🚀 “What is Optimistic Rollup?” Understanding it as: I temporarily trust that you did it right, unless someone points out a mistake!
Do you know why Arbitrum and Optimism, two famous Layer 2 networks, are cheaper and faster than the original Ethereum?
The reason lies in the technology behind them: Optimistic Rollup.
💡 Imagine:
Suppose you are an exam supervisor, but there are 500 students submitting papers. You can't check each paper immediately.
So you declare:
“I believe that everyone did it right. Whoever submits a paper will be tentatively approved. But if someone finds out that their friend did it wrong and reports it, I will check that paper again.”
→ This method helps process quickly, saving the effort of checking every little detail, but still maintains fairness as there is time for complaints.
That is exactly how Optimistic Rollup works:
It processes a batch of transactions off-chain from Ethereum,
Then submits a summary to Ethereum,
Ethereum assumes it is correct,
But will “suspend it” for a period (called the challenge period) to wait for someone to discover a violation and submit evidence.
⚙️ How is it different from zkRollup?
If zkRollup is like “submitting extremely precise mathematical proof”, then Optimistic Rollup is like “handing in the paper first, and anyone dissatisfied can speak up”.
This method helps the system to process more lightly, simpler in terms of technology, but it has a drawback:
→ Transactions must wait for a period before being officially confirmed to ensure safety.
✅ In summary:
Optimistic Rollup is a technology that helps scale Ethereum by “trusting it is correct before verifying if necessary”. It helps reduce fees, increase speed, but there will be a slight delay to ensure fairness and security.