Optimism Bedrock upgrade: EVM equivalence, Cannon and cheaper calldata
Thread934 words
Reviews Optimism's EVM equivalence approach and what Bedrock adds: optimal calldata compression, separation of consensus and execution clients, EIP-4844 readiness, SnapSync and the Cannon fault proof system.
Key claims
OP TVL about $670m, price $1.14 and FDV $4.9bn at time of writing
Bedrock claims up to 50x faster node sync
Bedrock uses the same transaction format as EIP-4844
0/ Now that the $OP airdrop is live, let’s have a look at what’s ahead for #Optimism!🔴✨
Are you ready for the #Bedrock era?🪨
A 🧵 on why @OptimismPBC’s upcoming Bedrock upgrade is exciting (0/29)👀👇
#L222
1/ I’ve covered optimistic rollups and #Optimism before, but let’s quickly revisit how $OP optimism works:
2/ @optimismPBC is an optimistic rollup protocol. Transactions are sent to the #L2 and received by a sequencer who has a responsibility to accurately execute the transactions received
3/ For executing transactions properly, the sequencer is rewarded, while also being punished in the case of malicious behaviour. If someone suspects that the sequencer has acted fraudulently, they may alert the adjudicator contract on the $ETH mainnet
4/ The contract can verify the validity of the results produced by the sequencer using the Optimistic Virtual Machine (OVM), an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible execution environment built for #L2-systems
5/ If sequencer’s results are invalid, the optimistic rollup executes a fraud proof & the sequencer’s funds are slashed. Part of the slashed funds are awarded to the whistleblower that has challenged the sequencer results during a period known as the challenge period
6/ This period typically lasts around 1 week which results in a 1-week delay in moving assets from #Optimism back to the Ethereum layer 1. However, there are alternatives that allow for fast withrawals
7/ @optimismPBC has grown into one of the largest L2 protocols with TVL amounting to USD 670m, with the $OP token launch driving growth the past few days
Source: @l2beat
8/ Offers some of the cheapest tx fees of all rollups, being the cheapest "pure" optimistic rollup that actually stores all data on L1
Source: l2fees.info/
9/ And generates a lot of revenue already (even though numbers skewed bc of the $OP airdrop):
Source: cryptofees.info/
10/ It’s recently launched governance token $OP trades at $1.14 at time of writing & has a fully diluted mcap of $4.9bn
Source: @coingecko
11/ Quite a valuation, isn’t it? But back to Bedrock (which is a reason for the huge valuation). #Optimism has pioneered the concept of EVM equivalence or as they say “complete alignment with the Ethereum Virtual Machine specification”
12/ EVM compatibility is not the same as EVM equivalence, and settling for mere compatibility means that you are forced to modify, or even completely reimplement, lower-level code that #Ethereum’s supporting infrastructure also relies on
13/ #Optimism always took the approach that if L2s want to leverage Ethereum’s infrastructural network effects, they must be EVM equivalent. Hence, @optimismPBC built their software on Geth, #Ethereum’s most robust and popular implementation from day 1
14/ However, to L2-ify Ethereum $OP had to make some changes, especially regarding block generation. Taking a modular approach, #Optimism separates consensus from execution having different processes for determining and executing the next block
15/ Basically, @optimismPBC defined a function which accepts L1 blocks, processes them for rollup transactions and outputs #L2 blocks (in exactly the same format as L1 blocks). From there on out, the L2 execution can be defined as equivalent to L1
16/ However, while the goal is to have a perfect EVM-equivalent implementation in #Solidity, the EVM is a complex beast with many VM instructions, making this a significant undertaking
17/ Hence, instead of implementing the full EVM in Solidity, $OP implements a VM with a much smaller, simpler instruction set, and runs the EVM within this VM during fraud proofs
18/ Consequently, @optimismPBC supports every single Ethereum precompile to make Optimism’s L2 as easily accessible to developers as possible. It also means complete Ethereum gas & opcode compatibility as well as accurate timestamps that make it possible to build real-time dApps
19/ Moreover, #Optimism provides full tooling compatibility with support for advanced features like transaction traces, while offering much faster transaction execution than L1. Finally, Optimism supports advanced call data compression in order to keep tx fees as low as possible
20/ With Optimism’s recently announced #Bedrock upgrade, the Optimism aims to add some additional, powerful features to its network:
21/ Firstly, #Optimism has worked on what the “theoretically optimal call data submission” is to enable compression that goes far beyond the capabilities of today’s compression mechanism. This will give users the cheapest transactions possible for any rollup
22/ Additionally, the #Bedrock upgrade introduces a separation of consensus and execution clients that follows in the footsteps of Ethereum’s data sharding approach and makes it possible for #Optimism to seamlessly integrate the cost-minimizing #EIP4844
23/ Thanks to #Bedrock, @optimismPBC will also be ready for the shift to Ethereum 2.0 as it will use the same transaction format as proto-danksharding (a.k.a. EIP-4844)
x.com/expctchaos/status/1532100096111824901
24/ Moreover, #Bedrock introduces faster peer-to-peer networking by adding support for SnapSync which makes running an @optimismPBC node easier and sets the stage for decentralized sequencing
25/ SnapSync allows new nodes joining the network to sync faster and improves network reliability and decentralization, while maintaining network performance even as the $OP network scales. Optimism said the new upgrade improves node sync speeds by up to 50 times
26/ Finally, #Bedrock brings highly optimized deposits and withdrawals to Optimism, making moving assets in and out of #Optimism easier and faster
27/ #Bedrock is also the foundation for #Optimism’s next-generation fault proof system Cannon
28/ #Cannon is an interactive fault proof system designed to increase efficiency & speed, while keeping Optimism secure. #Optimism claims that #Bedrock & Cannon is the only rollup architecture to support multiple fault-proof & client implementations
29/ If you liked this $OP thread please support with a retweet! And stay tuned for more content on $ETH scaling & #rollups! 🔴👀✨
#L222
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How the covered assets moved · since 02 Jun 2022
Prices as of 23 Oct 2026This breakdown analyzes the project without making a call on the token, so price moves since publication are shown as market context.
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Zero has written 18 more pieces on Optimism and $OP since this one.
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Daily closes in USD from DefiLlama and Yahoo Finance. Only a bullish or bearish thesis is read as a call; explainers, maps and mentions are context. Not financial advice.