Optimism Bridge Analysis

    Describe activity across Optimism bridges. Where are assets coming from, where are they going, and how are they used? How does activity on custom bridges compare to the standard Optimism bridge? Include any other questions or insights you find interesting.

    Optimism is a fast, stable, and scalable L2 blockchain built by Ethereum developers

    • Built as a minimal extension to existing Ethereum software, Optimism’s EVM-equivalent architecture scales your Ethereum apps without surprises.
    • If it works on Ethereum, it works on Optimism at a fraction of the cost.
    • Optimism is governed by its eponymous token, or OP for short. A portion of the OP supply was airdropped to early Optimism users in late May 2022 in a turbulent launch.
    • Developers behind Optimism said it would continue to airdrop more tokens.
    • Optimism is the second-largest Ethereum layer 2 with a total of $313 million locked into its smart contracts, as of this writing, according to Defi Llama.
    • Arbitrum comes first with $1.32 billion.
    • Synthetix, a derivatives liquidity protocol, is the largest protocol on Optimism, with a total value locked (TVL) of $125 million.
    • Uniswap, a decentralized exchange (DEX), is the second most popular protocol on the chain. As of this writing, there are 35 protocols on Optimism with at least $1,000 locked into their smart contracts.

    what will we do in this dashboard???

    In this dashboard, We will be focused on Standard Bridge, Hop Bridge, Across Bridge and Their Bridgers Activity In this case, the metrics analyzed are:

    • Weekly Bridges Volume & Total Volume
    • Weekly Bridges AVG Volume & Total AVG Volume
    • Weekly Bridges Numbers & Total Bridge Numbers
    • Weekly Bridgers Number & Total Bridgers Number
    • Total Volume of Bridges by Currency Separator
      • Total Volume of Standard Bridge by Currency Separator
      • Total Volume of Hop Bridge by Currency Separator
      • Total Volume of Across Bridge by Currency Separator
    • 5 Popular Currency Volumes have been Bridged
      • Across Bridge - 5 Popular Volume by Currency Separator
      • Hop Bridge - 5 Popular Volume by Currency Separator
      • Standard Bridge - 5 Popular Volume by Currency Separator
      • Standard Bridge - Total Bridges Avg Volume
    • 5 Popular Currency Bridge Numbers have been Bridged
      • Across Bridge - 5 Popular Bridge Numbers by Currency Separator
      • Hop Bridge - 5 Popular Bridge Numbers by Currency Separator
      • Standard Bridge - 5 Popular Bridge Numbers by Currency Separator
    • Top Actions After Bridging By Transactions & Users on Standard Bridge
      • Top Actions After Bridging By Transactions
      • Top Actions After Bridging By User Numbers
    • Top First Actions After Bridging By Transactions & Users on Standard Bridge
      • Top First Actions After Bridging By Transactions Top First Actions After Bridging By User Numbers
    • Top Popular Destinations After Bridging by Transactions & Users on Standard Bridge
      • Top Popular Destinations After Bridging By Transactions
      • Top Popular Destinations After Bridging By User Numbers
    • Destinations Contracts After Bridging by Transactions on Standard Bridge
      • Destinations Contracts After Bridging by User Numbers with Type Separator
      • Destinations Contracts After Bridging by Transactions with Type Separator
    • Destinations Contracts After Bridging by User Numbers on Standard Bridge
      • Destinations Contracts After Bridging by Transactions with Type Separator
      • Destinations Contracts After Bridging by User Numbers with Type Separator
    • Top 5 Address Bridge Volume on Each Bridges Network
      • Across Bridge - Top 5 Address Bridge Volume
      • Hop Bridge - Top 5 Address Bridge Volume
      • Standard Bridge - Top 5 Address Bridge Volume
    • Results
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    Weekly Bridges Volume & Total Volume

    • As we can see, the volume of Bridges has gradually increased since May 2022. On May 30, 2022, we experienced the first Bridge spike.
    • On this day, we had over 202 million on "Standard Bridge," over 24 million on "Hop Bridge," and over 1.3 million on "Across Bridge."
    • In one August, we had the most significant volume of bridges to date, on "Standard Bridge" more than 462 million, "Hop Bridge" more than 5 million, and "Across Bridge" more than 4.4 million Bridges.
    • Across and Hop have had a volume very close to each other on this date.
    • But most of the volumes belong to Standard Bridge.

    > According to the above charts, the total number and volume of bridges and also number of bridgers via Standard bridge is more than both Across and Hop. total bridges via standard bridge is 226k made by 184k unique wallets and with total volume of 2.24B USD. > > Moreover, the average and median and maximum volume of the standard bridge are more than other 2. > > Also we can see most number of bridges on all 3 platforms is done with $100 $1000 volume. The second rank in all 3 bridges belong to the bridges with $10 - $100 volume and 3rd rank belongs to the bridges with $1000 - $10000 volume.

