The 🎅Optimist: OP Superchain News #24
The #1 newsletter about Layer 2, OP Stack, Optimism Superchain
2023 has been an amazing year, and thanks to you The Optimist is now the #1 media about the OP Stack, Optimism & Optimism Superchain. So for the last edition of this newsletter of the year, The whole Optimist team is joining me, Subli, to wish you all the best for 2024, and hope you will be able to spend quality time with your family wherever you are in the world.
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————————————— KEY TAKEAWAYS ——————————
Have you already tried to explain what you’re doing in Crypto to your friend or family without getting such answer: “It’s a scam” “its not real money” “I don’t understand one thing you’re doing”
NOT THIS YEAR
In this special edition, we will breakdown what is a Blockchain, DEFI & a Wallet so that you can leverage down your wording to adapt to your normie audience.
🔴What is a Blockchain
In simple words.
🔵 What does DEFI mean
In simple words.
🔥Hottest news (new section)
Your new bi-weekly breakdown of the most juicy news about Optimism Superchain.
🟠Podcast: Project interview (Updates & Roadmap)
The last 2 weeks, we were pleased to receive on Stage :
Mode Network
Superchain(s) live with Optimism, Base, Mode Network, Lyra & PGN
GOVERNANCE & VOTE TIMELINE
If you wish to delegate your OP Tokens to Subli => Go to this page, and click on DELEGATE. Delegate Address: 0x3b128c6c1207d72092a8b3f6d651dfe54682a404
🔴What is a blockchain
by Nataliii
Decentralized information storage technologies were introduced back in the 90s. However, the word "blockchain" became known only recently — when a certain Satoshi Nakamoto showed how these technologies can be used to create a new financial system. So, in 2008, Bitcoin appeared, and with it the history of blockchain development began.
In 2023, the popularity of these technologies turned out to be so high that the cost of Bitcoin already exceeds $ 40,000. And if such a major player as Tesla and it’s CEO Elon Musk is interested in this phenomenon, then why not join the technology for ordinary users.
Let's dive into interesting comparisons.
Let’s imagine that a long time ago, Hugo and Antonio lived. Hugo had several ways to transfer money to Antonio:
transfer the cash yourself (Hugo comes to Antonio and personally transfers the money);
use the services of a third party (Hugo transfers money to a bank, postal service or courier who transfers money to Antonio).
Usually, a third party is a whole set of instances and services. Therefore, we have a chain of intermediaries whose work scheme is classified. On the one hand, this is useful for security purposes — even if we go to the bank and ask to tell the technical details of our transfer, no one will do this. On the other hand, security easily turns into insecurity — without knowing the technical details, one can only blindly trust the banking system and hope that "third parties" will turn out to be conscientious guys.
The fact is that, turning from paper to electronic, money does not change its shape — current systems simply form a digital code with information encrypted in it about the type of currency, its value and quantity in order to transfer it from one repository to another. Physically, the paper proof of value remains in the user's hands or in the ATM safe.
In other words, Hugo can find a terminal, offer him cash and receive it on his card or send it to Antonio. We are used to working this way and consider it a safe way to move money. But with the advent of the blockchain, the theory of security takes a new turn.
Blockchain (Block — block, chain — chain) is a decentralized database that is designed to store sequential blocks with a set of characteristics (version, creation date, information about previous actions on the network). An analog example of its structure is an infinitely long metal chain in which it is impossible to break or swap links.
And the blockchain chain can also be represented as a book with the ability to add pages. Each new page is written online, and the rest cannot be edited or deleted.
The main movement in such a system is through transactions. During the transaction, some kind of script can be executed, or some kind of note with data can be written. That is, the word "transaction" is not equal to a money transfer and rather denotes a way of processing information within the network.
In addition to the basic data, each block has a unique set of parameters: nonce, hash of the previous block, hash of the current block and a list of transactions.
To better understand how online transfers work, let's imagine the page of the book again, where there is such information:
Hugo transferred 100 dollars to Antonio.
Mark transferred 300 pesos to Juan.
Nicolas confirmed the replenishment of the account for $ 100.
Several thousand such records can be stored within a single block. When the memory in the block runs out, it is closed, signed and transferred to a new block in the form of a hash or "fingerprint".
