Original | Odaily Planet Daily
Author | Nanzhi
Today, Optimism announced that L3 built with OP Stack can now join Superchain. L3 can build on OP Stack and share revenue with Optimism Collective, thereby accessing the Superchain Builder Network and becoming eligible for Retro funding, airdrops, and growth activities. Odaily will analyze this change and the story behind it in this article.
Development plan interpretation
Basic concepts and announcement analysis
First of all, what is OP Stack? OP Stack is an open standard code library that supports super chain development. It is not limited to L2 chains and DApp developers (well-known cases include Base, Zora Network, etc.), but can also be used by L3 ecosystems.
Another important question is, what is a Superchain? Superchain is a major vision of Optimism, conceived as multiple decentralized L2 chain networks (now also including L3), which share security, communication layers and open source technology OP Stack. These chains have standardized features and interchangeable network resources to enhance the interoperability of the chain, enabling developers to create DApps targeting the entire Superchain.
The latest announcement from Optimism can be understood as developers who use OP Stack to build L3 can now join Optimism's superchain development map and enjoy the benefits of the overall ecological development. For these L3s, the direct benefits include Retro funding, airdrops, and growth activities, and these L3s will return part of their income to Optimism Collective.
However, it should be noted that the current L3-oriented OP Stack technology is not yet fully mature, especially in terms of interoperability, which still needs to be improved.
Will application demand force technological change?
Why did Optimism make this change? The official announcement describes a long list of technologies and visions, but the most important content may actually be as follows:
L3 can provide a new and more cost-effective way for chain and DApp developers to build. We have already seen this trend on Base, which has rapidly expanded its support for L3 on its original foundation.
It is not difficult to see that what is pointed to here should be L3 Degen on the Base chain. The story behind this can be traced back to what happened on Warpcast 1 month ago:
Binji Pande, head of Optimism NFT, wrote a message asking: "Why does DEGEN L3 use Arbitrum Orbit technology instead of OP Stack?" (Note: Arbitrum Orbit is a chain development tool launched by the Arbitrum team.)
Degen co-developer Syndicate responded to the post: "The ability to support custom Gas tokens is a big plus!" (OP Stack does not support custom Gas tokens, so we don't use them.)
OP Labs product director Zain Bacchus then responded: “Custom Gas tokens will be launched this quarter.”
What else is updated?
This update includes custom Gas tokens and Plasma mode.
First, OP Stack will support L3 custom Gas tokens. Projects that have built communities around existing L2 native tokens can now use their tokens as Gas tokens to grow their communities into L3 ecosystems. This also reduces the entry cost for new users. There is no need to deposit Gas tokens into L2 through expensive L1 operations and then enter L3. Instead, they can perform low-cost L2 deposit operations in L3.
The optionality of the data availability (DA) layer is another key module for developers to build low-cost chains. The Plasma model allows all developers to choose the DA layer on top of the OP Stack to reduce transaction costs while minimizing security challenges and management costs. The OP Stack will integrate multiple data availability layers in succession.
Looking ahead, this opens up a framework for L3 developers to participate in the hyperchain ecosystem and help shape the future of scalability while also benefiting from the contributions of other builders.
in conclusion
At a time when all kinds of chains are booming, L1, L2 and L3 are no longer scarce. When there are too many "gold diggers", being a "shovel seller" is the most stable and effective way of doing business. From the latest announcement, it can be seen that Optimism is actively adapting to market demand, aiming to make OP Stack the ultimate weapon to realize the vision of super chain.