cLabs, the primary developer behind the Celo blockchain, has put forward a proposal to construct the highly anticipated Ethereum Layer-2 solution on the OP Stack.
This decision to migrate Celo from its current Layer 1 network to an Ethereum Layer 2 solution came after receiving community approval through a governance vote last July, marking a significant milestone in the project’s evolution.
Following an eight-month evaluation and testing period of various scaling technologies and software packages, including Arbitrum Orbit, zkSync’s ZK Stack, and Polygon CDK, the team has opted to develop its Layer 2 solution on the OP Stack, the primary toolkit within the Optimism ecosystem, developed by OP Labs, the core contributor of the Optimism ecosystem.
The deployment of a testnet for the Celo Layer 2 solution is planned for the summer of 2024, following another round of community voting.
This migration to the Optimism ecosystem aims to integrate Celo into Optimism’s Superchain ecosystem, which encompasses OP Mainnet, Base, Zora, Mode, and others. Worldcoin, the digital identity network founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, is also developing a Layer 2 network on the OP Stack.
Optimism’s scaling solution, optimistic rollups, utilized by OP Mainnet and other chains in the Optimism ecosystem, aggregates Ethereum transactions on a secondary off-chain layer, enabling cheaper transaction processing to address scalability challenges on Ethereum.
cLabs’ proposal emphasizes that Celo’s migration to the OP Stack-based Layer 2 will prioritize maintaining the network’s distinctive features while enhancing its performance. Proposed enhancements include reducing block time from 5 seconds to 2 seconds and increasing throughput by 50%.
Celo, an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchain, garnered $30 million in funding in 2019 from prominent venture firms like a16z and Polychain Capital. It secured another $20 million round in 2021. The network hosts a diverse range of applications, from popular Ethereum-based dApps like Uniswap and Sushiswap to native projects such as Valora, Mento, and UbeSwap.