A hash is a set of characters that carries a unique imprint. It is formed based on which transactions and in what amount each block stores.
During the transaction processing, hashes are constantly checked, after which, as if on a pyramid, the system rises to the last hash, where the integrity and correctness of all previous codes are confirmed so that the block is closed.
If suddenly someone wants to add a couple hundred dollars to their wallet without confirmation from the rest of the network participants, then such a transaction will be considered incorrect and will be overwritten with those hashes that are stored by most nodes. That is, if you change at least one byte, at least one dot, comma or zero, then the final hash will change, and the blockchain will have to check all these amounts again in order to understand whether it is true or false.
From all this, we can conclude that the network consists of blocks that can be changed here and now, until they are closed. Everything is recorded in the form of transactions with information that is encrypted as hashes and permanently stored on the network in each subsequent block. If you change something and do not find confirmation from the majority of participants, then such changes simply will not be applied, and the block will be considered invalid.
In simple words, the system will no longer be able to forge documents retroactively, no matter how many hundreds of people would like it, if the common network is controlled by millions of participants.
Hence the name Blockchain — everything works on a chain, sequentially and continuously.
To better understand what a blockchain is, let's look at the closest understandable analogy:
Let's imagine that blockchain is a kind of digital ledger where all transactions (money transfers or other operations) with cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, are recorded. This ledger is not stored in one place but is distributed across many computers on the internet.
When someone makes a transaction, it gets added to a block (like a page in a book), and then this block is attached to the previous block, creating a chain of blocks, hence the name "blockchain."
Now, why is this important: such a system makes it impossible to change or delete any information in the existing blocks. If someone tries to alter data in one block, it becomes immediately noticeable in the other blocks because all network participants have a copy of this ledger. This makes blockchain reliable and transparent.
Example: Let's say you have 10 bitcoins, and you want to transfer them to someone else. Instead of using a bank, blockchain allows you to make a direct digital transaction recorded in the blockchain. This information is accessible to all network participants, and everyone can verify that the transaction happened honestly and without changes.
Blockchain is like an online notebook where people can write things they want to share with each other. The special thing is, once something is written, no one can erase it. All the writings are kept by everyone at the same time, so it's impossible to fake the information. It's like a shared notepad that everyone sees and checks.
One more example: If you give your virtual gift to a friend, it gets written into the blockchain, and everyone can see that the gift now belongs to your friend. And no one can say you didn't give the gift because it's visible in a special online book.
Thus, blockchain is a kind of "secure book" for cryptocurrency, enabling people to exchange digital assets without intermediaries like banks.
😁Meme of Week
🔵What does DEFI mean
By Subli
So now you have an understanding how works a blockchain and why. In this article, I’m going to present you the parallel between the world of Traditional Finance oand the so-called on the blockchain DECENTRALIZED FINANCE or DEFI.
Traditional finance is a very vast word and includes a lot of different type of operations, all related to the use & growth of your capital. Here is what you can find in Trad. Finance:
Banks: The place where you store your funds
Investment vehicles: Financial product with a specific interest rate depending on your risk appetite
Exchanges: Trading on stocks, commodities, FOREX
And what if I tell you that all of the above exist on the Blockchain? You’ll probably answer me:
Yeah you’re right, I need to convince you a bit more of the several benefits of moving Finance to the blockchain. Here are some comparatives with Traditional Finance:
Banks:
Traditional Finance:
You need permission to open a bank account (nationality, visa, sometimes wealth level)
Funds are owned by your bank. You can only access it if the bank authorizes it. If the Bank closed, you loose access to your funds.
Decentralized Finance:
Creation of an account doesn’t need any permission, we say it’s PERMISSIONLESS.
You own your funds. Accessible 7 days a week, 24h per day.
Exchange platforms:
Traditional finance:
Declaration of identity is mandatory
High fees
Your funds are owned by the exchange platform. If it goes into Brankruptcy, you can loose everything
Decentralized Finance:
As it is permissionless, the blockchain doesn’t need your identity to buy/sell assets. Whether you buy a share for 1$ or for 1m$, the process is the same.