    Weekly Bridges Numbers & Total Bridge Numbers.

    • As we can see, more bridges will be done in 2021.
    • The majority of bridges done were on Standard Bridge.
    • The number of bridges is decreasing in 2022. Of course, by checking the previous charts, it can be said that the number of bridges has reduced, but the majority of bridges are done with a very high volume, which is why the total volume of Standard Bridge is more than 2.2 billion.
    • To date, Standard Bridge had its highest number of Bridges at 21.4K on September 13, 2021.
    • Hop Bridge had its highest bridge count on October 3, 2022, with 4341 bridges completed.
    • Across has the least number of bridges. This network had the highest number of bridges, with 452 on July 25, 2022.

    According to the above charts, in the first months, the number of bridge transactions and also bridgers via Optimism’s Standard bridge was more than Hop protocol and across but during recent months, we can see quite increasing activity of Hop protocol to the extent that im some days , the share of Hop bridges is more than Standard. least activity in all days belong to the Across protocol.

    Moreover, we can see the average volume of bridges via Hop protocl during first months was more than other 2 bridges but after a while and during recent month, the average volume of bridges via Standard bridge is more than other protocols as well as number of bridges and bridgers.

    Totally, there a very light decreasing trend in number and volume of bridges and bridgers on all 3 protocols over time but the average volume of bridges (mainmly because of Standard bridge) is increasing over time.

    > As mentioned above, ETH is the most popular asset on Standard bridge in terms of number of bridges but in terms of volume, USDC currently has a little more volume than ETH and is on the first rank in this terms.

    > According to the above left chart, an average bridger on Hop protocol is more active than Standard and Across bridger since he/she has performed more average bridge transactions. The interesting thing is that the activity of Standard bridgers is even less than Across bridge. But in terms of volume, the average bridged volume by a bridger on Standard bridge is more than other 2 protocols. > > On the middle chart, we can see most number of bridgers on all 3 protocols have only performed 1 single bridge transaction. users with 2-5 bridges are on the second rank in all 3 protocols (share of users with one single bridge on Hop bridge is less than other protocols which shows the high activity of HOP bridges compared to the other protocols.) > > On the right chart, we can see the most number of bridgers on all 3 platforms have totally bridged $100 - $1000 volume. bridgers with total $10 - $100 bridge volume are on the second rank here. > > We can see the share of high bridge volumes (more than $10000) on Hop protocol is more than other 2 platforms.

    According to the left charts, Transfer is by far the most emitted event by bridgers after bridging. without considering Approval event, we can see Deposit and Swap are the 2nd and 3rd most popular emitted events

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    • I have compared Hop Bridge, Across Bridge, and Standard Bridge for research.

    • On Standard Bridge, we have had over 2.2 billion Bridges volume.

    • On Hop Bridge, we have had over 310 million Bridges volume.

    • On Across Bridge, we have had over 21.9 million Bridges volume.

    • We have had over 228K Bridges on Standard Bridge.

    • We have had over 46.3K Bridges on Hop Bridge.

    • We have had over 4710 Bridges on Across Bridge.

    • Standard Bridge, Hop Bridge, and Across Bridge have more than 185K, 33.4K, and 3510 Bridger, respectively.

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    • ETH and USDC are the most popular currencies among Bridgers for this.

    • With the checks we have done above, ETH has been the currency that all 3 networks have bridged on. In general, the most popular currency is ETH and USDC. The number of bridges on ETH in Standard Bridge is much more than in USDC. But the total volume of USDC is more than that of ETH. This shows that the bridgers of this network bridge a very high volume compared to ETH.

    • Standard Bridge users are more inclined to Transfer and Approval in this network. But in general, the most significant number of users among the actions belongs to Transfer, Approval, Deposit, and Swap.

    • Standard Bridge users are more inclined to Transfer and Approval in this network. But in general, the most significant number of users among the actions belongs to Transfer, Approval, Deposit, and Swap.

    • This case shows that users transfer or swap their assets to another currency after Bridge, and a smaller amount withdraw their assets.

    • The most popular destination among users is Uniswap V3 :router 2 and Hop Protocol Usdc..., but most users like Optimism Airdrop.

    • By checking the transactions, we see that finally, DEX and DeFi have the most transactions belonging to Contracts.

    • By checking the number of users, we see that most of the users are from Layer 2 and DEX.

    • Hope You Enjoyed ❤

    conclusion

    What Is Optimism?

