Will Optimism’s OP Token Draw People Back to Layer 2s on Ethereum?

Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix, and Ben Jones, cofounder and chief scientist at Optimism Foundation, discuss the current state of Ethereum Layer 2s, Optimism’s new governance structure, why Synthetix chose to build on Optimism, and more. Show topics:

1. what Optimism and Synthetix are
2. how zero-knowledge rollups differ from optimistic rollups
3. why Synthetix decided to build on Optimism
4. what makes L2s more enticing to build on than other L1s
5. how Optimism’s governance is going to change with the launch of the Optimism Collective and OP token
6. what issues Synthetix has had with Discord governance and early token voting, and how they have now solved this by forcing users to consolidate wallet addresses
7. what retroactive public goods funding is and how it could create a “flywheel” of development on Optimism
8. why whales might be excluded from Optimism’s token grant to Synthetix
9. why Ben thinks the future is about the “superchain” rather than multi-chain 
10. what Kain and Ben think about bridging between L2s and Mainnet
11. why Optimism is a staunch backer of EIP 4844
12. how the merge could affect Optimism and Synthetix

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021     

Coinchange: https://coinchange.io   

OnJuno: https://onjuno.com/ 

Episode Links

Guests

• Ben Jones: https://twitter.com/ben_chain
• Kain Warwick: https://twitter.com/kaiynne 

Synthetix

• https://twitter.com/synthetix_io

Optimism

• https://twitter.com/optimismPBC 

Optimism Collective

• https://optimism.mirror.xyz/gQWKlrDqHzdKPsB1iUnI-cVN3v0NvsWnazK7ajlt1fI 

Synthetix Launching on Optimism

• https://blog.synthetix.io/optimism-launch-announcement/ 

Synthetix Governance

• https://docs.synthetix.io/governance/ 

Kain’s Blog

• https://blog.synthetix.io/author/kain/ 

Rollups

• What are the biggest risks to optimistic rollup chains?
  • https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html#:~:text=Anatomy%20of%20a%20fraud%20proof 

• What is the difference between optimistic and ZK rollups? And why did Synthetix choose Optimism?
  • https://blog.matter-labs.io/optimistic-vs-zk-rollup-deep-dive-ea141e71e075 

EIP 4844

• https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4844
• https://www.eip4844.com/

The Merge

• https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-ethereums-merge-was-delayed-and-why-it-wont-reduce-gas-fees-much/ 

Kain’s previous Unchained appearances

• Ethereum killers episode
  • https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-solana-and-binance-smart-chain-could-take-ethereums-lead/
• How Synthetix became the second-largest DeFi platform
  • https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-synthetix-became-the-second-largest-defi-platform/
• DeFi summer
  • https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-comp-5xed-on-day-1-and-what-this-means-for-a-defi-bull-market/ 

Optimism’s Bridging Solution

• https://twitter.com/optimismPBC/status/1517548430297604096