Optimism is an Ethereum layer 2 rollup chain – a secondary blockchain that can process, package, and send transactions back to Ethereum. It contributes to the scaling of Ethereum’s “layer 1” network by allowing for faster transactions and reduced fees. Ethereum has been chastised for its poor scalability capabilities and exorbitant gas pricing. For a long time, there have been discussions regarding boosting the Ethereum main net’s scaling capability.
However, the Ethereum ecosystem now requires a scaling solution, and if Ethereum is unable to provide these new apps with a platform that meets their demands, they can go to alternatives like the BNB Chain or Cardano.
The Optimism Rollout Was Intended To Address Ethereum’s Scalability Issue
One of the various solutions to Ethereum’s congestion problem is the Optimism Rollup network. The Ethereum network is frequently overburdened, and while updates to the primary blockchain are implemented, scaling alternatives like Optimism allow Ethereum’s transactional capabilities to be used without paying exorbitant gas rates. Attackers stole $15 million in OP governance tokens, according to Optimism, an Ethereum scaling utility.
The funds were supposed to go to a crypto market maker, but they ended up in the wrong hands because the market maker, Wintermute, gave Optimism’s team the erroneous blockchain address. The attack came after a rocky few weeks for Optimism, which had its token’s price plummet in its initial hours after a failed OP token airdrop.
According to the most current statistics from CoinMarketCap, the OP coin dropped another 20% after the announcement on Wednesday. For all state transitions to work correctly, Zk-Rollups rely on a zero-knowledge proof. After that, each transfer is matched with the mainchain smart contract. Optimistic Rollups, on the other hand, rely on a user sending a new state origin to the side-chain without first confirming the rollup contract.
