Uniswap Labs, Uniswap Foundation, and Optimism are excited to announce the launch of Unichain, an L2 purpose-built for DeFi, exclusively on the OP Stack – now live on testnet.

Optimism’s mission has always been to scale Ethereum, and a critical component of that effort has been continuing to expand the Superchain. With nearly half of all L2 transactions now powered by Optimism’s OP Stack, it has clearly emerged as the leading shared standard for scaling Ethereum.

As part of the Superchain, Unichain joins a network of the most prominent blockchains all built on a common standard codebase that share security, governance, and values. Like all OP Chains in the Superchain, Unichain will contribute the greater of 2.5% of chain profit or 15% of chain revenue back to the Optimism Collective.

Unichain will also participate in Optimism Governance, and support core development that will benefit all developers on the OP Stack. Unichain developers will benefit from access to incentives like Retro Funding, a reward mechanism that drives the growth of the Optimism ecosystem.

Together, we’ll shape the future of the Optimism Collective. Together, we’ll scale Ethereum.

Uniswap Labs skyrocketed to DeFi dominance over the past several years, but wanted to scale Ethereum further with more blockspace, faster speeds, and lower gas fees. In order to meet the sophisticated demands of today’s always-on DeFi ecosystem, Uniswap Labs began to explore the potential for launching an L2.

Powering nearly half of all L2 transactions on Ethereum, the OP Stack is the most trusted codebase for chain developers. Its battle-tested, open-source technology, paired with the Superchain’s network effects, governance and interop roadmap, made Optimism the ideal place for Uniswap Labs to build for the future, where abundant blockspace powers a better internet.

Unichain opens the door for DeFi developers of all types to bring their applications onchain with new features and tooling.  This paves the way for Unichain to support use cases like prediction markets, borrowing and lending, real-world assets, and consumer financial apps.

Unichain prioritizes the needs of DeFi users from day one, and the Superchain is a ready-made home for DeFi applications of all types.

Unichain is part of the Superchain’s path to interoperability, and will support ERC20s that are Superchain interop compatible.

When Superchain interop goes live, data and assets will move between OP Chains without needing to go through L1, unifying liquidity and helping developers solve for existing fragmentation. This stepping stone towards horizontally scaling Ethereum will unlock a new network effect for all Superchain participants.

Unichain will be the first OP Stack L2 to launch with 1-second block times. Uniswap Labs is also working with Flashbots to develop a new TEE-based block builder that reduces Unichain confirmation times from 1 second to 250 milliseconds. This massive UX improvement will provide Unichain users with experiences that feel instant. Over time, these reduced block times will be available across the Superchain - a request we’ve heard from developers across the ecosystem, and an experience that will benefit all OP Chains.

This system follows the rules of priority ordering, helping applications internalize MEV and protect users. Finally, it will help pave the way to sequencer hardening to protect against extraction of MEV.

Coinbase, Sony, Worldcoin, and Uniswap all have chosen Optimism as their home, leveraging the OP Stack for their blockchains. This makes the OP Stack the most commonly adopted shared standard for scaling Ethereum. All of these teams are building on the Superchain for its shared standards and values, and for the opportunity to contribute to a Collective powering an internet built by all, and owned by all. It’s a positive-sum ecosystem, where the success of one chain benefits everyone.

We’re thrilled to welcome Unichain to the Superchain ecosystem to work together in decentralizing the global finance system.

To learn more about Unichain, visit unichain.org.