According to The Block, OP Labs has released Fault proofs on the Layer 2 blockchain OP Mainnet, advancing the project in decentralization to Stage 1 Rollup.
The Fault proofs system allows Ether and ERC-20 tokens to be withdrawn from OP Mainnet without the need for a trusted third party, allowing users to challenge and delete invalid withdrawals. Fault proofs serve as a mechanism in the Ethereum Layer 2 network that enables users to challenge potential fraud or erroneous transactions.
Prior to approval by Optimism’s governance structure, the implementation of Fault proofs received support from multiple core development teams within the Optimism ecosystem, including OP Labs, Base, and Sunnyside Labs, indicating a collaborative effort. Before this, OP Mainnet did not have Fault proofs online – requiring users to trust that operators would submit accurate state roots to the mainnet.
OP Mainnet and other chains within the Optimism ecosystem use Optimistic rollups as a scalability solution, aggregating Ethereum transactions off-chain to reduce processing costs. The development team of OP Mainnet, OP Labs, also operates a development software stack called “OP Stack,” which developers can use to launch their own Layer 2 blockchains, such as the Layer 2 network Base used by the US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The cryptocurrency project Worldcoin, co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, recently announced that its “World Chain” is expected to be built using OP Stack.
Fault proofs are currently running on OP Mainnet, and other OP Stack chains will begin to upgrade to include this functionality, starting with Base, Metal, Mode, and Zora.
Supervisory role of the Security Council
Although the open participation of the Fault proofs system is now live, the Optimism Security Council can still intervene in the event of system failures and restore the system to a permissioned state, as part of a secure and responsible rollout. Additional safeguards allow the Security Council to effectively address system vulnerabilities, including the ability to reset withdrawals when necessary.
OP Mainnet has a fully permissionless and decentralized “Stage 2” roadmap, managed entirely through smart contracts. Most Optimistic rollup blockchains have yet to achieve decentralization of the network through the inclusion of Fault proofs and maintaining decentralized contract upgrades. Similarly, Arbitrum, a competitor using Optimistic rollups, has also implemented Fault proofs.
