Today Defi apps need to explore and evaluate various chains before they launch. There are many questions they need to ask themselves, How many active users does the chain have? What are the transaction fees like? How fast are transactions? 

Some of the biggest dApps in the space have started on Ethereum, which has around 59% of all DeFI activity and $26 Billion in Total Value Locked. 

Ethereum has more than half of all DeFI activity, so why wouldn’t new apps launch there? If you’ve ever used Ethereum, then you know why -– gas fees can reach up to $100 or more. Since it is a layer-1 blockchain, when there is an uptick in activity, gas prices rise, which makes it less practical for users who are using smaller amounts.

To solve the problem, teams started to work on Ethereum layer-2s like Arbitrum and Optimism, which are lightning-fast and reduce gas fees by up to 10-100x while still maintaining the security of Ethereum.** **

Currently, this is where the largest number of dApps have migrated. To understand where apps will head next, we need to cover Monolithic & Modular Chains.

Monolithic Blockchains

Layer-1s are also known as monolithic blockchains because they take care of four things:

• Execution - execution must ensure that only valid transactions are executed, i.e., transactions that result in valid state machine transitions.

• Settlement - entails an environment for execution layers to verify proofs, resolve fraud disputes, and bridge between other execution layers.

• Consensus - entails agreeing on the order of the transactions.

• Data Availability - (DA) entails making the transaction data available. Note that execution, settlement, and consensus require DA.

Having to do all these things limits the scalability of the chain because they have to perform many different tasks simultaneously, resulting in slower speeds and execution time.

Examples of Monolithic blockchains include Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Solana, and others.** **

Modular Blockchains

Modular blockchains are separated into three layers. The base layer consists of data availability and consensus, often called the data availability layer (DA), while both settlement and execution are moved on top of the base layer into their own separate layers.

By separating the layers and decreasing their workload, every layer can be specialized to optimally perform only its function and increase the throughput of the system. This modular paradigm enables multiple execution layers, and rollups, to use the same settlement and DA layers.

Data Availability Layers

Celestia is a data availability (DA) layer that provides a scalable solution to the data availability problem. Due to the permissionless nature of the blockchain networks, a DA layer must provide a mechanism for the execution and settlement layers to check in a trust-minimized way whether transaction data is indeed available.

** **

Modular Execution Layers

Fuel is designed specifically to leverage this additional bandwidth in ways no other scalability system can. Fuel is the fastest execution layer for the modular blockchain stack, delivering the highest security and flexible throughput.

Fuel specializes in making execution as efficient as possible. This is in contrast to rollups that have been deployed to date, which have optimized for monolithic problems such as constrained bandwidth. As Ethereum grows, projects that do not adapt will continue to suffer the consequences of a compute-constrained design space. The time for modular execution is now.

According to Grand View Research, the global sports betting market is $83.6 Billion and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10% from 2023-2030.

In 2022, Sports betting revenue in the U.S. alone surpassed $60 Billion, hitting all-time highs.

Fanduel* *– The largest sports betting platform in the U.S. handled $23.55 Billion in sports wagers during 2022, up 109% from 2021.

With the rise of leading Layer-2s, transactions are 25-50x less expensive and 10x faster than on Ethereum Mainnet (Layer-1), all while inheriting its security properties.

With EIP-4844 coming up, transaction fees on Layer-2s will only get less expensive.

This allows developers to build dApps on Ethereum Layer-2s that can handle a large number of users and allow them to perform transactions for cents instead of the high gas fees that we see on Ethereum, which often price users out.

One dApp building on these Ethereum Layer-2s is Overtime Markets -- the leading sports market protocol on Arbitrum & Optimism that allow users to place bets across many sports, including basketball, football, hockey, boxing, MMA, E-sports & more.

With Overtime, users can place single bets on the outcome of games or they can place parlays -- Up to 8 different games in one ticket.

To place a bet on the platform, users need to have stablecoins such as USDC, DAI, USDT, or sUSD as collateral

Each game is resolved by data provided by Chainlink -- the world’s largest oracle solution that guarantees verifiable truth on-chain.

This minimizes volatility and ensures users receive the payout they were quoted.

