Liquid Restaking Protocol Swell Migrates to Optimism Superchain
Swell, a liquid restaking protocol, has announced its decision to migrate its Layer 2 to the Optimism Superchain, moving away from the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK). As part of this strategic transition, Swell will provide restaking yield and security functions for the Superchain, utilizing its Proof of Restake model to enhance the capital efficiency of staked assets and establish a mechanism that supports growth.
To align with Superchain requirements, Swell Layer 2 will undergo modifications, including the use of ETH as the rollup gas token and directing a portion of sequencer earnings to the Optimism Collective. Swell Founder Daniel Dizon expressed excitement about the collaboration, stating, “Swell is excited to collaborate with OP Labs and the wider Optimism Collective to build out our shared vision for scaling Ethereum – and make Swell L2 the home of all restaking activity in the Superchain.”
By integrating with the Optimism Superchain through the OP Stack framework, Swell joins a growing list of prominent players in the crypto industry, including major exchanges like Coinbase. Recently, Kraken announced its own Layer 2 network, Ink, built on the OP Stack to become part of the Superchain. Other notable names utilizing the OP Stack include Uniswap, a leading decentralized exchange, and Sony, a global electronics leader.
Although Swell previously announced plans to use Polygon’s CDK, supported by AltLayer, to create a zkEVM for its Layer 2 network, the decision to leverage Optimism’s OP Stack instead has not been disclosed. Despite this change, Swell maintained that it “continues to believe in the aggregated ecosystem that Polygon is building.”
According to data from DefiLlama, Swell’s products collectively hold a total value locked of more than $1.35 billion.
Polygon Labs introduced the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK) in the third quarter of 2023 as an open-source framework designed to enable the launch of ZK Layer 2s and support the transition of EVM Layer 1s to Layer 2s. The Polygon CDK focuses on customization and zero-knowledge (ZK) technology, aiming to streamline connections between CDK-based chains and the AggLayer. Several popular projects, including OKX, Ronin, Immutable, Moonveil, Fox, Witness Chain, Silicon, Manta, Hypr Network, Flipkart, Libre, Arianee, Gnosis Pay, Ton Applications Chain (TAC), and WireX, have announced CDK-based chains.
The liquid restaking protocol Swell is migrating its Layer 2 to the Optimism Superchain, moving away from the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK). Swell will provide restaking yield and security functions for the Superchain, using its Proof of Restake model to improve capital efficiency of staked assets and establish a growth-supporting mechanism.
To comply with Superchain requirements, Swell Layer 2 will introduce modifications, including using ETH as the rollup gas token and directing part of sequencer earnings to the Optimism Collective. By integrating with the Optimism Superchain through the OP Stack framework, Swell joins other prominent players in the crypto industry, such as Coinbase and Kraken.
Although Swell previously planned to use Polygon’s CDK to create a zkEVM for its Layer 2 network, the decision to leverage Optimism’s OP Stack instead has not been revealed. Despite this change, Swell said it “continues to believe in the aggregated ecosystem that Polygon is building.”
Data from DefiLlama shows that Swell’s products collectively hold a total value locked of more than $1.35 billion. Polygon Labs introduced the Polygon CDK in Q3 2023 to enable the launch of ZK Layer 2s and support the transition of EVM Layer 1s to Layer 2s, with several popular projects announcing CDK-based chains.
