Earlier this week, Uniswap V3 was deployed on the Optimism mainnet.
This is the right of alpha, so it is not perfect. There are some trade-offs when using it today. But this is the first major application of Layer 2 going online in the summer.
This is also a glimpse into the future development of DeFi.
Optimism provides near-instant transactions at a low cost. Instead of paying $20 for the transaction on Uniswap, it’s better to pay <$1. Instead of waiting for 2-3 minutes of transaction confirmation on the chain…you don’t need to wait at all.
Uniswap on Mainnet is a dial-up modem.
Uniswap on Optimism is broadband.
Ethereum is now expanding trustless transactions every second. It’s definitely huge.
So we decided to organize an Optimism guide for you today.
This is your first map to the frontier of Layer 2.
And it definitely lives up to expectations.
-RSA
How to use Optimism
Image Author: Logan Craig
The wait is finally over: With the deployment of Uniswap V3 on Optimism, the summer of Layer 2 is heating up. Although this is only an alpha version and has limited functionality and decentralization, we have tested it and it definitely lives up to expectations.
Its transaction speed will make the Flash blush and greatly reduce gas costs. Uniswap on Optimism is a preview of Layer 2’s incredible capabilities and potential. This is also the first of many dominoes, because our favorite DeFi protocol, such as Synthetix, will deploy more features on Optimism in the coming weeks.
This is a historic moment for Ethereum. This is the first step in changing the network from slow and expensive to surprisingly fast and cheap.
Want to experience this magic for yourself?
This article will serve as an introductory guide to your Optimism, how to migrate to this Layer 2 solution, the trust assumptions for doing so, and what the experience is like when you get there.
See you at Layer 2.
Optimism trust hypothesis
Transferring funds to another network is not a hasty decision. Although Optimism is a real Layer 2 secured by Ethereum, the agreement is still in its infancy. It is not a complete product with a completely public, unlicensed, and decentralized mainnet. Therefore, early users will adopt quite a lot of trust assumptions.
For starters, the core team of Optimism basically has complete control over the network. The team has the ability to modify the contract that controls the Optimism gateway bridge, which means that there is a central point of failure where users’ funds may be lost, seized or stolen.
Although users are not too concerned, the team also has the ability to whitelist contracts and assets, which means they have the right to decide which projects are deployed to the network and which assets are supported. In addition, in the next few months, there is at least one plan to upgrade Optimism, which may cause network paralysis (the team will issue a warning in advance). This means that users will not be able to make any transactions during this time.
It is worth noting that when it comes to a brand new network, assumptions like this are not abnormal, because developers usually put safeguards in place to catch errors and ensure the normal operation of the protocol. In addition, these risk factors have also been communicated by the Optimism and Uniswap teams.
Finally, due to the architecture of Optimistic Rollups, when bridging Token from Optimism back to Ethereum L1, there is a seven-day withdrawal period, which means that during this period, funds will be completely unusable . When the agreement launches its public mainnet, this problem will not disappear. However, there are some solutions in progress, such as Maker’s Optimism Dai Bridge, to solve this problem.
Add Optimism to your wallet
The first step into Optimism is to add the network Optimistic Ethereum to your wallet. The process is very simple and no different from connecting to Polygon, Fantom or any other EVM compatible chain. This also means that these will be the same steps for connecting to other Ethereum L2s such as Arbitrum and ZK-Sync in the future.
The fastest way is to use chainid.link. This is a tool to preset network information, otherwise you will have to enter it manually.
Let’s take a look at the steps to connect through this method.
First, go to and click the green “Connect” button at the bottom of the page.
Next, a prompt will appear asking you to approve the connection. Select “Approve” to confirm that you want to add Optimistic Ethereum to your wallet. You can also verify the network details yourself by referring to Optimism’s documentation.
After clicking Approve, you will be prompted again, asking you to connect to the network. Click OK and you are done. You are on Optimism!
Deposit on Optimism
After you connect to Optimism , the next step is to deposit funds from Ethereum . This process is also quite simple and will be familiar to anyone who bridges funds to other chains (such as Polygon).