Since Overtime is available on Arbitrum & Optimism, they can take advantage of these chains' activity. Arbitrum is currently the fourth-largest blockchain with $2.32 Billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), while Optimism is the sixth-largest blockchain with $880 Million in TVL.

It is clear users have started to see the advantages provided by Layer-2s and have started moving funds there.

In just over a year, Overtime Markets has added 4500 users and hit $11.2 Million in total volume with over 169,000 trades placed.

In Web2, the sign-up process is long and extensive. Users need to provide KYC and give away private information to centralized third parties. ❌

In Web3, users can connect their wallets and start using the platform. ✅

In Web2, the offramp from betting platforms to the user’s bank can be slow & expensive, with both parties charging fees. ❌

In Web3, users can receive payouts in under 30 minutes & the transaction fee to claim only costs cents because it’s built on L2s. ✅

Web3 allows us to rebuild & revolutionize aging industries that have failed us in the past.

For these reasons above, I believe we’re seeing only the beginning of what is to come in the coming months & years, but it will be inevitable --the future of sports betting is on-chain and will be built on Ethereum Layer-2s.

If you are bullish on the web3 sports betting industry you can try out Overtime Markets on Arbitrum or Optimism below.

https://overtimemarkets.xyz/

Ethereum & Alt Layer-1s

First, there was Ethereum – a smart-contract platform allowing anyone to build decentralized applications on top of it. In November 2021, it reached its peak in Total Value Locked (TVL) with over $100 Billion. With all the congestion, gas fees skyrocketed to over $100 for a single transaction.

Many users flocked to Alternative Layer-1s seeking lower transaction fees, and we saw the rise of TVL on chains like Solana & Terra reaching $10 & $20 Billion, respectively. After hundreds of network outages and the blowup of Luna, users concluded that Ethereum offers the most significant security guarantees but it still had one problem – high transaction fees. 

Optimistic Rollups & Layer-2s

While TVL was rising on Alt Layer-1 chains, teams like Arbitrum & Optimism were building the first Optimistic Rollups – Layer-2 scaling solutions built on top of Ethereum to improve performance, leverage security, and, most importantly bring transaction costs down to pennies with lightning fast speeds.

Arbitrum was the first Optimistic rollup ready for production, followed by Optimism. Today Arbitrum is the fourth largest chain with over $1.97 Billion in TVL. 

ZK-Rollups

Today in 2023, we are currently seeing the rise of zk Rollups with zk-Sync reaching over $100 Million in TVL since its mainnet launch. 

zk-Rollups are a Layer-2 scaling solution that increases transaction throughput and reduces transaction costs even further than Optimistic rollups, all while inheriting the security of Ethereum. 

zk-EVM rollups are compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), so little to no changes are needed depending on the type of zk-EVM. According to Vitalik Buterin, there are four types of zk-EVMs, all with different tradeoffs:

• Type1 (Fully Ethereum-equivalent) - Type1 zk-EVMs are fully Ethereum-equivalent, meaning no changes need to be made to the code. While it offers compatibility, it sacrifices speed as it takes longer to generate blocks. Teams building Type1 zk-EVMs include Taiko.

• Type2 (Fully EVM-equivalent) - Type2 zk-EVMs strive to be EVM-equivalent but are not precisely Ethereum-equivalent. Because of this, small changes need to be made, but the upside is transactions are faster than on Type1s. Scroll a zk-EVM aims to be a type2 when launched but is not quite there yet.

• Type3 (Almost EVM-equivalent) - Type3 zk-EVMs are almost EVM-equivalent but not quite. As a result, some applications have to be rewritten, but transaction times are faster. Scroll & Polygon zk are currently Type3 zk-EVMs

• Type4 - Type4 zk-EVMs are the least compatible because they are written with high-level programming languages. Zk-Sync & Starknet are both Type4 zk-EVMs in their current form.

Modular Blockchains

To understand modular blockchains, we first need to understand monolithic blockchains – blockchains that focus on doing everything, including execution, settlement, consensus & data availability.

Over the past few months, we have seen the rise of Modular Blockchains – chains that specialize in select areas such as execution instead of trying to do everything. By combining specialized blockchains, a more scalable and customizable system can be created. 

