cLabs, developers of the Celo blockchain, have announced their plan to evolve Celo into a Layer 2 solution on Ethereum’s network, utilizing the OP Stack from the Optimism ecosystem. This strategic move comes after a positive vote from the Celo community and a thorough eight-month evaluation of various scaling solutions, such as Arbitrum Orbit, zkSync’s ZK Stack, and Polygon CDK.
OP Labs, instrumental in the Optimism ecosystem, offers the OP Stack to assist developers in crafting custom Layer 2 blockchains. This integration positions Celo within the expansive Superchain network, which includes OP Mainnet and Base, aiming to boost scalability and overall performance.
Enhancements and Future Plans
The shift to using optimistic rollups is set to improve Ethereum transaction processing efficiency. By relocating transactions to a secondary layer, Celo plans to cut block times from five seconds to two and enhance throughput by 50%. This upgrade is expected to bolster transaction handling capacity significantly.
A testnet for the Celo Layer 2 platform is on the calendar for summer 2024, pending additional approvals from the community. This marks a pivotal step in Celo’s evolution, which began as a Layer 1 blockchain designed to be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Celo’s Growth and Application Ecosystem
Since its inception, Celo has attracted substantial investment, securing $30 million from prominent investors such as a16z and Polychain Capital in 2019, followed by an additional $20 million in 2021. The network supports a diverse array of applications, from well-known Ethereum dApps like Uniswap and Sushiswap to Celo-specific projects such as Valora and UbeSwap.
This transition into the Optimism ecosystem underscores Celo’s commitment to enhancing its infrastructure and maintaining its relevance in the competitive blockchain space. As Celo prepares to launch its Layer 2 solution, the focus remains on community involvement and technological advancement to ensure a smooth transition and continued growth.