👑 Optimisms End Game: Superchain, OP stack & a16z

GM Legends,

According to the Bitcoin and Ethereum charts, it looks like traders were touching grass or getting chopped up. Price action stayed within range and the weekly volume still suggests most traders have extended their Hamptons vacations.

Whilst the market looks to the AI and BTC ETF narrative, we’ll take a look at Arbitrum’s number 1 competitor, Optimism as the collective prepares for the Bullrun through the OP Stack’d Superchain.

And a little help from Brian, CZ and a16z.

Oh… and for the Quest for LARP questers… here’s quest number 2.

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The big story.
👑 Optimisms End Game: Superchain, OP stack & a16z

DeFi insights.
🖼 Lybra Finance V2 Code4rena competitive audit
📅 Syndr Chain the layer 3 built using Arbitrum Orbit thread
🫠 GM degen podcast: HyperLiquidX’s Jeff joins the podcast

In the news.
🐮 OKX launches “Nitro Spreads”  
🐻 SBF’s property shopping list… shocking!
👨🏻‍💼 What the FED?! J Powell takes stages Wednesday/Thursday

Plus Twitter reads from @rektdiomedes, @hufhaus9 and @danblocmates!

🔥 The big story.
To make you think.

👑 Optimisms End Game: Superchain, OP stack & a16z

Optimism is about to take the crown as Ethereum's dominant L2 and here’s why.

Back in March, the rumours of “wen airdrop” for the Arbitrum airdrop came true. In the build-up, Arbitrum had captured a sizeable chunk of the, already depleting, liquidity, as farmers were farming and speculators, speculated in the hopes of a life-changing allocation of free tokens.

Whilst the headlines were dominated by Arbitrum, Optimism has been working in the background getting ready for its Superchain Thesis to play out.

Today we take a look inside Optimism, whose building and important key considerations.

The Latest from Optimism

Bedrock went live earlier this month which has opened up the gateway for developers, applications and “centralised” establishments. It improves the proof modularity in the OP Stack, reduces gas fees & deposit time, enables multiple-proof systems inc zk proofs all whilst, and most importantly, allows for the Optmistic endgame to play out.

Bedrock was the foundation that allows for a Modular Superchain Future to be created. This is why the Bedrock upgrade has been so important for Optimism. Simply put the Superchain is “a network of chains being built using the OP stack.”

If that all wasn’t enough… Optimism rebranded as OP Mainnet separating the blockchain from the “collective, vibe and ethos that Optimism encompasses.” I speculate here but this divide may play an important role later down the line.

Whos building an OP future?

Optimism has captured the attention of the BIGGEST names with the PHATTEST wallets in crypto to build using the OP stack.

• Coinbase is building Base

• Worldcoin is building World Id

• CZ is building his L2 opBNB

• AEVO is building on-chain options

• ourZora is building the Zora Network

I suspect we see this list of monolithic key players continue to grow which, based on speculation, would bring hopeful developers and protocols into the ecosystem further growing the OP Stacked Superchain.

I get the feeling that Optimism is playing a sensational game of chess, positioning itself for the next bull run.

The biggest question I have right now is whether or not this “Superchain thesis” is just a meme ending up like Cosmos’ “App chain thesis” which, on paper, sounded decentralisingly exciting but kind of flopped.

Can “God Tier” figures like Brian and CZ bring a flurry of money, activity and development into Optimism and its modular super chain future?

Despite Arbitrum having a higher daily usage and value bridged, Optimism has seen a large influx of depositors over the last 7 days. This might suggest OP airdrop 3 farmers are already ahead of the curve.

Key Considerations

Token price. Let’s be honest now… this is the most important part. The OP token might be somewhat doomed as it has little to no meaningful utility. With all of the potential technological marvels, we would like to speculate that number goes up but this might not be the case and at this stage, I struggle to see the OP team creating additional value out of it.

A16z. The common denominator. They invested in Optimism’s A and B series raises. Closed off Worldcoins C series and once held a bag of Coinbase before Jim Cramer kiss of death’d it. Coinbase also has a stake in Aevo, making the OP Superchain look like an insider circle.

