DEFI

Hot Topic | Another Option Besides Optimistic and Matic: What is Arbitrum?

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Hot Topic | Another Option Besides Optimistic and Matic: What is Arbitrum?

When it comes to Ethereum's layer 2 scaling solution Optimistic being favored by heavyweight DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Synthetix, it seems to be the "only choice" at the moment. However, recently another option, Arbitrum, has sparked intense discussions in the Twitter community. In addition, Compound's founder Leshner initiated a proposal on the governance platform Snapshot to deploy Uniswap v3 on Arbitrum, receiving a 100% approval rate. This has aroused more curiosity about what exactly "Arbitrum" is.

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When it comes to Ethereum's layer 2 scaling solution Optimistic, it has caught the attention of heavyweight DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Synthetix, making it seem like the "only choice." However, recently, another option, Arbitrum, has sparked heated discussions on Twitter. In addition, Compound founder Leshner initiated a proposal on the governance platform Snapshot to "deploy Uniswap v3 on Arbitrum," which received 100% support. This has made people more curious about what Arbitrum really is.

To delve deeper into this issue, you can read in advance:

"Plasma and Rollup are Ethereum's core layer 2 expansion solutions ZK, Optimistic"

"DeFi protocols focus on layer 2 expansion solutions Synthetix, Uniswap, Aave"

Through the WeChat account "RealSatoshi," you can quickly understand people's evaluations of Arbitrum through a short article. The original title is: My View on Arbitrum, authored by 0xSoros.

The original article is as follows:

The vote to deploy Uniswap V3 on Ethereum's layer 2 network Arbitrum has overwhelmingly received support, and Arbitrum will open its mainnet to developers tomorrow, May 28th. Seizing the opportunity, I will also take the time to learn about Arbitrum.

Currently, the three most popular scaling solutions in the Ethereum community are Optimistic, Arbitrum, and Matic. From the perspectives of legitimacy, community ecology, and compatibility, Arbitrum is a relatively balanced solution.

In terms of legitimacy, Optimistic is the scaling solution endorsed by Uniswap, backed by investors like Paradigm and a16z. It makes sense for a project to use its own solution. On the other hand, Matic takes the route of surrounding the countryside. From a technical perspective, Matic is not a true Layer 2 solution but more of a sidechain. However, Matic has grown its ecosystem powerfully through token incentives and excellent performance in the secondary market. Arbitrum strikes a balance between the two. Originally an academic project at Princeton University, it chose to abandon patents after entering the mature community stage.

Regarding community ecology, Matic's strong community attributes are well-deserved. Whether it's first-tier or second-tier projects, Matic cooperates with almost all, migrating them to the Matic Layer 2 network. If you were to map out Matic's ecosystem cooperation projects, it would seem impressive at first glance due to the vast number of collaborations, forming an ecosystem empire. However, the only significant player is AAVE, which contributes the majority of the Layer 2 lock-up volume to Matic. In comparison, Optimistic has high requirements for collaboration projects, focusing on top projects and legitimacy, specifically Uniswap and Synthetix.

Arbitrum strikes a balance between the two. In terms of legitimacy, Arbitrum's requirements are not as strict as Optimistic's, allowing for more projects to be onboarded. Arbitrum has support from peripheral infrastructure like Metamask, Chainlink, and Truffle. Its ecosystem collaboration projects include Bancor, MCDEX, Hop Protocol/Connext (Layer 2 fast withdrawal), and the latest addition, Uniswap.

It is worth mentioning two projects, Chainlink and MCDEX.

MCDEX, as the first officially recognized project to migrate to Arbitrum, has been supporting Arbitrum since Q3 of last year. By choosing them as partners, introducing business needs, connecting resources actively, and promoting Arbitrum to project parties, MCDEX and DODO, as the top two DeFi projects domestically, will support Arbitrum first.

The relationship between Chainlink and Arbitrum is also strong. Influential figures in the LINK community, like Chainlinkgod, are actively promoting Arbitrum. This partnership is twofold: Arbitrum will use Chainlink's oracles, and the similarity between Arbitrum's logo and LINK has become a meme point.

In terms of compatibility, Arbitrum is fully compatible with EVM. Regarding the technical aspect, following the viewpoint of Min Dao:

"Optimistic's lack of 100% EVM compatibility is a significant strategic misjudgment, not to mention the delayed market launch. These people fail to understand that 99.9% compatibility and 100% incompatibility are essentially the same. From this perspective, BSC, Polygon, and Arbitrum have a clear understanding. Those involved in public chains need to be at the forefront, as a single strategic mistake can lead to total failure."

And a perspective from a friend in the MCDEX community:

"Arbitrum's architecture is more reliable than Optimistic, especially when the EVM itself is in a poor state. Note: 'in a poor state' means relatively bad. In this case, Optimistic's container architecture has no advantage. Arbitrum directly separates a layer in the middle and creates a virtual machine to simulate EVM."

From the above perspectives, it is evident that EVM compatibility plays a crucial role in whether layer 2 solutions can be widely adopted and form an ecosystem.

Nowadays, we often mention the term "legitimacy," which Vitalik wrote about not long ago, stating that the scarcest resource in the blockchain industry is legitimacy, meaning authenticity and legality. But my confusion is, does having legitimacy and legality make one invincible, ensuring everlasting success? Are projects with strong legitimacy guaranteed to succeed? Clearly, in the early stages of the emerging blockchain industry, having legitimacy does not guarantee everything. Projects with less legitimacy can still emerge victoriously, leveraging their strong community power as dark horses.

However, we cannot deny that as the blockchain industry matures, projects are indeed competing on lineage. Players who have accumulated original capital will gradually shift from radical risk-taking styles to seeking investment opportunities in legitimate projects. Legitimacy provides a sense of security - institutional endorsements, strong technical teams, and robust financial support imply a higher probability of decent investment returns.

This article is not meant to praise Arbitrum or disparage Optimistic. Both are the most promising scaling solutions in the Ethereum ecosystem, and diversity is always best. Perhaps there is no best solution; the key lies in whether the ecosystem can be established. Let's get Uniswap running on layer 2 first.

In conclusion, I am very optimistic and look forward to Optimistic and Arbitrum.