With billions of dollars flocking over the past year to Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync, and other “layer 2” blockchain networks that work atop Ethereum, the smart angle among crypto futurists was that the winner (or winners) of this “rollup race” might eventually become the primary gateway by which most people access digital assets.
Rollup teams are now open-sourcing their code in a bid to compete in the Ethereum rollup race. This move is driven by both public relations and practicality, as open-sourcing technology is seen as a way to improve it and appeal to crypto community norms and ideals. Teams are hoping to lay the groundwork for new blockchain ecosystems in which they are uniquely positioned to capture a big chunk of the value.
Matter Labs, Optimism, and Arbitrum have all recently released free tools for developers to clone their codebases wholesale. This is seen as a way to improve their technology, as well as to capture value from the new blockchain ecosystems they are helping to create.
Anthony Rose, Senior Vice President of Technology at Matter Labs, says “philosophy” drove the team’s decision to launch an SDK. “The idea is to have this out-of-the-box toolkit for people to deploy hyperchains, to be able to build what we’re thinking of as this future internet of value, in which we have these connected permissionless systems.”
Offchain Labs, the developers behind Arbitrum, have also open-sourced their code under a license that requires explicit sign-off from the Arbitrum DAO. This is seen as a way to capture value from the new blockchain ecosystems they are helping to create.
As the crypto space and its use cases continue to mature, rollup teams are open-sourcing their code to make sure they stay at the center of things – providing, at least initially, the primary gateway for new chains to start up, earn liquidity, and interoperate.