Author: Alon Muroch
Ethereum Rollups have become the franchise model of Web3 - they are autonomous platforms, strategic products, and programmable economies. In many ways, they embody a modern franchise model: autonomous yet aligned with the brand, interoperable yet built for a specific purpose, flexible yet rooted in common standards.
Ethereum as the franchisor
In this model, Ethereum acts as the franchisor of McDonald's headquarters, setting brand standards and core rules, and providing infrastructure to ensure scalability. This includes:
✅ Achieve Global Transaction Finality Through Ethereum's Validator Set
✅ Neutral and trusted settlement layer
✅ Standardized tools: Solidity, EVM, wallets, cross-chain bridges, RPC
✅ Large Developer Ecosystem and Trust Foundation
Ethereum's value lies not only in technology, but also in institutions and culture. When Rollup accesses Layer 1, it inherits Ethereum's 'brand authorization'. Trust from users and builders stems from: Ethereum's cryptography + community consensus + decentralized values
Rollups as franchise branches
Rollup operators are franchisees, operating exclusive 'on-chain storefronts' and customizing the environment, while assuming operational responsibilities.
They can, on the basis of inheriting Ethereum credibility:
✅ Customized Runtime: EVM, zkVM, WASM or custom virtual machine
✅ Customized fee structure: 0 Gas experience, fiat-anchored pricing, rebate mechanism
✅ Governance Mechanism: DAO, Multi-signature, Token Voting or Social Recovery
✅ Modify infrastructure: self-selected sequencer, Data Availability Layer (DA), cross-chain bridge, proving system
✅ Extended functions: Identity layer, privacy pre-compiled contracts, AI agents, etc.
In short, Rollups are application-specific economies that have complete control over the execution environment while anchoring to Ethereum for trust and interoperability
Just like McDonald's... McDonald's stores around the world maintain a unified identity, but they are all locally operated. McDonald's in Rome uses black and gold aesthetics to match the ancient buildings; McDonald's in India offers spicy cheese rolls; McDonald's in France can drink espresso and eat macarons.
The same:
✅ DeFi Rollup: Complete Elimination of Gas Fees + High Frequency Trading Optimization
✅ Game Rollup: Use WASM to achieve real-time logic and user experience abstraction
✅ Social Rollup: Focus on throughput, on-chain messaging, and identity
These are “McRollups” - following Ethereum's standards, settling back to Ethereum's base layer, and interoperating through shared protocols
Technical Revelation: The Application Boundary of zkTLS Is More Than Just 'Resume Verification'
Rollup as a product
Operating Rollup ≠ deploying smart contracts - it is essentially like launching a company, or more accurately, a full-stack SaaS platform:
✅ Manage uptime: Sequencer, Data Availability (DA), Proof, Node Liveness
✅ Recruit developers: build SDKs, write documentation, establish ecological funds
✅ Support Users: Wallets, Block Explorers, Support Processes, Fiat Deposit Channels
✅ Control the economy: gas tokens, cross-chain bridge fees, MEV fees, governance mechanism
The most successful Rollup team will treat it as a business - a vertically integrated business (storefront + backend + distribution channel + monetization engine), composable but optimized for users.
The power of shared infrastructure
Rollup's autonomy relies on Ethereum ecosystem collaboration:
✅ Standardized cross-chain bridge → Standardization of interoperability
✅ Shared sorting layer (such as Superchain, AggLayer, Espresso) → Atomic cross-chain interaction
✅ DA Network (such as EigenDA, Celestia) → Cost Reduction and Maintain Ethereum Consistency
✅ Unified Tool Chain → Developers Do Not Need to Start From Scratch
This achieves a seamless user experience - if synchronous composability is achieved, accounts, assets, and identities can be transferred across Rollups as if they were within a single chain.
Synchronous composability: Ethereum's strategic priority
If Rollups are franchise stores, then synchronous composability is the logistics, coordination, and communication network that transforms them from isolated branches into a unified global value chain. Without it, Rollups are powerful but fragmented; with it, they will become a closely connected, interoperable network of programmable economies
What is synchronous composability?