    Optimism is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It helps reduce the transaction fee and transaction time on the Ethereum blockchain.

    Broadly speaking, Optimism helps solve Ethereum’s scalability dilemma. Scalability refers to the rate of transactions per second (TPS) on a blockchain network.

    How Optimism Solves Scalability Issues on the Ethereum Network

    It's understood that Ethereum is one of the most secure and decentralized blockchains in existence. To keep everything running smoothly, the network is built around three properties: Decentralization, security and scalability. However, because of the limitations due to the blockchain trilemma, Ethereum can only deploy two out of these three properties effectively.

    To keep the network functional, the governing body behind Ethereum decided to sacrifice scalability for the sake of security and decentralization. As of this writing, Ethereum has reached its capacity to handle more than one million transactions per day. When this occurs, the Ethereum network cannot scale anymore and will become congested as a result.

    Once the blockspace becomes scarce, users on the Ethereum network enter a bidding war in an attempt to get their transactions on the next block. As a result, the gas price rises, making it significantly less affordable for an average user to benefit from a transaction. Besides paying a high gas fee, users on the Ethereum network must also endure long wait times for their transactions to clear.

    Optimism to the Rescue

    This is where Optimism comes into play. Optimism offers a scalable solution to the Ethereum network, which helps increase the speed of transactions on Ethereum without sacrificing decentralization and security.

    Optimism handles transactions off the Ethereum blockchain, while taking advantage of Ethereum's infrastructure. During a transaction, Optimism continues to communicate with Ethereum’s Layer 1 ensuring that it still offers similar security and decentralization guarantees. Layer 1 handles security, decentralization and data availability, while Optimism’s Layer 2 handles scaling.

    During the process, no changes are made to Layer 1. In a way, Optimism takes away the burden of financial transactions from Ethereum. The removal of this load from Ethereum’s blockchain removes network congestion.

    Here are just a few of the benefits that Optimism crypto offers:

    • Scalability: Optimism can achieve a 10–100x improvement in scalability, depending on the nature of the transaction.
    • Reduced Fee: Optimism can greatly reduce the overall cost of the transaction. Its rolling technology (discussed in the next section) combines multiple transaction into a single transaction, which helps reduce the transaction cost.
    • Security: As Optimism’s Layer 2 builds up on top of Ethereum, transactions are settled on the Ethereum Mainnet, allowing users to benefit from the security and decentralized environment of the Ethereum blockchain.
    • Enhanced User Experience: New projects using Optimism Layer 2 scaling solutions benefit from lower fee, faster transactions — and better overall user experience.

    How Does Optimism Work?

    Optimism uses rollups to process transactions in batches, which helps reduce gas fees and network congestion. Rollups can help users save up to 100 times the gas fee, compared to the Layer 1 protocol.

    The rollup technology used by Optimism crypto bundles up hundreds of transactions on Ethereum’s Layer 1 into a single transaction. Since there are multiple transactions in a bundle, the gas fee is distributed among all the users. While the rollup is executed on Optimism’s Layer 2, the transaction data is posted to Ethereum’s Layer 1 for processing.

    Optimistic rollups are "optimistic" in the sense that every transaction is assumed to be valid on Optimism’s Layer 2, and no computations are performed. If the system suspects fraud, it runs fraud-proofing to verify the transaction.

    Optimistic Rollups vs. ZK-Rollups

    There are mainly two types of rollup solutions on Ethereum: Optimistic rollups and ZK-Rollups. While both rollups move the transactions off-chain to process the data, the method used to verify the transactions makes them different.

    Optimistic rollups assume that all transactions are valid, so it doesn’t perform heavy calculations on Layer 2. Instead, the rollup moves the batch to Layer 1 without verifying the validity of a transaction, which leads to a significant improvement in scalability.

    If anyone suspects a fraudulent transaction, they can challenge the validity of the batch within a week. Optimistic rollups then run a fraud-proof, which verifies information using the data on Layer 1.

    On the other end of the spectrum are ZK-Rollups, which are slightly different as they generate a validity proof for every bundle after moving them to Layer 2. The validity proof is then transferred back to Layer 1 serving as a proxy for the corresponding bundle. Since validation occurs on Optimism’s Layer 2, it helps reduce gas prices and validation times at Layer 1.

    Each of these technologies has certain benefits and drawbacks. For instance, an Optimistic rollup is preferred for executing smart contracts. In contrast, a ZK-Rollup is an evolving technology that’s mainly relegated to performing simple transactions.

    On the downside, the withdrawal period for Optimistic technology is longer than for ZK-Rollups because Optimistic rollups have a "challenge period" to deal with. In contrast, ZK-Rollups have very fast withdrawal times, which makes them an ideal solution for apps which require simple payments.

