Ethereum L2 “Optimism“ Is Planning To Release Huge Update In March

Optimism is a Layer-2 (L2) project designed to scale Ethereum by processing transactions outside of the Ethereum Mainchain and bundling them back onto the ETH main network. By doing so, the L2 network significantly reduces transaction costs while benefiting from the decentralization and security of the ETH Mainchain.

The technology that enables cost reduction on Optimism is called Optimistic-Rollup technology, and Optimism was one of the first projects to adopt it. Within the crypto sector, the project is considered one of the most promising scaling solutions for Ethereum. Optimism is the second-largest ETH Layer-2 network after Arbitrum.

ETH vs. OP. Source: Nansen.

“Bedrock” – The big update

Although capital on the Ethereum L2 has grown significantly in recent months, Optimism has lost ground compared to other L2s. One reason is that competition between ETH L2s is becoming increasingly fierce, with more and more L2 projects entering the market, some of which offer cheaper transactions than Optimism. As a result, the project is under pressure and has announced a major upgrade called “Bedrock”.

The Upgrade of Optimism, Bedrock, has been in development for a year and is aimed at surpassing all other Optimistic Rollup projects in terms of transaction speed and cost.

Additionally, Bedrock aims to create a solid foundation for future upgrades and the overall scalability of Optimistic Rollups on Ethereum. The upgrade is designed to create a network that can be used long-term to build additional scalability solutions on Optimism.

The Optimism team believes that with Bedrock, Optimism will become the fastest and most cost-effective ETH Optimistic Rollup L2, which could make it better than Arbitrum.

Optimism is currently testing Bedrock on the Ethereum test network “Goerli”. The team expects these tests to be completed soon and plans to implement the upgrade on Optimism on March 16, 2023.