Author: @Mint_Blockchain
Background of Layer 2 development
In recent years, Ethereum has become the public chain with the most aggregated ecosystems, with an increasing number of Dapps deployed on Ethereum. As transaction volume explosively grows, issues such as slow transaction processing speed and high transaction fees are becoming more pronounced.
Against the background of the pressing need for scalability + ETH 2.0 not being able to land quickly, Layer 2 solutions have emerged. Layer 2 is a scalability solution for Ethereum, functioning as an independent blockchain that shares Ethereum's workload while inheriting its security.
From 2022 to now, Layer 2 scaling solutions have developed rapidly. According to L2Beat data, there are currently over 100 L2 and L3 projects online, with several more L2 projects planned for launch.
Currently, about 90% of Ethereum transactions now occur on L2 networks, highlighting the important position of L2 in the current market.
Issues facing Layer 2
The large-scale adoption of Layer 2 has partially solved the scaling issues of the Ethereum ecosystem, significantly improving transaction speed and reducing transaction fees.
Meanwhile, an increasing number of Layer 2 projects are online and operating, presenting us with two issues:
(1) Severe homogenization of infrastructure
The prevalence of commercial expansion strategies such as OP Stack, ZK Stack, Polygon CDK, and Rollup as a Service has allowed L2 to issue with low costs at the push of a button, but it has also led to excessive homogenization of Ethereum Layer 2's infrastructure.
(2) Liquidity fragmentation and fragmentation
Excessive homogenization of Layer 2 has led to liquidity fragmentation and the fragmentation of on-chain assets, while also failing to meet the differentiated configuration needs in certain specific application scenarios.
Layer 2 Interoperability
L2 cross-chain interoperability is the main solution to the homogenization and fragmentation of the L2 ecosystem, enabling secure interaction between L2 chains, allowing users to efficiently transfer funds between Layer 2 systems without feeling fragmented, but rather as if operating on a single chain.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes that solutions to Ethereum Layer 2 cross-chain interoperability issues will be resolved faster than expected, significantly improving user experience. He also shared his vision for L2 cross-chain interoperability.
Taking the mainstream OP Stack Superchain as an example, its member chains currently include OP Mainnet, Base, Zora, Mode, Mint, Unichain, worldcoin, and other L2 public chains.
OP Superchain Interoperability
Before introducing interoperability, the L2 member chains of Superchain had their own independent ecosystems. After applying interoperability, all Superchain members form an ecological community.
Native OP Stack interoperability provides the ability to transfer assets and read messages on Superchain through low-latency, secure messaging (without going through L1). This brings several benefits:
1 block delay in asset movement, maximizing capital efficiency without causing fragmentation
Improving the experience for Superchain developers and users
Securely transfer ETH and ERC-20 between L2
Horizontally scalable applications
At the same time, the new cross-chain token standard ERC-7802 has been introduced and applied in Superchain as an interoperable asset: SuperchainERC20.
SuperchainERC20
SuperchainERC20 is the implementation of ERC-7802 within Superchain for asset interoperability. Asset interoperability allows tokens to move securely across chains without asset wrapping or liquidity pools, maximizing capital efficiency, unifying liquidity, and simplifying the user experience.
Features include:
Easy to use
Token cross-chain does not require additional infrastructure, providing a unified token implementation for all networks compatible with Superchain and offering a universal cross-chain interface for the entire EVM ecosystem.
Permissionless usage
Easily deploy existing token contracts to new OP Stack chains using create2, allowing transfer to new chains without the original owner's assets. Permissionless propagation retains the integrity of the contract's original owner and maintains security, while extending the contract's availability to new chains.
Unified Standards
Based on ERC-7802 implementation, this is a unified interface that can be used throughout Ethereum, enabling crosschainMint and crosschainBurn functionalities.
Summary
We explored the development of Layer 2 and the current issues of fragmentation, and introduced Layer 2 interoperability as a solution using OP Superchain as an example. Currently, Superchain Interoperability is still in the development stage, and the implementation of cross-chain interoperability is expected to bring liquidity unification and further ecological prosperity for Ethereum.
Reference Material:
https://l2beat.com/scaling/summary
https://x.com/rudolf6_/status/1846294858400780638
https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1820404774493110309
https://www.optimism.io/build
https://docs.optimism.io/stack/interop/explainer
https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/erc-7802-crosschain-token-interface/21508
