Have you ever felt the frustration of high gas fees and slow transactions on the Ethereum network, especially during bull-runs?
Say goodbye to those concerns, because OP Mainnet is the solution you’ve been looking for.
OP Mainnet, formerly known as Optimism, and also known by the market ticker OP, is a layer-2 scaling solution for the Ethereum network.
OP Mainnet employs Optimistic Rollups, a technology that enhances Ethereum’s throughput and reduces transaction costs by offloading the computational work to a secondary layer, the “Layer-2”.
This innovation aims to alleviate congestion and high gas fees on the Ethereum network, making the Ethereum blockchain more scalable and accessible for their decentralised applications.
However, in recent times, Optimism has launched their own mainnet, changed their name to OP Mainnet, and announced their “superchain vision” of the future.
But what exactly do they mean by “superchain” and what really makes OP Mainnet stand out from the rest?
What is OP Mainnet?
Founded by Jinglan, Benjamin, Karl, and Kevin back in 2019, Optimism is a low-cost, lightning-fast layer-2 scaling solution for the Ethereum network.
To briefly explain, a layer-1 blockchain, such as the Ethereum network, is the foundation layer of a blockchain network.
Anything built on top of a layer-1 is known as a layer-2, as it operates on top of the layer-1 network rather than as its own independent blockchain.
On the other hand, a scaling solution is a technique used to help reduce the congestion on the layer-1 network.
A busy, congested layer-1 blockchain can lead to higher transaction fees and slower finalisation times, which is not great for either the users or developers.
Not ideal for any network, but even less so for networks that cater towards decentralised finance which often require time-critical completion to ensure the buy and sell orders are executed at the optimal time and price.
In short, by moving some of the computational load from the layer-1 to the layer-2, the layer-1 can continue to process transactions more quickly and cheaply.
While Optimism is most famous for being a scaling solution on the Ethereum network, in recent times, Optimism has launched their own mainnet, and announced their vision of a “superchain”.
So, what has changed and how does it all work?
How does OP Mainnet work?
OP Mainnet is a Layer-2 network that still operates on top of Ethereum’s architecture, acting as a minimalistic extension of the main Ethereum network.
It still allows developers and users to benefit from low transaction costs and quick transaction finalisation, while enjoying the security of Ethereum’s massive Proof-of-Stake network.
At the same time as the change of name from Optimism to OP Mainnet, Optimism also announced its “Superchain” concept.
Essentially, this is the idea of connecting many Layer-2 networks through shared code becoming interoperable with each other to more effectively process data.
Those familiar with how the Cosmos network and how the Cosmos SDK works, can imagine a similar network but specifically for Layer-2 scaling solutions.
For those who aren’t, I’ll link a few videos in the description for you to watch next.
Most notably, Coinbase’s Layer-2 network, known as Base, was built using OP Mainnet’s OP Stack.
Similar to the Cosmos SDK, the OP Stack is a standardised, shared, and open-source development framework making it quick and convenient for developers to launch their own Layer-2 networks and join up to the “Superchain”.
As OP Mainnet is built on top of Ethereum’s architecture at its core, it is a Proof-of-Stake based platform.
To very quickly summarise, Proof-of-Stake is a more scalable, and environmentally-friendly consensus mechanism that semi-randomly selects validators to verify transactions and add new blocks to the blockchain, based on how much they have staked, meaning deposited, to the network as collateral.
As it does not need the entire network to compete to solve a puzzle, like under Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work, it verifies transactions quicker and for a fraction of the energy cost.
What makes OP Mainnet unique?
Well, the “Superchain” is truly what makes OP Mainnet unique.
While still in development, it has the chance to make Ethereum’s volatile gas fees a thing of the past.
In theory, the more layer-2s built using the OP Stack and working through the “Superchain” to crunch data as one effective unit, the lower the chances of the layer-1 network becoming congested, which increases fees and delays transaction times.
This has benefits for both the users as well as the developers.
This is because, with standardised gas markets, developers are not required to transfer the cost of infrastructure fees, such as gas fees, to the users.
Additionally, launching a viral app used to be a barrier to entry for developers due to the unpredictable cost of network fees which would have had to be passed on to the users, ultimately rendering the project dead as no users were willing to pay the associated fees.
Again, in theory, this could eventually lead to a new wave of applications where these considerations no longer hinder the developer or users.
When you add that in with being on top of the largest decentralised network of applications, you have a potential breeding ground for innovation.
But what about the Tokenomics?
OP Tokenomics
In total, there will only ever be just under 4.3 billion OP tokens.
These tokens are used for all the Proof-of-Stake classics like paying network fees, staking, and governance.
Of this 4.3 billion, 25% was allocated to the Ecosystem Fund.
19% was given out during the airdrop, and a further 19% was allocated to Core Contributors.
17% also made its way to Investors and the final 20% towards the Retroactive Public Goods Funding, or RPGF, for short.
The RPGF can be voted on by token holders on the Optimism website, with around 1600 projects available to select from currently.
As is typical for token allocations, there is a vesting period on the token distribution which will see a staggered release between the mainnet’s launch and mid-2026.
If you have used Ethereum during the bull run period, you are aware of its limitations during periods of increased activity.
And if you believe Ethereum will continue to be an important part of the crypto landscape in the future, it needs a platform like Optimism to process its immense volumes of data, which can help keep the gas fees low for Ethereum’s users.
Of course, there are no guarantees in crypto.
However, with the introduction of the “Superchain” and the ability to combine forces to more efficiently crunch blockchain network data, OP Mainnet has certainly set itself up as a serious contender in the Layer-2 ecosystem.