap, which was spawned from Uniswap as a clone in late August 2020, was going to be treated equally on deployment.

“That is when the team told us point blank that Uniswap ‘had to go first’. Meaning we were boxed out of deployment until Uniswap.”

The protocol is taking a wait-and-see approach that prefers what he calls “credibly neutral platforms” like alternative layer two solutions provider Arbitrum, which reportedly whitelists any project that requests it.

He added that he hoped the Sushi community supports this action and implored other projects to do the same “until Optimism makes any attempt at credible neutrality as an operator.”

Uniswap deployed its version 3 protocol on Optimism in mid-July with protocol founder Hayden Adams stating that the end goal was to fully meet the demand for low-cost, high-speed DEX trading.

OΞ employs optimistic rollups which rely on publishing the data on the blockchain, assuming it is already correct and allowing a challenge period. During this time, users can submit “fraud proofs” to signal that the data is incorrect, triggering a dispute that should result in a correction of the data.

Related: Many Optimistic Rollup solutions have ‘significant issues,’ protocol warns

Ethereum influencer, Anthony Sassano, said the news Sushi had been rebuffed in favor of Uniswap and others was disappointing, stating that he was only long-term bullish on “credibly neutral and permissionless platforms”, before adding:

“There's no place in this ecosystem for walled gardens — I hope the Optimism team rectifies this.”

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams then chimed in to defend the move to deploy to his DEX before SushiSwap. He said it wasK “Manufactured Twitter outrage. Not everything is a conspiracy lol. I don't really see why it's problematic to finish planned launches before taking on new ones.”

Optimistic Ethereum also defended its position and the whitelisting mechanism, responding:

“We are whitelisting projects as quickly as possible and still maintain the safety of an alpha system. Uniswap deployed ahead of Sushiswap because they engaged with us 1.5 years ago, long before Sushiswap. First in, first out is not 'playing favorites'.”

Other DeFi protocols and exchanges, such as already whitelisted Synthetix, have already deployed to OΞ enabling their users to enjoy high-speed, low-cost transactions on layer two. SushiSwap users on the other hand may be in for a longer wait.

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Synthetix turns on layer-two alpha, launches Olympics betting on options platform

Users of the Synthetix-based Thales platform can now bet on the outcome of Olympic events.

Decentralized derivatives and synthetic asset trading protocol, Synthetix, has launched trading on the Optimistic Ethereum layer two scaling platform.

The long-awaited launch was announced by the Synthetix protocol exchange Kwenta on July 30. It enables the exchange to offer faster transactions and lower fees using optimistic rollup technology.

Initially, there will be just four synthetic assets available for trading on layer two — sUSD, sETH, sBTC and sLINK. The data collected from this alpha launch and testing phase will enable the protocol to optimize synth trading on layer two and prepare for the beta launch, the announcement stated.

Trading on layer two will offer users an estimated 50X reduction in gas fees and “blazing fast transaction speeds.”

The Synthetix community will monitor early performance on the scaling platform and gradually vote in additional synthetic assets for trading as they see fit.

Optimistic Ethereum (OΞ) uses a rollup technology that assumes all of the transactions are correct instead of verifying each one. Users only need to intervene if they see an incorrect transaction where they can submit a “fraud proof.”

Earlier this month, Uniswap announced the launch of its version 3 on the Optimistic Ethereum platform.

In a related development, the Synthetix-based Thales platform has just launched. Thales is a DeFi platform providing binary options style trading which allows traders to speculate on the price movement of the underlying market or crypto asset. There are two possible outcomes which is why they are considered binary.

Related: Thales raises $2.5M for binary options platform in Synthetix ecosystem

The Thales DApp offers more than 60 different assets, including cryptocurrencies, commodities, equities and index products, to create markets, mint binary options tokens and trade them on the platform.

It has introduced some trial Olympics sports markets which enable users to bet on variables such as “Will the USA win the most gold medals?” or “Will Australia’s men’s basketball team win the gold medal?” The answers are binary with a yes or no outcome which can be wagered on with a sLONG or sSHORT token.

Still on the subject of layer two, the Loopring DEX has announced a collaboration with layer two solutions provider StarkWare. The partnership has introduced a cross-L2 automated market maker that shares liquidity across layers called dAMM, with the "d" standing for "decentralized." Loopring has predicted that the platform will become “one of the most fundamental primitives to scaling DeFi.”

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Uniswap v3 launches Optimistic Ethereum layer two scaling in alpha

Long-awaited layer two scaling is finally being launched on Uniswap v3, albeit in a limited format initially.

The long-awaited layer two scaling solutions upgrade for Uniswap has finally been spotted in the wild with the launch of version 3 on Optimistic Ethereum.

In a post on July 13, the world’s most popular decentralized exchange stated that it was pleased to finally announce the alpha launch of Uniswap v3 on the Optimistic Ethereum (OΞ) mainnet.

The alpha launch is a limited version of the full system which helps developers deploy the system gradually and address any issues that may arise. The blog post elaborated:

“Please treat this as an early alpha product. Optimistic Ethereum is a complex Layer 2 scaling solution still in need of rigorous battle testing.”

The DEX warned of potential downtime, and stated that withdrawals from OΞ to layer one will take seven days. It also stated that there are limited assets at launch, namely ETH, USDT, WBTC, DAI, and SNX, but more will be added in the coming days and weeks.

During the alpha period, the platform will support an initial throughput of 0.6 transactions per second. It added that this should equate to a transaction capacity roughly in line with layer one, but transactions on OΞ confirm instantly meaning there are no more pending or stuck swaps.

Uniswap explained that assuming v3 has equal usage to layer one, OΞ should offer transaction cost savings of up to ten times, however increased demand will drive gas costs higher. The transaction speeds will be increased over the coming weeks and months as the infrastructure is tested and optimized at scale.

Protocol founder Hayden Adams commented on the launch and high-speed transaction capabilities, adding:

“Building general purpose Optimistic Rollups is an extraordinary undertaking and a critical step for decentralized finance to gain mass adoption.”

Related: Will the launch of Uniswap v3 spark a new DeFi boom?

Initial users have been impressed, with Bankless founder David Hoffman exclaiming “It's instantaneous and insanely cheap. 5 swaps in 30 seconds, and I wasn't even trying to be fast.”

Uniswap said that the scaling solution is complementary to Ethereum 2.0:

“Scaling Ethereum will be an iterative process, but this is a major step forward. Optimistic Rollups and ETH 2.0 are complementary scaling solutions and together will propel DeFi to mainstream adoption.”

OΞ uses an optimistic rollup which changes the zero-knowledge consensus principle by assuming that all transaction verifications are correct. Users only intervene only if they see an incorrect transaction whereby they can submit a “fraud-proof” to signal that the data is incorrect.

DeFi platform Synthetix has also announced the launch of Optimistic Ethereum for its layer two exchange for the week beginning July 26. In late May, the Ethereum layer two scaling solutions provider announced a collaboration with blockchain analytics platform Etherscan.

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