Uniswap’s new L2 Unichain joins the Superchain and can change the way liquidity moves cross-chain
Optimism Weekly Overview - October 15, 2024
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Superchain Ecosystem Numbers
DeFi total value locked (TVL) across Superchain: $3.19B (-6.1%)
Assets onchain: $14.07B (-6.6%)
Daily average transaction volume: 6.67M (+2.7%)
Superchain transaction fee total savings vs L1s:
OP Mainnet: 27,792 ETH
Base: 140,232 ETH
Zora: 7,414 ETH
Compared to Ethereum, L2 Superchain users saved a total of 175,438 ETH, or $457.2M on txn fees this week.
The percentages and metrics are pulled from OPLabs data on Dune and are calculated from its change over a 7-day time frame, unless noted otherwise. Some data has been omitted in this week’s overview due to technical errors.
Spotlight on Optimism’s Superchain
Highlighting some of the biggest updates on Optimism’s Superchain this week.
⚡What’s happening: Uniswap Labs announced the launch of Unichain, a layer-2 blockchain (L2) built using the OP Stack that will join the Superchain.
⚡Why it matters: The launch of Unichain is another step further into the decentralized sector for Uniswap and the Superchain ecosystem.
Unichain looks to integrate 1-second block times and Flashbots to further reduce transaction confirmation times to 250 milliseconds. This can be a faster solution for DeFi users to obtain near-instant transaction experiences, which in turn could enhance the overall user experience.
Additionally, Unichain, which is currently in its testnet phase, will support cross-chain liquidity within the Superchain ecosystem. As it stands, nearly half of all L2 transactions are powered by Optimism’s OP Stack, according to the Superchain Health Dashboard.
Additionally, Unichain integrates a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) in hopes of enhancing the security of the transaction execution process, while maintaining decentralized consensus mechanisms. This ensures that users can trust the speed and transparency of Unichain's transaction ordering and it can improve fairness and mitigate risks of trading manipulation.
The base-layer Ethereum is already decentralized, but its low throughput and higher costs have historically been a pain point for the network, developers and users.
If Unichain can successfully offer high throughput while maintaining cost efficiency, it can prevent liquidity fragmentation, something that has been an ongoing issue in the L2 ecosystem. These improvements could lead to higher user adoption and efficiency for decentralized applications (dApps) and decentralized finance protocols.
⚡What it means for the broader ecosystem: Unichain is powered by the OP Stack and is designed to provide more blockspace, faster speeds, and lower gas fees to support a variety of DeFi applications.
As part of the Superchain, Unichain will contribute a portion of its revenue to the Optimism Collective and participate in shared governance.
For context, Uniswap generated about $1.3 billion in trading and settlement fees last year, providing the protocol and its token holders no value in return, according to Michael Nadeau, founder of The DeFi Report.
“But with the launch of Unichain later this year, that’s all about to change,” Nadeau said on X. Instead of paying over $350 million to Ethereum validators, Uniswap Labs will “capture that value when they launch Unichain.”
As Ethereum L1 continues to grow, the need for a more scalable, interoperable solution becomes even more pressing. If Unichain can improve speed, affordability, and simplify cross-chain interactions for users, this can drive greater liquidity across multiple L2s.
What’s poppin’ on the Superchain
👤Total number of weekly active addresses by chain:
Base: 7.17M
OP Mainnet: 420.76K
Zora: 170.23K
Mode Network: 11.32K
Optimism unveiled information about its 5th airdrop campaign that saw 10M+ OP allocated to 54K+ unique addreses
Active addresses on Swan Chain hit 43.5K on Oct. 10, an all-time high for the network, according to Superscan data
Daily transactions on Base hit 6M four days in a row, according to Blockworks Research data
Aerodrome, a liquidity marketplace for Base, hit $1.3B in TVL, an all-time high for the protocol (chart shown below)
Source: DefiLlama
From the Optimism Collective
Highlighting the companies, communities and citizens bound to the Optimism Collective.
Sony Group’s L2 Soneium announced the participants for its Spark incubation program
Base creator Jesse Pollak created a video on X about the latest Base happenings
Zora partnered with Layer3 Foundation to expand the reach of its mobile app to more creator-centric ecosystems
Making headlines
Understanding ERC-7765: A New Standard for NFT and Real World Asset Integration (Mint Blockchain on Mirror)
Optimism rolls out fifth airdrop, allocates 10.3 million OP tokens to 54,000 Superchain users (The Block)
More details on Unichain:
Announcing Unichain | DeFi's Next Frontier? (Bankless Podcast)
Uniswap Launches Testnet For Unichain Layer 2 (The Defiant)
Uniswap Developer Unveils Own Layer-2 Network, Unichain, Built on Optimism Tech (CoinDesk)
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.
Base revealed its new website
Also learn more about its global hackathons, available in select regions
Mode unveiled information regarding its “Season 3” airdrop
Applications for Unichain Developer grants are open
Optimism introduces Supersim - a lightweight tool for developers to simulate the Superchain locally and experiment with building interoperable app
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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.