Ink and the Optimism Superchain

Ink will utilize Optimism’s OP Stack and will be integrated into the Optimism Superchain, a growing network of interconnected blockchains. The OP Stack is currently the most utilized rollup stack, with approximately 43 active chains, as reported by L2Beat. Other upcoming layer-2 solutions include Sony's Soneium and Uniswap's Unichain.

Revenue Sharing with Optimism

As part of its integration into the Optimism Superchain, Kraken will share a portion of its sequencer revenues with Optimism. For example, Coinbase's Base layer-2 shares between 2.5% and 15% of its sequencer revenue with the Optimism treasury. Since its launch in October 2023, Optimism has generated around 2566 ETH in sequencer revenues from Base.

Focus on Developer Ecosystem

Andrew Koller, founder of Ink, emphasized the importance of value creation for users, which is dependent on a robust ecosystem of developers. The Ink blockchain is designed to be DeFi-centric, featuring one-second block times at launch, with plans for future enhancements to achieve sub-second block times.

Upcoming Testnet Launch

The testnet for Ink is scheduled to launch in 17 days, featuring various activities such as AMAs, live demonstrations, and contests aimed at engaging developers.

Kraken's Background

Founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell, Kraken is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, boasting around 10 million users across more than 180 countries. According to Coinmarketcap, Kraken is currently ranked as the sixth largest crypto exchange.

Challenges of Cross-Chain Trading

The rise of Layer 2 (L2) rollups has made cross-chain trading increasingly cumbersome. Users often face the hassle of manually bridging assets to engage in trades or access better liquidity on other chains.

Seamless Integration with Across

With the new integration, traders can now bridge and execute cross-chain swaps directly within the Uniswap platform. Across Protocol, developed by Risk Labs, offers this functionality, enhancing the user experience for cross-chain transactions.

Impressive Bridging Volumes

According to Risk Labs’ Dune dashboard, Across has achieved a total bridging volume of $12.7 billion, with daily volumes ranging from $20 to $40 million over the past week. This showcases the growing demand for cross-chain capabilities.

Speed and Efficiency of the New Infrastructure

Across’s bridging infrastructure is designed to provide a robust solution for L2-to-L2 transfers, targeting completion in just 3 seconds for transactions under $10,000, which constitute 99% of L2 bridging activity.

Supported Chains and Tokens

The integration includes nine EVM chains: Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, Optimism mainnet, Blast, ZKsync, Zora, and the newly launched World Chain. Initially supported tokens will encompass stablecoins, WBTC, and native chain assets like OP on Optimism, ARB on Arbitrum, and ETH on Ethereum.

Introduction of ERC-7683 Token Standard

Uniswap and Across have jointly developed ERC-7683, a new token standard aimed at simplifying cross-chain transactions. This standard will facilitate execution by intermediary solvers and relayers across different chains.

Future Applications of ERC-7683

The ERC-7683 standard is expected to play a vital role in Uniswap’s upcoming L2, Unichain, enabling cross-chain swaps for blockchain networks that are outside of Optimism's Superchain network.

Proposal Overview

A recent proposal from Jito's DAO aims to allocate 3% of all maximal extractable value (MEV) tips collected by the protocol to the DAO treasury and TipRouter, a proprietary program designed for Jito's upcoming restaking platform.

Changes in Fee Structure

Jito Labs has committed to reducing its share of tips from 5% to 3%. As a result, the total taxation on Jito MEV tips will increase from 5% to 6%. This adjustment is projected to yield an annual revenue of approximately $22.8 million for the newly established Jito DAO.

Understanding MEV

Maximal extractable value (MEV) refers to the potential profits that can be made by rearranging transactions within blockchain blocks. Jito has developed a validator client that allows "MEV searchers" to bid for validators to process their transactions first. These searchers can enhance their bids with tips, which have become increasingly lucrative for validators, particularly during heightened trading activity on Solana.

Economic Impact of Jito MEV Tips

From March to September of this year, Jito MEV tips generated around $232 million in economic value, according to Blockworks Research. Recently, Solana processed $20 million in Jito tips in just one week, driven by a surge in memecoin trading. Notably, MEV tips contributed to 54% of Solana's real economic value (REV), a metric that assesses the income generated by blockchains.

Implications of the Proposal

The proposed changes would significantly alter how one of Solana's major income sources distributes its earnings. Currently, Jito Labs receives about 2.5% of Solana's REV from its 5% share of MEV tips. If the proposal is enacted, a smaller portion of REV will go to Jito Labs, with more being allocated to the DAO.

The debate continues over whether stakers or validators should receive a larger share of REV, or if Jito deserves a more substantial portion of Solana's economic value.

Recent Developments in Solana Revenue Structure

Another noteworthy change in Solana's revenue distribution is the Solana Improvement Document (SIMD)-0096, which proposes that priority fees be fully allocated to validators instead of being partially burned.

TipRouter's Role

The majority of the new tip structure will benefit Jito's DAO, while 0.15% will be directed to TipRouter, a protocol created by Jito to programmatically distribute MEV tips. The TipRouter network will operate as a node consensus network (NCN) within Jito Restaking.

TipRouter can be likened to EigenDA on EigenLayer, serving as an early restaking service developed by the restaking platform.

The proposal is subject to a governance vote within Jito. Given that the protocol is essentially asking whether the DAO wants to receive an estimated $22.8 million annually, it is likely that the proposal will pass.