Kraken’s L2 Ink is the second chain to achieve Stage 1 decentralization in the Superchain
Optimism Weekly Overview - January 28, 2025
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Superchain Ecosystem Numbers
DeFi total value locked (TVL) across Superchain: $4.8B (-2.04%)
Assets onchain: $21.4B (-5.73%)
Daily average transaction volume: 14.5M (+3.57%)
Base: 10.8M (-2.7%)
OP Mainnet: 795.7K (-0.96%)
World: 736.0K (+4.89%)
Lisk: 511.8K (+5.11%)
Mint: 277.1K (-2.77%)
Revenue-generating deployers on:
OP Mainnet: 1226 (+0.33%)
Zora: 114 (-3.38%)
Superchain transaction fee total savings vs L1s:
OP Mainnet: 19,836 ETH
Base: 119,975 ETH
Zora: 909 ETH
Compared to Ethereum, L2 Superchain users saved a total of 141K ETH, or $448M on txn fees this week.
The percentages and metrics are pulled from the Superchain Health Dashboard and are calculated from its change over a 7-day time frame, unless noted otherwise.
Spotlight on Optimism’s Superchain
Highlighting some of the biggest updates on Optimism’s Superchain this week.
🔴What’s happening: Ink, a layer- 2 blockchain created by Kraken and built on the OP Stack, has reached Stage 1 decentralization.
🔴Why it matters: Ink transitioned to Stage 1 decentralization just one month after its mainnet launch. It's the second chain in the Superchain to achieve this status, following OP Mainnet. This milestone is a key moment for the Superchain as this upgrade improves Ink’s scalability and security on Ethereum through permissionless fault proofs, while also maintaining the core values of decentralization.
Stage 1 decentralization, a term coined by Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin, is a milestone with “limited training wheels” in place and signifies that a blockchain is moving toward full decentralization.
This stage aims to reduce centralized points of failure with the permissionless fault proofs that can handle transactions with a high standard of security. Another feature is that anyone can monitor for invalid state transitions and if fraud is detected, they can submit a fault proof to challenge it. Lastly, this system also relieves the L1, Ethereum in this case, by using its security only for disputed transactions.
Through this upgrade, Ink will have a fully operational security council and permissionless fault-proof system, starting a new era for securing its rollup alongside OP Mainnet. Ink users will also now have the ability to withdraw bridged assets like ETH and ERC-20 tokens, without the need to involve any trusted third party like the sequencer or any other centralized infrastructure. Participants will also be able to review the rollup transactions on Ink and challenge them if they’re invalid.
In Stage 1, users gain more control as centralized intermediaries are reduced, replacing trust in institutions with trust in mathematics, open-source code, and the community. With this upgrade, users and developers have more enhanced and secure experiences with improved throughput, trustless withdrawal, and community participation in transaction validation. However, Stage 1 is only the beginning, as Stage 2 decentralization removes all centralized fallbacks and takes off the proverbial “training wheels.”
🔴What it means for the broader ecosystem: The Superchain’s mission is to create a unified network of chains that scale Ethereum, while staying true to its values. As blockchain ecosystems expand, the risks of fragmentation and centralization remain persistent, threatening to recreate the systems that the technology sought to replace.
In general, achieving Stage 1 decentralization ensures a path towards fully trustless, scalable, and secure layer-2 blockchains on Ethereum.
Many other Superchain chains including Base, Unichain and others have already committed to implementing fault proofs in the efforts to achieve Stage 1.
This alignment with the values and goals of Ethereum, along with Superchain Native Interop, can help address the issues of fragmentation with a unified, secure and scalable interoperable network.
Learn more about Ink’s Stage 1 upgrade from the recent live stream with the Ink team and OP Labs
What’s poppin’ on the Superchain
Total number of weekly active addresses by chain:
Base: 7.04M
OP Mainnet: 415.64K
Zora: 86.57K
Mode Network: 16.44K
Check out the Superchain Index by Superchain Eco – a source of truth for who is in the Superchain and what modifications they made to their chains, and more
Base added a new feature “Fund Card” on the OnchainKit, providing one-click crypto purchases within an app
World Chain integrated with Chainlink’s CCIP to help developers build secure cross-chain apps
From the Optimism Collective
Highlighting the companies, communities and citizens bound to the Optimism Collective.
Read a thread about Blob-Parameter-Only (BPO) forks by OP Lab Founder Mark Tyneway and OP Labs Head of Product Sam McIngvale
Learn about Optimism Collective’s Season 7 Governance incentives eligibility
Check out Uniswap Foundation and Optimism Foundation’s new testing mechanism for governance and decentralized decision making
Explore the refreshed OP Mainnet logo and branding update
For more Optimism Collective weekly updates, look here.
Get into the OP Stack
Want to dive into the ecosystem full-time? Find the latest job postings here or get involved at an event below.
Join Ink’s five-day hacker house at the House of Ink during ETH Denver, starting on Feb. 22
Interested in building on Base? Attend the Base Onchain AI Hackathon in London on Feb. 1 here
Going to Consensus? Stop by the Superchain Asia Gathering to connect with others in Hong Kong on Feb. 20
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This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.