Optimism’s Superchain: What It Is and How Conduit Supports Its Blockchain Scalability Vision

Ethereum builders want to create a decentralized ecosystem of onchain apps and services with the scale of web2. Ethereum has the security to make this possible, but doesn’t yet have the scalability — there isn’t enough throughput. L2 blockchains are designed to solve this, and enable onchain apps and ecosystems to grow exponentially by processing more activity off of the L1. But without some level of interoperability and standardization between L2s, we wind up with fragmentation of liquidity and user attention, lowered security, and increased technical costs to launching new chains. 

Enter Optimism's Superchain.

What is the Superchain?

The Superchain is a network of Ethereum rollups all built using the OP Stack, and contributing revenue back to the Optimism Collective. In time, the Superchain will have a cross-chain messaging protocol that enables users to migrate data and assets and transact in a synchronized way across Superchain rollups.

While the Superchain standardizes several components of rollups built using the OP Stack, builders will eventually be able to customize many elements of their chain to meet their unique needs and use the tools they feel comfortable with. For instance, when the Superchain is further in development, builders will be able to configure their chain with a sequencer and data availability layer of their choosing. 

How the Superchain addresses Ethereum scalability problems

The Ethereum scalability conundrum is really a two-part problem: We need more blockchains on top of Ethereum to accommodate more apps and users. But if those blockchains are disconnected, we end up with liquidity fragmentation and non-standardized security, which creates vulnerabilities. 

The Superchain aims to solve both problems by working to build a network of interconnected rollups sharing a single open-source tech stack, security standard, and cross-chain communication layer.

• More blockchains on Ethereum. Anyone can build a rollup that’s part of the Superchain by using the open-source OP Stack and committing revenue back to the Collective. Conduit’s platform makes building OP Stack Chains even easier with one-click deployments, automated upgrades to the latest version of the codebase, and a marketplace to find and add any additional tooling your chain needs. 
• Superchain aims to connect its constituent rollups. Superchain rollups will be unified by a native interoperability standard that allows fault proofs over multiple chains at once. Interoperability between Superchain rollups can unlock new multichain app use cases and increased economic efficiency, without introducing fundamentally new security assumptions. 

There are still challenges to solve before the Superchain vision is fully realized, such as increasing the speed with which cross-chain messages between Superchain rollups are processed and improving scalability for onchain apps deployed across multiple OP Stack Chains. You can read about Optimism’s planned solutions to those challenges here. Nevertheless, as we’ll explore below, several rollups are already realizing the benefits of being part of the Superchain today.

The Superchain in action: How Conduit rollups are benefiting 

Five of the top ten Superchain rollups by TVL are deployed and maintained with Conduit, including Mode at number three ($569M TVL), Lyra at number five ($62M TVL), Orderly Network at number seven ($28M TVL), Zora Network at number eight ($27M TVL), and Polynomial at number nine ($7M TVL). 

Conduit rollups are already realizing huge benefits from their deployment with the Superchain. Mode Network, for example, is processing huge amounts of data, with an average gas usage of 2.7 megagas per second in July 2024, trailing just Base and OP Mainnet amongst Superchain rollups on most days. Mode also benefits from Conduit’s fast implementation of Optimism’s network upgrades like Fjord.  

In the long term, ecosystem chains like Mode will benefit immensely from Superchain’s interoperability, as apps deployed on Mode will also be able to reach users on every other rollup in the Superchain.

Conduit and the Superchain: An ideal match

Conduit is excited to continue helping rollup teams build on the OP Stack and tap into the power of the Superchain. We also look forward to staying involved with the Optimism team and doing everything we can to make the full Superchain vision a reality. If you’d like to learn more about how Conduit can help you deploy your chain on the OP Stack, get in touch with us here.