    Optimism vs. Other ETH Layer 2 Scaling Solutions

    Irrespective of their size, computer networks can only manage a limited amount of traffic. Once a network becomes popular, it's bound to get congested.

    Various Layer 2 networks help Ethereum deal with its scalability issue. These Layer 2 networks attach themselves to Ethereum's core, the Layer 1 chain. Optimism is one such scaling solution, but it's not the only one. 

    Some of these solutions are called sidechains, because they act like roads connecting to the main Ethereum network.

    Following is an overview of the three most popular ETH Layer 2 scaling solutions.

    Optimism vs. Arbitrum

    Arbitrum is an Optimistic rollup technology similar to that of Optimism. It's often said that Arbitrum tweaked the source code of Optimism crypto to develop a distinct Layer 2 scalability solution.

    The major difference between Optimism and Arbitrum is how they manage fraud-proofs. Whereas Optimism crypto uses a single-round fraud-proof, Arbitrum utilizes multiple rounds. 

    Using a single-round proof, Optimism provides instant verification, as it relies on Ethereum’s Layer 1 to complete the transaction. The transaction is almost instantaneous, but the approach suffers from a higher gas cost. In contrast, Arbitrum offers a fine-combing approach to carrying out transactions mainly on Layer 2. Due to a multi-round fraud-proof, the validation takes time, but this helps reduce the gas fee.

    Optimism vs. Polygon

    Polygon is a DeFi scaling solution. Unlike Optimism, it's a sidechain, not a Layer 2 solution. Sidechains run parallel to Layer 1, and they have a built-in security framework that doesn’t rely on Ethereum. This is quite different from Optimism, which relies on Layer 1 of Ethereum for the security of transactions.

    Polygon uses the same virtual machine used by Ethereum, so it's easy to outsource smart contracts to Polygon. The Polygon model relies on MATIC tokens to secure the Polygon Network and pay the transaction fee. Therefore, users need to swap Ether for the protocol's native MATIC token.

    While the Polygon model has gained significant attention from the crypto community, some users complain about long transfer times, and the reliance on blockchain security in the hands of few actors.

    Optimism vs. zkSync

    zkSync is a type of ZK-Rollup. The letters “zk” stand for zero knowledge, which means that one party can prove to another party that they possess certain information (i.e., transaction details) without revealing what that information is. To prove the validity, each batch of transactions is sent to an off-chain prover generating a cryptographic proof, known as a SNARK (which stands for Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge). The proof is subsequently posted on Layer 1.

    Although zkSync and Optimism are somewhat similar, zkSync uses a somewhat complex methodology to validate a batch of transactions. The model is not conducive to building DApps, and different ZK-Rollup applications can't interact with each other on Layer 2. On a positive note, zkSync ensures both a much higher throughput and lower cost without sacrificing security.

    Optimism Airdrop

    An airdrop is a marketing technique used by a project’s management team to raise awareness about a relatively new cryptocurrency. As a result, token holders and potential contributors get free tokens “dropped” to their wallets. While the number of tokens distributed to wallets may differ depending on various contributing factors, these airdrop events remain very popular among crypto enthusiasts who wait patiently to receive such rewards.

    In April 2002, Optimism announced that it would drop 215 million OP tokens to different wallets. According to Dune Analytics, 248,699 wallets were eligible for freebies, which translates to approximately 865 free OP tokens per wallet. Early adopters of the token were given priority over others. Regular Ethereum users also benefited from the airdrop. These users included DAO voters, multi-sig signers and bridge users.

    The first airdrop resulted in a frenzy, leading to overwhelming demand and degraded performance for more than three and a half hours. As users raced to collect their rewards, many complained about delayed settlements, failed transactions and inaccessible tokens.

    Controversies continued to cripple the first phase of Optimism’s crypto airdrop, as the moderator of the project's Discord channel claimed that some users had managed to access OP tokens before the official launch. These users directly interacted with the smart contract to claim their OP tokens. Presumably, many of these users dumped the OP token at the launch, resulting in the price plummeting by more than 50%.

    Two months after the first airdrop, community users presented a proposal to exclude anyone who dumped their OP tokens for profit from the next airdrop. The argument is based on the assumption that dumping OP tokens is a profit-taking strategy that runs counter to the philosophy of both the Optimism Collective and its public image.

    As of now, the management has acknowledged the problems faced by the community. While there is no official announcement about the next phase of the Optimism crypto airdrop, users are already anticipating the next event. If you're interested, here’s a breakdown of how OP tokens will be distributed over the next five years.

    resources

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