The main way to do this is through Optimism Gateway. Optimism Gateway works similarly to other Token bridges. The user deposits funds into the Ethereum smart contract, and then is locked, and the representatives of these tokens are minted on Optimism . When you withdraw funds, the Token on Optimism will be burned, while on Ethereum it will be unlocked. Remember: it takes seven days for the funds to be withdrawn to be available again.
Let’s take a look at the process of saving money.
Go to the Optimism gateway page, select the number of ETH or other tokens you want to bridge (currently only ETH, wBTC, SNX, USDT, DAI and EURT are supported), and then click “Deposit”.
Then you will be prompted to confirm the deposit again. Click “Deposit” and confirm the transaction in your wallet. This will require you to pay the gas fee of Ethereum. According to the current gas price, it will cost $10-15.
After the transaction is confirmed on Ethereum, it should take five to twenty minutes before the funds can be used on Optimism. If you want, you can monitor the transaction on Etherscan.
Once the funds are available, the page will show that the transaction has been completed. You can also verify the transaction on Optimistic Etherscan.
You have officially entered Ethereum L2! Welcome to the forefront.
Optimism deal
A pleasant journey is good on the way, but the most important thing is the destination. Is it really worth moving to L2? Does Optimism deserve its name?
The answer is ” yes “.
The exchange on Optimism is jaw-dropping.
Transactions occur at the speed of light, and transactions are confirmed in an instant . It is so fast that the time required to click “Approve” in MetaMask far exceeds the actual transaction time.
Think I’m exaggerating? Take a look for yourself.
As you can see, it is…really, really fast. This speed not only completely blows away the existing chain, but also equals (or even exceeds) the speed of centralized exchanges.
But it will get better. Optimism did not disappoint, and appeared in the form of a lower gas fee.
Uniswap transactions are much cheaper on Optimism than on the Ethereum mainnet. The transaction cost of the former is about 0.000563 ETH, or $1.06 at the current price, while the latter is 0.01 ETH, or $19.
This is a 17.9 times gas cost reduction, although in the early days of the agreement, the cost savings are expected to be close to 10 times. These gas reductions are also due to the fact that transactions are limited to 50,000 transactions per day, or 0.6 TPS, which means that over time, as this limit increases, fees should drop even more.
Between speed and savings, it is difficult to explain how good this experience is. Although the only supported assets are ETH, wBTC, DAI, USDT and SNX, this is still the gamified and futuristic DeFi we are familiar with and love, but we need to do better in terms of what we need.
This is a premium experience on Web2, but on Web3.
Support infrastructure
Although the network and deployment are still in its infancy, Optimism and Uniswap are rapidly establishing the necessary infrastructure that is needed for a pleasant and informed user experience.
Optimistic Ethereum Etherscan
Block explorers are the cornerstone of accessing data on the chain because they allow users to monitor transactions, view tokens and network data, and verify contracts. With these, Optimism’s Etherscan integration allows auditing of activities on the network with the same transparency and insight as Ethereum L1.
Uniswap Analytics
It is important not only to be able to access network-level information, but also to be able to access application-level data. Uniswap has provided this for its Optimism deployment through their analytics website. Like Etherscan, its layout is the same as the V3 website of Ethereum L1, and users can track the number, cost, and liquidity of a single pool, token, etc.
Zapper
Zapper is another important project integrated with Uniswap and Optimism.
This asset management platform recently started to support Uniswap’s Optimism deployment of LP tracking, and will soon allow its users to conduct transactions, provide liquidity, income farms, and transfer assets between Optimism and other networks.
The Internet of Money is Coming
Uniswap V3 on Optimism has arrived. It is a game changer. Although there is still work to be done in terms of decentralization and functionality, it is still sufficient to provide an attractive future.
The transaction speed is incredibly fast, and the price is greatly reduced. Although it is not untrustworthy, it is supported by the national level of Ethereum security.
This is the Internet of money: unstoppable value moves at the speed of information and at a low cost.
This of course brings up some interesting questions: in the long run, will there still be users on the first tier? Is ETH killer a dead chain of walking?
In any case, one thing is certain: the Ethereum economy is about to be released in an unprecedented way. This is our broadband era, and it is hard not to be optimistic about it.