[Note: this Topic began as an AIP Idea, and has been subsequently withdrawn and moved to the General category at the request of the author.]
PROPOSAL NAME: ApeChain on the Superchain
TEAM DESCRIPTION:
Ben Jones, Co-founder and Chief Scientist, Optimism Foundation
ABSTRACT:
Hi all, Ben from the Optimism Foundation here! The Optimism community is excited about the ApeCoin community’s interest in L2s, given our common goal of growing Ethereum, and shared focus on social and technical decentralization.
From conversations with Yuga Labs and other ApeCoin community members, we understand that the DAO is looking for opportunities to scale its revenue model with the peace of mind that comes from building on battle tested blockspace infrastructure. We feel that an ApeChain built on the Optimism Superchain is an extremely strong fit for these goals.
To summarize the benefits:
-
Easy deployment and maintenance: Joining the Superchain gives the ApeCoin community access to preferred terms from Optimism ecosystem partners such as RaaS providers, developer tools, wallets, oracles, block explorers, & more that will enable ApeChain to be ready to roll on day one.
-
A voice on the Optimism platform: Optimism’s bicameral governance system oversees the OP Stack and the Superchain. The ApeCoin DAO will be enabled to play an active role in governance participation, helping to steer the future direction of the Superchain. ApeChain may also be eligible to earn an OP token grant so that ApeChain can have a say in key decisions in Optimism Governance, subject to final discussions with the team building ApeChain.
-
Revenue stream: Unlike on Ethereum today, an ApeChain on the Superchain would be able to return transaction fees generated by its users to the community, enabling ApeCoin holders to allocate this revenue towards ApeCoin ecosystem growth, DAO maintenance, and other initiatives. The small portion of OP Chain fees shared with Optimism goes towards supporting ecosystem projects that benefit the entire Superchain via avenues like Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF).
-
Access to innovation: Optimism incentivizes the creation of open source and public goods infrastructure through its RetroPGF mechanism, and supports innovation at each layer of the OP Stack in order to make rapid, decentralized progress on the underlying technology. Being part of the Superchain means that ApeChain has access to the new innovations and upgrades enabled by Optimism’s burgeoning contributor ecosystem.
Motivation
The last 12 months of the crypto bear market have been a time for builders to go heads-down. We have spent this time preparing an infrastructure layer adequate to support a new era of the internet. With the goal of scaling Ethereum, the Optimism Collective has grown into a global network of developers, with contributions from teams like OP Labs, Base, Zora, Worldcoin, Risc0, O1 Labs, Lattice, Espresso and others that are ready to bring the next billion builders, creators, and users onchain.
The Ape community is the largest NFT community on Ethereum. With teams like Zora committed to the Superchain, and creator support initiatives like We the Art, Optimism is fast becoming the home for NFTs on L2. Over the last few months, Optimism contributors have been in conversations with Yuga Labs to guide them on their L2 strategy and more recently with ApeCoin DAO community members that have expressed interest in building on the OP Stack.
We hope to continue engaging with the ApeCoin community to solidify a collaboration between the Superchain and any DAO-approved team building the ApeChain.
BENEFIT TO APECOIN ECOSYSTEM:
As the ApeCoin DAO evaluates the possibility of an ApeChain, we hope it considers the Superchain and the OP Stack. The Superchain vision is founded on the goal of scaling Ethereum by providing a minimal extension to Ethereum which allows it to scale to many decentralized, interconnected L2 chains. Creating a network of interoperable L2s allows for teams to take advantage of having its own chain while benefiting from the composability, liquidity and distribution of every other chain in the network.
Highlights of the Superchain ecosystem include:
Access to the Best Tech, Talent, and Self Sustaining Economics:
All OP Chains benefit from the public goods that receive RetroPGF–and, by joining the Superchain,OP Chains’ ecosystem contributors become eligible to receive RetroPGF. RetroPGF rewards impactful contributions to the ecosystem. Protocol revenues generated from OP Mainnet and other OP Chains go towards supporting the Optimism Collective through this mechanism, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the critical infrastructure and foundational tooling which makes a thriving Superchain possible.
A Fast, Affordable, and Efficient Platform
The Superchain provides developers a fast, affordable, and efficient platform to build on. Through things like the Superchain Faucet, preferred pricing on ecosystem tools, best-in-class developer tools, and a myriad of other solutions, the Superchain prioritizes developer experience.
The OP Stack is an MIT-licensed, open source codebase, designed to be extensible and modular. One benefit of this is that although the OP Stack relies today on optimistic rollups, it’s designed to be configurable and can benefit from zk-rollups in the future. Today, two high quality teams–RISC Zero and O(1) Labs– are making rapid progress towards bringing zk proofs to the Superchain.
Governed by a Non-Plutocratic and Human-Centric System
With the Optimism Superchain, builders can enjoy peace of mind, knowing that it will be governed by a non-plutocratic and human-centric governance model. Optimism Governance, a bicameral governance system, oversees the OP Stack, OP Mainnet, and the Superchain. It is guided by the Law of Chains, a framework designed to prioritize the welfare of all stakeholders over the interests of a select few.
KEY TERMS:
-
Commitment to the Law of Chains: The Law of Chains ensures that the Superchain remains an open, neutral ecosystem. A commitment to the Law of Chains, alongside the likes of Base, protects shared standards for all Superchain participants.
-
Funding Public Goods: All OP Chains commit to contribute 2.5% of sequencing revenue or 15% of sequencing profit (L2 profit minus L1 data costs) to the Optimism Collective to allocate to RetroPGF and other ecosystem projects. RetroPGF supports public goods, enabling the development of the open source OP Stack and the broader Superchain ecosystem.
-
Optimism Governance Participation: We hope ApeChain will be an active participant in Optimism governance and contribute to decisions such as technical upgrades that impact the Superchain. Optimism can enable this by providing a milestone based token grant to the ApeChain team, subject to final discussions with the team.
-
Strategic Partnership Alignment: Projects who join the Superchain are long term, strategic collaborators in the Optimism ecosystem. Working together, both the ApeCoin DAO and the Optimism Collective should expect a mutual, close relationship in terms of product feedback and go to market efforts.
PLATFORMS & TECHNOLOGIES:
To learn more about the specs, design, and vision behind the OP Stack please check out our docs:
Superchain Explainer
OP Stack and Design Principles
Bedrock Explainer (latest upgrade to the protocol)
Security Model
OVERALL COST
From prior experience in the launch of OP Chains like Base, Zora, etc., there are several types of costs to take into consideration for a successful ecosystem chain:
-
Cost of submitting data to L1
-
Ecosystem tools and infra (block explorer, dev tools, oracles, wallets, etc.)
-
Sequencer infra and operations (either via RaaS partner or in-house)
-
Human resources (BD, Marketing, DevRel, Dev teams)
Optimism contributors can help advise and provide a more detailed breakdown of the costs and alternatives for each category to the ApeChain team.
On behalf of the entire Optimism Collective, I’d like to extend my thanks to the ApeCoin and community members for considering Optimism and the Superchain. We’re looking forward to keeping the discussions open as the thinking progresses, and to a bright, optimistic future together.