Ethereum layer 2 solution Optimism is welcoming the first phase of the Optimistic Ethereum Testnet.

This development has become a necessity of the market thanks to DeFi mania, which has sent fee on the second-largest network through the roof.

The airdrop of Uniswap’s governance token UNI last week actually sent Ethereum’s hourly fees 10x up, from just over $100k to more than $900k, the highest ever Ethereum fees on a per hour basis.

Over the past few months, the Ethereum network has been facing unprecedented congestion, which means waiting for hours to get your transaction confirmed. The prohibitive fees and stifling congestion calls for Ethereum scalability.

While ETH 2.0 is still not here and even then, it’s hard to say if it would be able to handle the fast-growing DeFi space, the market is turning to layer 2 solutions, and Optimistic is one of them.

As the team noted itself, “Our mission has felt more urgent than ever, and our path forward clear.”

Feels way more important right now than if this would have launched in April or May. Excited to see how this plays out. https://t.co/Y3jugv6ogV

— Ceteris Paribus (@ceterispar1bus) September 25, 2020

After 4 “exhausting” months since their last update, Optimistic has achieved the milestone of reaching the first phase of its testnet launch.

This launch would be a gradual process, which is currently open for public use but not for public contract deployment.

“As we gain confidence in the stability of the testnet, we will progress through each phase until the full Optimistic Ethereum system is up and running,” said the team.

Top DeFi projects like Synthetix, Uniswap, and Chainlink have already shared their intention to be early adopters.

Synthetix has officially announced that they are starting the first phase of its transition to Optimistic Ethereum, which involves incentivized testnet with 200k SNX in rewards for participating users.

“This is a huge milestone for Synthetix, Optimistic Ethereum, and indeed the entire Ethereum space,” said Synthetix in its official announcement. “Launching SNX staking on OE is a crucial step towards full scalability for the burgeoning DeFi ecosystem, truly allowing anyone around the world access to open financial infrastructure without the friction of high gas costs.”

In phase one, there will be no deposits or withdrawals, but tokens airdropped into L2 for staking reward. It would be in the second phase that deposits will be enabled, and staked assets can be increased, and in the next phase, withdrawals are enabled.

The post More Urgent than Ever - Ethereum Layer 2 Solution Goes in its First Phase of Testnet Launch first appeared on BitcoinExchangeGuide.

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