The
Celo
blockchain’s
primary
developer
laid
out
a
“framework”
for
choosing
a
technology
provider
for
its
new
layer-2
network
atop
Ethereum,
proposing
to
wrap
up
the
evaluation
by
mid-January
in
what
has
become
a
surprisingly
intense
competition
between
some
of
the
blockchain
industry’s
most
prominent
teams.
The
developer,
cLabs,
published
the
“Framework
for
selecting
an
L2
stack”
Wednesday
on
its
discussion
forum,
inviting
community
feedback
on
the
document
by
mid-December,
and
plans
to
assess
the
various
suitors
over
the
ensuing
month.
The
community
behind
Celo
approved
the
plan
to
transition
to
a
layer-2
blockchain
in
July,
essentially
an
acknowledgment
that
the
project
was
more
likely
to
thrive
as
a
part
of
the
dominant
and
fast-growing
Ethereum
ecosystem
than
remaining
as
a
lesser,
standalone
network.
Initially,
CLabs
had
named
OP
Stack
from
the
Optimism
ecosystem
–
the
technology
underpinning
the
U.S.
crypto
exchange
Coinbase’s
new
layer-2
network,
Base
–
as
the
default
provider
for
its
new
layer-2
network.
But
over
the
following
several
months,
rival
teams
Polygon
and
then
Matter
Labs,
which
stands
behind
the
zkSync
project,
offered
competing
proposals
aiming
to
woo
Celo’s
business.
Celo
ranks
as
the
27th-biggest
blockchain
in
decentralized
finance,
with
a
total
value
locked,
or
TVL,
of
$102
million,
according
to
the
website
DeFiLlama.
That’s
a
tiny
fraction
of
the
$26.2
billion
in
the
Ethereum
ecosystem,
and
still
well
behind
Solana’s
$656
million.
But
because
the
teams
are
at
pains
to
establish
dominant
layer-2
ecosystems
–
with
first-mover
benefits
at
stake
such
as
the
wherewithal
to
set
industry
standards
and
aggregate
liquidity
–
Celo’s
choice
has
evolved
into
a
surprisingly
competitive
proxy
battle.
“Note
that
we
are
selecting
codebases
and
sub-components
here,
so
we
feel
it
is
less
useful
to
directly
compare
metrics
like
TVL,
transaction
count,
users,
except
as
indicators
of
what
a
closer
collaboration
and/or
shared
bridge
between
the
two
ecosystems
could
look
like
in
future,”
cLabs
wrote.
“This
exercise
is
not
to
select
a
‘best
L2
stack.’
It’s
to
figure
out
which
is
the
best
fit
for
the
specific
technical
and
non-technical
needs
of
the
Celo
L2
project.”
Priorities
laid
out
in
the
new
CLabs
proposed
framework
include
“simple
migration,
with
minimal
downtime,”
preserving
low
gas
fees
and
Ethereum
compatibility.
The
document
makes
no
mention
of
the
ongoing
debate
between
optimistic
rollups
versus
ZK
rollups,
a
key
design
choice
that
experts
say
brings
important
tradeoffs
between
operating
cost
and
speed.
What’s
clear
is
the
desire
of
the
cLabs
team
to
get
on
with
it
–
perhaps
a
nod
to
how
fast
the
blockchain
landscape
is
evolving.
“Our
objective
is
to
deliver
CEL2
as
soon
as
possible,
minimizing
implementation
risk,”
according
to
the
proposal.
“We
favor
projects
that
have
been
audited
and
deployed
and
proven
in
production,
vs.
projects
whose
designs
are
subject
to
ongoing
change
or
whose
implementations
are
not
yet
proven.”