Synchronous composability allows smart contracts on different Rollups to interact within a single transaction context - in an atomic and deterministic manner. In short:
✅ Rollup A contract can call Rollup B contract and return the result immediately
✅ Users can achieve cross-chain operations like in a single chain
✅ Developers do not need to design asynchronous bridges
It transforms Rollups into modular components of a unified system, rather than isolated chains stitched together by cross-chain bridges.
No synchronous composability
❌ Rollups Become Economic Islands
❌ Liquidity fragmentation
❌ Users Encounter Cumbersome Cross-chain Operations
❌ Developers Are Forced to Adopt Asynchronous Processes
❌ dApps lose atomic logic
This may break Ethereum r's superpower: seamless composability.
Has synchronous composability
✅ Contracts interact instantly across Rollups
✅ Cross-domain flash loans/DAOs become easier
✅ Free flow of liquidity
✅ Users' Cross-domain Operations Without Awareness
✅ Ethereum such as multi-style single chain
Synchronous composability not only improves the experience, but also unlocks entirely new types of decentralized applications that would otherwise be impossible.
How synchronous composability works (underlying mechanism)
See In-depth Technical Specifications:https://medium.com/@alonmuroch-65570/enabling-cross-chain-synchronous-and-atomic-messages-for-the-op-stack-eaa4e58c1d92
✅ Shared coordination network: deterministically sort transactions on multiple Rollups (such as Optimism Superchain, Espresso, Astria)
✅ Shared Data Availability Layer: Rollups publish and consume data from a common source, ensuring visibility to all chains (such as EigenDA, Celestia)
✅ Standardized Message Layer: Support Atomic Secure, Verifiable Cross-chain Message Passing
✅ Ethereum Settlement: All Rollups eventually settle to Ethereum, where finality, data validity and dispute resolution converge
Together, these components create a unified execution context among autonomous Rollups.
Real World Use Cases
✅ DeFi arbitrage: Rollup A borrowing → Rollup B trading → repayment (completed in a single transaction)
✅ Cross Rollup NFT: Chain A Casting → Chain B Game → Chain C Transaction (Completed Immediately)
✅ Cross-domain DAO: Proposals/Execution Across Multiple Rollups (Treasury Operations + Governance Logic)
✅ Unified entrance: users interact cross-chain without perception
The Danger of Lack of Synchronous Composability: Rollup Centrifugal Risk
As Rollups grow in users, capital, and brand influence, unless Ethereum provides the infrastructure to keep them composable, the incentive for them to stay aligned with Ethereum will diminish.
Rollup escape trajectory
Without synchronous composability, Ethereum may lose the Rollups it helped launch. As these Rollups mature - accumulating users, liquidity, and developer attention - they become increasingly self-sufficient. Their dependence on the Ethereum base layer decreases.
To some extent, the following logic will become persuasive:
"If we can't benefit from shared liquidity or shared execution, why continue to pay for Ethereum finality?"
This is the escape path. As more Rollups reach this threshold, they may:
✅ Self-built full stack solution (sequencer/DA/cross-chain bridge)
✅ Anchored Replacement Settlement Layer
✅ Prioritize vertical integration
Each Rollup that exits weakens Ethereum's network effect. Without composability, Ethereum will no longer be the connective tissue of Web3, but may become another Layer 1, while Rollups evolve into cloud platforms - autonomous, isolated, and increasingly indifferent to the future of Ethereum.
Synchronous composability = Ethereum's economic defense layer
The core of Ethereum retaining Rollup is to provide irreplaceable synergistic value:
✅ Shared Liquidity → Stronger Market
✅ Shared user experience → Higher retention
✅ Shared Infrastructure → Faster Development
✅ Shared status → Deeper integration
This is similar to the network effects of Web2: the more composable Rollups are, the more attractive the entire ecosystem becomes.
Writing at the end
Ethereum Rollups are more than just Layer 2. They are franchised economic zones where founders become platform operators and users become citizens of autonomous and interconnected digital nations. They are:
✅ Logically autonomous
✅ Customizable in user experience
✅ Achieve tokenization (monetization) in sorting and infrastructure
✅ Maintain Consistency with Ethereum's Finality and Values
This is not just “your application, your chain”, but your chain, market, and economy on the rails based on Ethereum.
Welcome to the age of McRollups.
