Reading the ecology of Optimism: Why can we be optimistic about the future of OP?
Understanding the Ecology and Future Vision of OP
Original article by Louis Wang
Crush, Biteye core contributor
01, Optimism on the chain
Optimism Optimism, one of the optimism of Ethereum's Tier 2 op-rollup binary, has recently become a popular topic due to the sharp rise in Token prices and Quest activity.
From the on-chain data, the on-chain assets of OP increased steadily, and the total value reached nearly $2.4B; After the end of Quest activity, the daily trading volume decreased somewhat, but remained stable at about 200,000 pieces per day. More than 1.6 million unique users; gas charges are on average 150 times lower than on Ethereum's main network.
(https://chaineye.tools/optimism)
So how can OP ecology attract and accommodate abundant on-chain activities and the influx of money?
02. OP Player's Manual
Although OP is Ethereum's Layer2, it is essentially a general-purpose public chain. This section, with the help of Chaineye's OP section, is a guide for crypto players exploring the OP ecology.
2.1 DeFi
DeFi will always be the highlight of the public chain. The prosperity and innovation of DeFi project will attract and accommodate a large amount of liquidity, just like injecting fuel into the engine, invigorating the whole public chain ecology. OP has a perfect DeFi ecosystem, including decentralized trading platform and lending.
In addition to the migration of Ethereum's leading projects, there are also some native projects, such as Velodrome, which are supported by OP and receive an additional bonus of OP tokens when adding liquidity.
2.1.1 DEX
According to Chaineye, the biggest DEX on OP is Velodrome, and TVL leads all DEX events by a wide margin, even beating Curve in second place by an order of magnitude.
Velodrome 是 OP 上的特色项目之一，定位为一个以 Solidly 为模型的 dex，希望在 Optimism 上构建一个主要的交易和流动性市场，并且融合了 Solidly、Curve、Olympus DAO、Votium 中如 veToken 以及博弈论等特点，同时对 Token 分配、释放和激励等规则进行了优化，以帮助激励流向最有价值的生态系统流动性池。
Velodrome 中有两种 Token ，VELO 是一种 ERC20 Token ，可以通过质押获得 veVELO，是一种 NFT 治理 Token ，功能与 veCRV 类似。
In most of the past half year, almost all the new VELO was used for lock-in, demonstrating the effectiveness of the mechanism (3,3). All kinds of machine gun pool projects are actively accumulating more veVELO. veVELO holders' main income comes from bribery, which makes the project side more efficient in attracting liquidity.
Velodrome's core function is to allow users to exchange digital assets at low fees and low slip points, with transaction fees of 0.02% to 0.05%. Even without Uniswap V3's liquidity aggregation, users will have a better experience because of these lower fees.
(https://defillama.com/protocol/velodrome)
Since Velodrome launched the op token incentive in August last year, TVL has skyrocketed, surpassing Uniswap and Curve, and remained the No. 1 OP TVL in the years since. Velodrome's current TVL is around $168 m, or 21.6 percent of the total OP chain, according to Defillama, making it undoubtedly one of the most noteworthy projects on OP.
Since OP is an EVM-compatible chain, some leading projects on Ethereum can be migrated smoothly, so Uniswap V3, Curve, KyperSwap are also deployed on OP, so those who are used to them can keep their preferences.
Other OP Dexes like Beethoven X and Rubicon are worth watching. Beethoven X aims to be a one-stop, decentralized investment platform. In addition to the Swap function, as shown below, it will provide portfolio advice based on hot sectors and one-click portfolio investment.
(https://op.beets.fi/)
Rubicon 是一个订单薄模式的 DEX，旨在发展和引入以太坊区块链上的股权和数字资产市场。通过质押单一 Token ，也可以获得 OP token 的奖励。
(https://rubicon.finance/)
2.1.2 Lending
AAVE, the leading Ethereum lending project, launched version V3 on OP, with functions such as asset cross-chain flow and efficient mode, as well as isolation mode to support long-tail asset lending, with significant head effect.
