The Superchain marks the next major milestone in Optimism’s endgame. But what exactly is the Superchain, why is it so important, and how does Hyperlane accelerate the Superchain today?
The Road To The Superchain
Over its years, Ethereum has evolved to host the largest validator network and the most economic value of any blockchain today. Just 4 years ago, over 90% of onchain activity took place on the L1. However, as growing demand for blockspace drove up network congestion and gas fees, it became evident that Ethereum alone couldn’t manage the influx of activity.
This has paved the way for Ethereum scalability solutions like the Optimism L2, which offer lower-cost EVM blockspace for users and application developers alike. L2s like Optimism enable users to transact with Ethereum’s computational functionality, reducing L1 congestion by hosting user activity and settling back to the L1. Optimism’s Bedrock upgrade then introduced the OP Stack, an open framework for launching new L2s with shared properties, referred to as OP Chains today. The next major upgrade will see Optimism and all other OP chains converge into a cohesive ecosystem of interoperable rollups known as the Superchain.
However, native interoperability for the Superchain is still in development. Hyperlane’s modular framework offers a solution developers can start building with today, and be ready to transition to native Superchain interop when its live. One team leading the charge on this front is Velodrome, with the launch of Superlane.
Understanding The Superchain
The Superchain refers to an interconnected network of L2s, or OP Chains, built on a common standard codebase and share key properties such as bridging, security, and governance. Each OP Chain contributes a share of fees — either 2.5% of chain revenue or 15% of on-chain profit, whichever is greater — through a standardized revenue-sharing model, supporting the Optimism Collective.
Highly regarded as the “endgame” for Optimism, the Superchain seeks to brings OP Chains together into a cohesive ecosystem, in which experiences across many different rollups will feel like using a single, logical chain.
For a simple analogy, one can think of the Superchain as a global federation — each OP Chain is an individual, self-governing state abiding by a common set of laws and principles, and contributing its share of taxes to the Superchain federation. In exchange, the countries benefit from powerful network effects, enabled by the ability to seamlessly transact and communicate with other countries.
Why Do We Need The Superchain?
The OP Stack provides a flexible toolkit for L2 development, allowing anyone to launch an L2 regardless of whether or not they join the Superchain . However, as the number of L2s multiplied, so did fragmentation. Even OP Stack configurations often introduce different security models, economic structures, and other key properties.
This fragmentation complicates the onchain experience for users and developers alike. Users shouldn’t worry about switching RPCs, accounts, or gas tokens when transacting onchain. Developers shouldn’t worry about implementing different codebases to deploy their app on different chains. In the end, interacting across multiple OP Chains should feel as seamless as being on a single chain.
But how is this achieved?
Superchain Interoperability
Simply put, OP Chains need to be able to communicate with other OP Chains in a secure and efficient manner. To achieve this, they need interoperability.
The Superchain will introduce native interoperability for OP Chains, made up of several key components:
- Superchain Bridge — An L1 bridge contract governed by the Optimism Collective, which can enforce upgrades for OP Chains. This enables standardized security properties across all OP Chains.
- Message Passing Protocol — The core logic defining how messages can securely flow between OP chains. This includes an initial message on the source chain, and a finalizing/executing message on the destination chain.
- Superchain ERC20 Standard — A native burn-and-mint token standard for moving assets across different OP chains. SuperchainERC20 is virtually the same as the ERC20 standard, with the key exception being an interface for minting and burning assets.
Looking further ahead, the Optimism Collective plans to bring atomic interchain composability to the Superchain. This will allow the same transaction to be included on multiple chains at the same time, enabled by an opt-in shared Sequencer for OP Chains.
Accelerating The Superchain
Given the amount of coordination and input required across an open-source initiative like the OP Stack, it’s not surprising that native Superchain interop will take time to go live. But time waits for no one. What about the 25 chains currently live on the Superchain, which account for over 36% of all L2 transactions? How can they achieve interoperability today?
Velodrome Leads the Way
Velodrome Finance is a leading AMM-based DEX on the Superchain, with over $112m in TVL and $5.36b in lifetime trading volume. In order to become the definitive liquidity hub for the Superchain and evolve into a chain-level incentive layer, Velodrome needs to extend its reach across multiple OP Chains. And in the hyper-competitive world of DeFi, Velodrome needs to be able to act now.