Lower fees, more transparent
You own your funds even if the Decentralized Exchange platform stops working
Currency:
Traditional Finance: FIAT Money (EUR, USD, YEN, etc…). High exchange fees. In specific countries, one doesn’t have any alternative to his own country currency
Decentralized finance: Stablecoins indexed to FIAT currency (USD, EUR,…), but also to GOLD. All are widely used in DEFI. Low exchange fees. Anyone can buy USD in DEFI, in a permissionless way.
In a nutshell, DEFI gives back funds ownership to YOU, removes every intermediary, provides transparent information about any financial product, and is fast/cheap/day&night accessible.
DEFI, while being my field of expertise, is still a niche in the Finance World. Look at this chart showing total value of funds deposited in between Traditional & Decentralized Finance. It tells you a lot about the potential growth of DEFI (picture from Dec-2021):
The bottleneck in DEFI is TRUST as it’s a very young industry with flaws and steps back that require a lot of energy to overcome. While TRUST is the only thing that makes you feel secure by interacting with banks, in CRYPTO trust is a combination of codes AUDIT, life of a project, number of days without a hack or an exploit. Cause, yes CRYPTO can be scary as the main source of lost funds are due to Hackers targetting users & projects for malicious actions.
So, yes this industry is early, and yes risk-zero doesn’t and will never exist. But as a citizen, I never had the chance to access any financial product from my bank as I was definitively not the “targeted client” as not holding large funds. On the other side, Crypto allows me to convert 1k$ into more than 100k$ in the space of 2 years. And 99% of it wasn’t GAMBLING, but INVESTMENT.
It’s not too late to jump in, and remember that you need only 10$ to start using DEFI and understand the basics on how it works.
My best tip to onboard your relatives during this special time would be to:
Download Coinbase Wallet on your smartPhone: on Google Store, on Apple store:
Buy equivalent of 10 USDC (stablecoin indexed to USD price) with your debit card
Change 10 USDC into 10$ of Ethereum for example
🎅 🎅 🎅 🎅 WELCOME IN DEFI 🎅 🎅 🎅 🎅
And always REMEMBER the following statement:
🔥Hottest news
🎁EigenLabs is building the First DA (Data Availability) on EigenLayer called EigenDA, and just announced support for Optimism OP Stack. If you know Celestia, this is the same type of project.
💙Synthetix: DAO voted in favor of SNX Inflation stop
🟢Lyra V2 just launched with a unique trading competition BTC ETF PVP until 12-January 2024. Lyra V2 is available on Lyra Chain, part of the Optimism Superchain.
🔑Ledger hack: a reminder to use Rabby Wallet as during this exploit, Rabby was the only wallet showing you a simulation of transaction showing your wallet would be drained. Thanks @nauhcner for spotting this
🟡Rainbow: Launched its point farming campaign. James Ross, founder of ModeNetwork, sees Points systems as a great incentivization tool with retroactive optionality. Seems to be the trend right now (FriendTech, Blast, EigenLayer, Kelp,…)
🤳Seamless protocol, lending market on Base, announced its Airdrop & at the same time its listing on Coinbase. There is speculation that other Base tokens will be listed too. $AERO saw a +124% price increase under this speculation. For info, in our Aerodrome Bull Thesis, listing $AERO on Coinbase is highly predictable, as it will be a perfect way for Coinbase to acquire voting power too to support cbETH liquidity on Aerodrome (liquid staked token from Coinbase).
🧭◀▶TimeSwap is now live on Optimism
✖ Post of the week:
I strongly suggest you listen to the Superchain(s) podcast, as I asked this precise question & received interesting answers from the panel list.
🟠Podcast:
Optimism Twitter accounts:
@OPLabsPBC for protocol development
@OptimismGov for governance
@OptimismGrants for Grant Council uipdates
Optimism Website:
Base Social links
Twitter: @BuildOnBase
The Optimist Social accounts:
Discord Handle: Subli#0257
Twitter: The Optimist
Farcaster: Subli_Defi
Notion (Research database): https://sublidefi.notion.site/sublidefi/Subli_Defi-c57a3141c983433ca74e785a0bf1bcd0
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Subli_Defi
Disclaimer: Nothing in this content is financial advice. We may have some positions on the presented projects, however these articles are written in a non biais way so that you can make you own opinion out of it.
Do your own research before investing, and remember that Crypto is extremely volatile and risky.