User Inflow. 200million. That’s how many users Coinbase and Binance have combined that can be funnelled into the O(ver) P(ower) Stacked Superchain. Base will generate fees for using the OP stack but will these go back into OP token holders pockets, the broader ecosystem OR slip into the pockets of the founding forefathers?

opBNB. The Arbitrum of BSC? We’ll leave that there for now.

What about Arbitrum?

That question needs an article on its own.

Despite it going all wrong during the AIP 1.1 governance proposal (and the future team token unlock), Arbitrum has its microcap casino and maximalist community which are 2 key elements any blockchain needs for success.

To do it justice we’ll cover Arbitrum Orbit vs OP Stack further down the line as more projects begin building and launching off Arbitrums layer 3.

But for now, Optimism is slowly making a second half come back.

Our take.

Money talks.

Out of all of the super-duper-hyper-app chain thesis’, Optimism might just be the one that pays off.

What separates Optimism from the other chains like Cosmos is that they didn’t have the biggest baldest ballers backing them, Brian’s Build on Base, CZ’s opBNB and an a16z chequebook.

None of these 3 God Tier entities will want to let their projects fail. It’s safe to say, that at this stage at least, the OP Stack is bullish.

👀 DeFi insights.
Project updates, governance reports and industry secrets.

The World of DeFi

• Diva Protocol - Goes live on mainment. (Twitter)

• Eth Foundation - Announces the Devconnect Scholars Program. (Twitter)

• Lybra Finance - V2 competitive audit goes live with @code4rena. Ends June 30th. (Twitter)

• Mozaic Finance - Vault interactions are live on testnet. (Twitter)

• OPNX - The 3AC exchange is set to launch “Raise” from the OPNX launch pad. (Twitter)

• Panoptic XYZ - Publishes their official Lite paper. (Twitter)

• Protectorate Protocol - Deployed on mainnet. (Twitter)

• SpartaDEX - July 3rd, the day when the official SHO on @daomaker begins. (Twitter)

• Strader - Introduces the ETHx Power Pledge. (Twitter)

• Swell - LP $swETH on Maverick for airdrop eligibility. (Twitter)

• Syndr Chain - A Layer 3 build on Arbitrum Orbit thread. (Twitter)

• Umami DAO - Public beta launches end of next week. (Twitter)

• unshETH - Joins Maverick Protocols incentive program as Wagmi33 posts potential EigenLayer integration. (Twitter)

Governance Updates

• 0xMantle - Proposal to allocate $72 million to Lido Finance. (The Block)

🫠 GM degen.
The latest GM degen podcast.

Today Jedi talks with HyperLiquidX builder, @chameleon_jeff as they dive into all things perps including the issue of liquidity.

Spotify | YouTube | Twitter

🗞 In the news.
The important bits.

• Binance takes a loss as the courts deny the request for an early rebuke. (The Block)

• Circle looks ahead to Hong Kong as CEO Jeremy Allaire believes there will be an “enormous demand for digital dollars.” (The Block)

• HSBC greenlights the buying & selling of BTC & ETH ETFs that are listed on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX). (WuBlockChain)

• OKX launches “Nitro Spreads” on its over-the-counter (OTC) institutional liquid marketplace allowing traders to “one-click trade.” (Coindesk)

• SBF bought these properties with YOUR funds according to a report published by FTX debtors. See the full list → (The Block)

• Swiss Central Bank CBDC pilot is “NOT just an experiment” as the goal is to test real transactions with market participants. (The Block)

👨🏻‍💼 What the FED?!

The key events happening this week:

🐥 Twitter reads.
In case you missed it.

@rektdiomedes shares his wisdom.

@hufhaus9 breaks down what Blackrock ACTUALLY is.

@danblocmates takes a look at the community-driven Llama Quest which encompasses the Wen Llama NFT collection.

And on that note, thanks for reading, catcha apes in the next edition!

blocmates team 🫡

🤝 A final word.

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