(https://chaineye.tools/op-b& l)
Sonne Finance 是 OP 的原生借贷平台，也是借贷项目中 TVL 第二大的。该平台为 wETH、USDC、USDT、DAI、OP、sUSD、wBTC 和 SNX 提供货币市场。Sonne 在他们的 Token 战略中使用了 Velodrome，因为他们并不简单地用 SONNE Token 奖励流动性提供者。
相反，他们用 SONNE Token 贿赂 VELO 持有者，让他们投票给 SONNE/USDC 对，而质押 SONNE Token 的用户反而获得了 VELO 奖励。OP 有机会以 Velodrome 为基础搭建起自己的原生 DeFi 乐高，而 Sonne 是借贷这一块。
Other lending platforms, such as dForce and Hundred Finance, are multi-chain lending agreements, but the overall TVL and LTV are not too strong.
2.1.3 Derivative
The complete DeFi ecology also includes financial derivatives on the chain, which can give play to more innovations and nurture more projects through its combinable performance. The power of the flywheel raised by GMX on Arbitrum can be seen.
(https://defillama.com/chain/Optimism)
The financial derivatives on OP, in addition to the migration of the Ethereum header product Perpetual, also have Pika Protocol. Pika is a stablecoin backed by decentralized derivatives. It consists of two parts: Pika Exchange and PIKA Stablecoin.
Pika Exchange 是一个支持杠杆交易的永续合约交易平台。它支持基于 Token 的反向永续掉期。交易平台的基础是虚拟自动做市商（vAMM）。PIKA 稳定币是由 Pika Exchange 支持的稳定币，具有以下特点：稳定：它使用永久掉期头寸来支持其在 1 美元目标附近的价格稳定。
PIKA 是通过开立 1 倍的反向永续掉期空头头寸来铸造的。资本效率：通过存入价值一美元的受支持 Token （例如，ETH、WBTC）来铸造 PIKA，实现比超额抵押稳定币更好的资本效率。
At the beginning of the launch of Pika, there are also OP token rewards, and the larger the transaction volume, the more rewards.
2.2 Farming
Regarding stablecoin liquidity mining, you can refer to the yeild plate of Chaineye, without further details. The composition, income and TVL of each pool are clear at a glance.
(https://chaineye.tools/op-defi) 2.3 NFT Marketplace
Quix is the first native NFT marketing platform on the Optimism that allows users to search, collect, and buy and sell NFTS. Users can also launch their own NFT projects through Launchpad, allowing the deployment of code-independent NFT smart contracts and casting pages.
The low cost of Layer2 helped users save nearly $300,000 in fees. Quix has since shut down due to financial issues, and Quix Launchpad ceased service on January 16.
This vacancy can currently be focused on NFTEarth, which has a multi-round airdrop program, and OG cards can also be purchased on the secondary market.
2.4 Game
On-chain game developer Lattice has launched OPCraft, an on-chain stereoscopic pixel world on OP Stack that is almost identical to Minecraft.
In this virtual world, every component from the river to the diamond exists on the chain, and every action of the player, from digging to building, actually happens as a transaction on the chain. OP Stack, a modular Rollup architecture that relies on Optimism for a custom chain capable of carrying such high throughput on the chain.
(https://optimism.mirror.xyz/fLk5UGjZDiXFuvQh6R_HscMQuuY9ABYNF7PI76-qJYs)
The rollup test chain is currently frozen, but this is a very good OP stack experiment. If we keep paying attention to Lattice games built on OP stack in the future, there will be better opportunities for chain play and participation.
Conclusion: When exploring the OP ecology, it is best to pay more attention to the projects that participate in the original OP, which generally receive early support from OP, namely OP token rewards.
03, Op stack technology introduction
Today, most chains are pursuing their own modular strategies. Optimism, Arbitrum, and Starknet differ in their execution layers, but they all share the same layers of clearing, consensus, and data availability by outsourcing them to the Ethereum mainnet.
Each chain runs its own independent policy, with differences in execution, billing, and design of the data availability layer. What if these chains shared a standardized open source code library instead of today's isolated chain /rollup system?
This is where Optimism comes in: a standardized set of open source modules for building more expressive and precise rollup chains on Ethereum.
3.1 Modular Technology
What is the role of modularity?
To put it simply, modularity is like wearing, Ethereum is now like a jumpsuit, even if the clothes don't fit, the color is not good, you can't change. However, if we divide the dress into three major modules: coat, pants and shoes, we can create different images by matching different materials and colors.
And the modularity of blockchain, is the execution of transactions, bookkeeping, synchronous ledger several things to several people to do, do not need a person to finish from beginning to end, tired and slow.
