Welcome back to the Optimism Weekly Overview.
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The percentages and metrics are pulled from the Superchain Health Dashboard and are calculated from its change over a 7-day time frame, unless noted otherwise.
Highlighting some of the biggest updates on Optimism’s Superchain this week.
🔴What’s happening: Base launched Flashblocks on its Sepolia testnet, which makes the chain 10-times faster than it previously was, the team shared in a blog post.
🔴Why it matters: Flashblocks reduces transaction confirmation times from 2 seconds to 200 milliseconds in order to make the user experience feel more similar to traditional web applications. This performance upgrade can improve user experiences for applications by providing real-time feedback, something that is crucial for trading, gaming and social dApps.
Flashblocks can also address a major friction point in web3— speed. With this upgrade, Base would be able to produce 10-times faster transactions than before and reduce its effective block time to 200 milliseconds for “preconfirmation blocks.”
Preconfirmation can be thought of as a soft confirmation that gives users and devs assurance that a transaction will be included in the upcoming block. Before the final settlement onchain, Flashblock’s infrastructure does transaction ordering to optimize the block space and prevent MEV attacks that are caused by bots reordering the transactions to extract value or arbitrage.
This ultimately could improve speed, security and reduce fees for users, especially for DeFi transactions. The subsecond block times also allows for almost instant transaction confirmations for users, while also maintaining security through native revert protection. This means, transactions that fail or encounter errors are automatically prevented from being finalized onchain— so users don’t lose funds.
Additionally, a built-in protection helps make onchain experiences more reliable and less frustrating for experienced and web3 newcomers alike. This improvement happens at the protocol level, enhancing the experience without requiring changes from developers. This means they can build applications that need quick responses, like trading or gaming, while still using familiar EVM tools.
The technology is currently on testnet with mainnet deployment planned for second quarter. This will give developers time to start building with these capabilities before the full, public launch. With that said, Base is creating a strong reason for developers to build on its platform with its continuous upgrades.
🔴What it means for the broader ecosystem: Base wants to achieve “big, hairy, audacious goals” for 2025. The developer team has been focused on improving the capabilities of its network through upgrades like Flashblocks and open-source tools through its OnchainKit for developers.
In addition to the Flashblocks, the L2 also announced on Feb. 27 two other upgrades: Appchains and Smart Wallet Sub Accounts are now live. Appchains is set to create a layer-3 infrastructure for high traffic applications with custom fast tokens and fee logics, further improving performance in gaming, entertainment and finance dApps. Meanwhile, Smart Wallet Sub Accounts will simplify onchain interactions with abstracted wallets, in an effort to make web3 more accessible to users.
These upgrades are focused on continuing to grow Base as a leading L2 in the Superchain and overall blockchain space alike. The improved developer and user experiences with fast transaction speeds and low costs are aiming to make Base the go-to platform for both builders and users.
Unichain hit $1.2B in cumulative DEX volume in the past month
Coinbase Developer Platform launched a “Layer 3 solution” called Base Appchains for high traffic apps like gaming
Mint, an L2 NFT-centric chain on the Superchain, launched its native token MINT
BitVM Bridge is live on the BOB testnet for practical Bitcoin DeFi implementation and the Superchain ecosystem
Check out the Mode Synth Miners performance review for forecasting bitcoin’s price
Learn about the winners of Unichain’s Infinite Hackathon: Unipump and Prediction Market Hook
Highlighting the companies, communities and citizens bound to the Optimism Collective.
Explore this diagram of how composability works in the Superchain for crosschain event reading
Learn how developers can improve their workflow on OP Stack using SuperUI
Check out this ETHDenver Hackathon project for a multichain “super” wallet
Watch this panel by Hyperbolic + Eigen Layer at Hype(r)House ETHDenver
For more Optimism Collective weekly updates, look here.
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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.