In fact, the launch of Kraken's Ink and Uniswap's Unichain is a positive development for the Ethereum ecosystem.
Kraken's Ink and Uniswap's Unichain are not joining the Layer 2 battle as independent Layer 2s, but as members of the OP Superchain.
The first benefit of the OP Superchain alliance is that all members will implement a seamless cross-chain experience between different Layer 2s, which is also the direction Uniswap has been working on recently.
The Superchain is a unified, interoperable network that brings together what were previously seen as competing teams (different Layer 2s).
Further reading: Reviewing the highlights of Layer 2 public chain Optimism's killer features, OP Stack and Bedrock updates
The OP Collective can actually generate economic benefits
When a new Layer 2 joins the OP Superchain, it promises to contribute the following:
• 15% of the net profits (total sequencer revenue minus fees paid to Layer 1), or
• 2.5% of the total revenue, whichever is higher.
The OP Superchain currently has about 30 Layer 2s, contributing 15,800 ETH in revenue to the Optimism Collective, which is nearly $40 million.
Base and the Optimism mainnet are the two largest contributors to the OP Collective.
In the future, we can expect that with the addition of Kraken's Unichain and Uniswap's Unichain, the revenue should further grow, and this revenue will help boost market sentiment and the future development of Ethereum.
Public goods: Providing financing for Ethereum ecosystem projects, such as infrastructure and development tools.
Network growth: Incentives for OP chain development and Ethereum adoption.
Innovation: Supporting technological progress.
$40 million may not seem like much for the development of an ecosystem, but it gives the Optimism Collective alliance a value-added mechanism that can form a positive flywheel within the ecosystem.
The Ethereum mainnet can be inspired by Optimism to encourage many Layer 2s (if not technically, at least socially) to reinvest value back into ETH,
and this is the key to a bullish outlook on ETH.
From reading Vitalik's four-part series on "The Future of Ethereum", the author did not see any new, explicit ideas about monetizing Layer 2 currencies.
Vitalik mentioned that Based Rollups can enhance Layer 1 by ensuring tighter integration and interoperability, thereby improving the efficiency, security, and value capture of the mainnet. However, more major participants are joining the OP Stack rather than launching Based rollups.
Perhaps the Ethereum mainnet can advocate for more developers to adopt Based Rollups, and he also discussed scaling specific use cases that should be retained on Layer 1 to preserve mainnet value.
As more Layer 2s join the OP Superchain under the revenue-sharing model rather than launching independent Layer 2s, the funding for the Ethereum ecosystem will continue to increase. This also provides greater impetus to solve the user experience and action challenges within each Layer 2.
The author mentioned that he just wants to see the "rapid flow of funds between different chains on the Superchain" happen as soon as possible, as this will bring new opportunities to the Ethereum ecosystem.
