Author: Martin Young, CoinTelegraph; Translated by: Wuzhu, Golden Finance
Ethereum scaling solutions provider Optimism is looking to further increase its blockchain throughput by loading Layer 3 applications on top of the OP stack.
On May 8, the Optimism team said they welcome Layer 3 to join the hyperchain, where they can build on the OP Stack and share revenue with the Optimism Collective.
OP Stack is an open standard code base that supports superchain development, but it is "not limited to L2 chain deployers and application builders" and "it can also be utilized by the L3 ecosystem."
The Optimism Superchain is a network of Layer 2 blockchains, called OP chains, that share security, communication layers, and open source technologies.
It notes that Layer 3 will have access to benefits such as funding, airdrops, and developer grant programs, but may have restrictions on certain features such as interoperability.
Layer 3 protocols are built on top of Layer 2 and are used to host application-specific decentralized applications, providing enhanced solutions for scaling, performance, interoperability, customization, and cost.
Blockchain layer. Source: CoinGecko
OP Stack has two key features to support L3 builders - custom gas tokens and “Plasma Mode”.
Custom Gas Tokens are a highly requested feature in the final stages of development, which allows developers to use Layer 2 tokens as the native Gas token for Layer 3 protocols. This reduces the cost of entry because there is no need to perform expensive transactions to bring Gas tokens from L1 to L2 and then to L3.
Plasma mode is an alternative to the data availability layer that reduces the fixed overhead costs of running L3 compared to L2. Data availability refers to the ability of network participants to access and verify data stored on the blockchain.
The goal is to make it easier for developers to use the Optimism Hyperchain by providing Layer 3 features and functionality.
However, not everyone is convinced that L3 is the way forward for Ethereum’s scaling. In April, Polygon CEO Marc Boiron argued that Layer 3 networks are not necessary and could increase Ethereum’s security risks by extracting value from the network.
On May 9, Boiron reiterated his position, claiming that “L3 is worse than L2,” before adding:
“L2 allows you to go back to Ethereum frequently and quickly. L3 doesn’t. They always have to go through their L2 overlords.”
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin commented on L3 in late 2022 that they will achieve different scaling purposes by providing “custom functionality.”
According to L2beat data, Rollup-based Optimism (i.e. OP mainnet) is the second largest Layer 2 network with a total value locked of US$6.76 billion and a market share of approximately 18%.
