The good news is that several Layer 2 scaling solutions have emerged that help alleviate the congestion and unaffordable gas fees that have plagued the network. One such solution is the Optimistic Rollup.
Optimistic Rollups are a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum that are based on a smart contract platform. They provide a way to bundle and process multiple transactions off the Ethereum mainnet, thus increasing the network’s transaction throughput exponentially. By doing so, this creates a way to mitigate congestion and reduce gas fees, improving the overall user experience.
In an Optimistic Rollup, transactions are batched and executed in a “rollup” smart contract on the Ethereum mainnet. The rollup smart contract maintains a hash of the state of the transactions, allowing it to operate without interference from the mainnet. The state of the transactions is kept separate from the Ethereum mainnet, which reduces the amount of computational power required to execute transactions.
The main advantage of Optimistic Rollups is that they are less complex than other Layer 2 solutions such as Plasma or ZK-Rollups. Optimistic Rollups require only a regular Ethereum node to operate, which reduces the complexity of the network in contrast to Plasma, which requires users to run an additional node. Besides, many other L2 solutions require a considerable amount of trust in third parties, but Optimistic Rollups offer trust-minimized and censorship-resistant transactions.
Rollups can accommodate large amounts of data, meaning that thousands of transactions can be executed in a single block, which reduces the number of transactions that are broadcasted to the Ethereum mainnet. As a result, it ensures that rollups can operate far more efficiently than the mainnet can. Moreover, the risk of double-spending or invalid transactions is mitigated as Rollups rely on fraud proofs submitted by validators.
In summary, Optimistic Rollups are a promising Layer 2 scaling solution that offers significant benefits for developers, users, and the network. They are a trust-minimized, low-cost alternative to transacting directly on the Ethereum mainnet.
With their low complexity, high throughput, trust minimization, and censorship resistance, it only seems a matter of time before Optimistic Rollups become the preferred L2 solution for Ethereum developers and users alike.