Crypto companies have been turning to Optimism’s OP Stack to build their own layer-2 blockchains on Ethereum. This has raised questions about why they are choosing the OP Stack over the widely held vision of ZK rollups, which are powered by zero-knowledge cryptography and offer faster transaction finalization. According to Mikhail Komarov, CEO of Nil Foundation, companies are choosing the OP Stack because it is easy to spin up and there is no need to arrange a hardcore ZK team for this.
The Optimism team believes that the OP Stack will eventually allow builders the flexibility to pick and choose between various attributes, including whether to adopt proofs used with ZK rollup technology instead of implementing optimistic fraud proofs. Optimism’s flagship network, OP Mainnet, is the second-biggest layer 2 blockchain, and builders using OP Stack could go in a different direction.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, has said previously that while optimistic rollups have been around longer, rollups that are powered by ZK technology will eventually overtake them. Jesse Pollak, head of protocols at Coinbase and the creator of Base, said that picking the OP Stack was “a very considered decision,” but that Base’s goal is to eventually be secured by ZK validity proofs.
Karl Floersch, CEO of OP Labs, believes that given how easy it is to build with Optimism, those looking to build their chains will opt for the OP Stack over their competitors. Time will tell as ZK-based blockchain frameworks mature and come to market.