OP Stack is an important step in OP modular blockchain, and also an important step in exploring modularity from theory to practice. OP divides blockchain into three layers according to its functions: consensus layer, execution layer and settlement layer.
The function of each layer can be reference to begin Fichter in Devcon Bogot speech, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnVjhp41pcc& t=1302s, here is a brief introduction:
3.1.1 Executive layer
The executive level, as the name implies, executes trades. If A transfers 2 ETH to B, then add -2 ETH to A's balance and 2 ETH to B's balance. Optimism, for example, serves as Ethereum's Rollup, which is intended to replace optimism with which Ethereum executes a transaction and returns a result. Ethereum takes an optimistic approach to believing in the results of OP returns, while leaving a period of challenge for evil.
3.1.2 Settlement layer
The role of the settlement layer is to verify the transaction, verify the correct to give you a stamp, generate a status root.
3.1.3 Consensus layer
Blockchain is a public bookkeeping book, and the consensus layer is all about synchronizing everyone's books to ensure consistency. Among them, there is a concept called data availability, referred to as DA layer, which refers to the account record is a result (state root), then I want to trace and verify the calculation process, it needs the data of the calculation at that time.
The DA layer is where the data is stored, and having the DA layer ensures that you can find the data.
What are the benefits of modularity?
The benefit is that different "parts" can be replaced depending on the needs of the project, enhancing the composability of the blockchain.
04. OP stack's vision
OP stack greatly simplifies the process of building a modular blockchain by decoupling different levels of functionality and combining them all in the form of an API software stack.
Each layer of the OP Stack is described by a defined API and populated by modules of that layer. In theory, OP Stack can build any modular blockchain based on its API.
Instead of building blockchains from zero to one, an off-the-shelf code base based on OP Stack enables rapid deployment of modular blockchains, making it easy to modify existing modules or create your own entirely new ones to meet any application's needs.
Each of the OP stack components implements a specific layer of the stack, powering Optimism's next generation architecture, as shown below:
Specific applications include: a chain can replace the DA layer with Celestia to realize the separation of DA layer, switch the fraud proof module of the execution layer to the validity proof, and realize the conversion from OP rollup to zk Rollup.
The modular stack gives developers greater autonomy, with the ability to switch, replace, and modify different module levels as if they were switching apis.
In the future, by sharing messaging formats, OP Stack-based chains will be able to pass through each other and achieve interoperability, thus realizing the vision of a "hyperchain." When multiple op-chains share a Sequencer Set, they gain a nice feature: interchain composability of atoms.
A sorter that generates blocks on multiple chains simultaneously guarantees atomic interaction between these chains. Op-chains that chose to join the Optimism Collective's shared Sequencer Set became part of the system, and the boundaries between the chains disappeared. Although it consists of multiple chains, the addition of atoms interacting across chains means that it feels like a single logical chain to the end user.
OP proposed that the endgame of blockchain is neither multi-chain nor single-chain structure, but a "super chain" structure composed of a group of highly integrated OP Stack chains.
05. How will OP Stack change OP ecology
OP is working to improve the first version of OP stack, the Bedrock upgrade, and the ecosystem behind OP stack needs to be expanded.
So how will OP Stack change the OP ecology?
First, we move away from the concept of "items on an OP chain" and explore the concept of an "OP universe". As OP Stack matures, Optimism will come very close to the realization of Cosmos, establishing an OP universe with OP at its core.
"One-button hair chain" will become the feature of OP, and L2 and L3 based on OP standardization will explode in growth. On this basis, Appchain can play "blockchain Lego", combining various characteristic VMS and technologies together, with unlimited innovation and possibilities.
At the same time, the various modular blockchains built on the OP stack are interoperable in the OP universe, and can easily communicate with each other using a shared messaging format between chains.
How to participate in this OP modularization reform?
As a developer, you can pay close attention to the release and update of OP stack and release the app chain based on it. As crypto users can participate in various application chains as early as possible. The OP official wants to promote the development of OP stack, which is essential for the incentive of users.
And judging by its eco-incentives and recent retroactive airdrops to users, OP's message is clear: Influence creates wealth. To benefit from the OP ecosystem, either create influence -- build innovative Dapps on top of the OP stack -- or become an influence -- get involved in new DApps early.
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