Rollups are also a type of modular blockchain because they focus on execution. 

Celestia is building the world's first modular blockchain that offers users the infrastructure to deploy their blockchain applications or layer-2 rollups. 

Hace 2 semanas Optimism anunció que estará formando una organización descentralizada autónoma o (DAO) y con ello viene su token nativo $OP, pero qué es Optimism? 👇

Optimism L2

Optimism es un tipo de Capa 2, todo que puedes hacer en Ethereum (Layer 1) se puede hacer en Optimism (Layer 2) con más velocidad y costos de transacción hasta 10 veces menor.

Una de la más grandes ventajas de Optimism es que es equivalente con la máquina virtual de Ethereum (EVM), esto es importante porque cada aplicación que está en Ethereum se puede mover a Optimism con solo un clic sin ningún cambio al código

Viaja hacia Optimism a través del puente aquí.

Colectivo de Optimism.

El colectivo de Optimism es un sistema de gobernanza dividido en 2 Casas, la primera casa llamada “Token House” será gobernada por el token nativo $OP que será distribuido a los primeros adoptantes, ellos podrán votar por cambios en el proyecto.

La segunda casa se llama “Citizens House” y será gobernado por un “Soulbound” NFT intransferible, esta casa estará encargada de colectar fondos para bienes públicos.

Airdrops en el Futuro.

En vez de solo hacer un airdrop, Optimism anunció que habrá varios, para incentivar usuarios a utilizar su Capa 2, el 14% del total de tokens será distribuido a la comunidad. El primer airdrop es 5% del total de tokens.

Los requisitos para ser elegible son los siguientes;

Haber hecho transacciones temprano o seguido, votar en un DAO, ser firmador de Multisig, ser donador de Gitcoin, o quedarse fuera de Ethereum por transacciones de gas muy altas.

Un total de 264,079 cuentas son elegibles para reclamar $OP la moneda nativa de Optimism, puedes ver tu elegibilidad aquí.

Qué son las Capas 2?

Las Capas 2 o Layer 2s se refieren a las soluciones construidas arriba de la cadena de Ethereum, las Capas 2 son diseñados para reducir los costos de transacción y aumentar su velocidad, cómo están construidas arriba de la base de Ethereum heredan la misma seguridad.

Imagine your salary as a stream, It means you can get paid as you work instead of waiting every 2 weeks, You can make use of your money as soon as you earn it. All of this is now possible with Superfluid! 🔥

Superfluid allows users to stream tokens and NFTs over time! ⏳

With a single on-chain transaction money flows from the sender’s wallet to the receiver in real time every second. Superfluid is perfect for; subscriptions, salaries, & more. 💸

Superfluid is live on Polygon & Gnosis Chain and has finally landed today on OG Optimistic Layer-2s; Arbitrum & Optimism LFG! #L222 🚀

Superfluid also has no token yet… 😉

Starting A Stream 💰

1/ First head over to 👉 superfluid.finance (ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO DOUBLE CHECK THE LINK)

Scroll down until you see this 👇

2/ Click Go to Dashboard and connect your wallet, from here you will be able to see your balance, monthly net flow, the amount of money streaming In & Out per month, when your balance will hit zero, & your streaming history.

3/ Before we can start our stream we need to wrap our tokens, you cannot send regular ERC-20 tokens. Instead we have to upgrade them to “SuperTokens”

Click the green button to the far right of the page and select Wrap.

👇

4/ Select the token you want and enter the amount you want to Wrap.

We will be wrapping 25 $DAI

5/ It will take 2 transactions, the 1st will ask you to approve the token for use, In this case $DAI. The 2nd transaction is where the actual wrapping happens.

Once the $DAI is wrapped, we now have a ERC-777 “SuperToken” → $DAIx 👇

6/ Now that our token is wrapped we are ready to start a stream!

Click on the green button from earlier but this time click Send instead of Wrap.

7/ From here you can enter the address & token you want to stream. You can choose to send the stream per day, week, month, or do a one time transfer.

Fill in the Info below, press start streaming, & confirm the transaction in your wallet. 👇

8/ Congratulations you are now streaming money with the future of finance! click share stream to see your stream in action! 👇