Thanks to a modular, open framework like Hyperlane, Velodrome was able to configure their own interoperability solution for the Superchain without requiring any governance approvals, signing any exclusivity contracts, or spending exorbitant amounts on bridging provider costs.
Meet Superlane
Velodrome and Hyperlane are launching Superlane, a new interoperability layer built to unlock Superchain interoperability early. Simply put, Superlane powers interchain functionality across OP Chains and beyond, using Hyperlane under-the-hood. This enables apps like Velodrome to connect to any Hyperlane-integrated OP Chain and start expanding their functionality with Superchain features right away.
But how does it all work?
Superlane enables communication between any chains on which Hyperlane is deployed. When a message is sent between two Hyperlane-integrated chains, a relayer picks it up and delivers it to the destination chain. There, messages are verified by Interchain Security Modules (ISMs) and if valid, forwarded to their final destination. The ISM can be swapped to an ISM supporting Superchain-native interoperability when it goes live, allowing a smooth transition.
As of today, Hyperlane is deployed across 70+ different chains, including 16 different OP Chains. And anyone can permissionlessly deploy Hyperlane to their own chain today, allowing Hyperlane to quickly scale to every OP Chain faster than traditional interoperability solutions.
To support Superlane expansion, Velodrome will be incentivizing Hyperlane deployments to new OP Chains. Operators that run a Hyperlane validator on Superchain rollups will be subsidized for their efforts through Velodrome’s native VELO token.
TL;DR Superlane is Hyperlane with beefed up security incentivized by Velodrome across Superchain rollups, enabling Superchain interop capabilities today and a smooth transition in future.
Why Does This Matter?
With Superlane, any chain or application on the OP Stack will be able to use Hyperlane for shared liquidity, interchain governance, and other unique features enabled by the Superchain. More importantly, with Hyperlane’s modular security, developers are in full control over which mechanisms to use to verify their interchain messages, as they are fully customizable and can easily be switched out for new ones as needed. For instance, the SuperchainHook and SuperchainISM will enable teams to seamlessly transition to using native Superchain interop for securing their interchain messages once it is live.
Superlane demonstrates what can be achieved with an open interop framework like Hyperlane when combined with innovations in interchain security like the Superchain.
Superlane In Action With Velodrome
At launch, Velodrome will use Superlane to expand its reach across the Superchain through several features:
- Interchain XVELO: Velodrome’s governance token, will be available as a Superchain ERC20 asset, meaning it can be seamlessly transferred across OP Chains via burn-and-mint.
- Interchain XVELO Emissions: XVELO rewards will be distributed across OP Chains seamlessly.
- Interchain Gauges & Gauge Voting: XVELO holders can participate in gauge voting across multiple chains, influencing the distribution of liquidity incentives via governance.
In The End, Open Source Wins
Interoperability is a prerequisite for building robust, interconnected ecosystems like the Superchain. The easier it is for chains to connect to one another, the easier it is to expand onchain functionality and unlock new opportunities for developers and users alike. And nothing is more powerful to achieving this than open source code. This is why reputable teams like Coinbase, Sony, Uniswap, and Kraken, among many others, are choosing to build on the Superchain.
Just like the OP Stack, Hyperlane is a modular, open source framework for developers. More precisely, it is a cross-chain messaging protocol simplifying communication between blockchains. Developers can easily adapt Hyperlane’s core components, whether its smart contracts or protocol agents, and define their own parameters and preferences for full customizability and control. This enables teams like Velodrome to build their own interoperability solutions as needed today, while being ready to embrace the full capabilities of the Superchain moving forward.
Superlane Expansion.
Learn more about Velodrome Finance:https://velodrome.finance/
Check out the Supersim Repo: https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/supersim?tab=readme-ov-file
More about Hyperlane
Hyperlane is the open interoperability framework. It empowers developers to connect anywhere onchain and build applications that can easily and securely communicate between multiple blockchains. Importantly, Hyperlane is fully open-source and always permissionless to build with.
