Optimism plans to unify its Superchain with an interoperability layer

Optimism announced on Monday a plan to create a native protocol layer solution that will solve the problem of liquidity fragmentation across its ecosystem of rollup chains, also referred to as the Superchain.

The layer-2 giant’s solution will unify its ecosystem through a “universal standard of interoperability.”

In a world where spinning up a rollup is as simple to do with a few clicks, issues of liquidity fragmentation and high-friction user experience remain as users require third-party bridges to jump from chain to chain.

The new Optimism multichain protocol layer will comprise four key components: A message passing protocol for cross-chain communication, a standardized SuperchainERC20 token standard for bridged assets, an interoperable chain set for all OP Stack rollup chains to read data from and lastly, a shared interop fault proof system which allows fault proofs between multiple chains.

Optimism’s native protocol layer will also leverage ERC-7683, a proposed standard by Uniswap and Across for cross-chain intents to facilitate interoperability on the dapp layer.

Read more from our opinion section: Interoperability isn’t just a buzzword

The rollout is planned over a three-stage roadmap. First, a devnet will be launched to gather feedback, followed by a testnet launch alongside the message passing protocol and SuperchainERC20 token standard.  Finally will come the mainnet launch.

The end goal is to create a unified experience not only between all Optimism chains but also across Ethereum, where users can enjoy the convenience of seamless cross-chain movements and the benefit of unified liquidity.

Optimism’s OP Stack has seen the highest traction between all other rollup development stacks, largely thanks to a crucial first-mover advantage that is key in an open-source network.

OP is an open-source and modular software development stack that builders use to deploy a customized rollup.

Optimism’s Superchain boasts 29 OP Stack chains — including Base, Blast and Zora — more than any other rollup development stack. Sam Altman-backed Worldcoin’s upcoming World Chain layer-2 is also slated to be launched using the OP Stack later this year.

All 29 chains account for 36.4% of all layer-2 transactions, as of August 2024, and control $16.57 billion of value in TVL, according to L2beat.

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