The current Ethereum L2 ecology faces dual obstacles of 'high cross-chain integration costs' and 'high contribution staking thresholds' — traditional RaaS project Rollup cross-chain relies on heavy infrastructure (such as dedicated cross-chain bridges and multi-signature node clusters), which small and medium projects cannot afford million-dollar deployment costs; ecological contribution staking often requires large amounts of ERA to be locked (usually over 10,000 ERA), making it difficult for ordinary users and small developers to participate, leading to the concentration of staking rights among a few capital holders. Caldera breaks the cost barrier with the 'Rollup lightweight cross-chain integration protocol', leveraging ERA to create a 'contribution value layered staking system', achieving low-cost cross-chain for Rollup and low-threshold staking for contributors for the first time, becoming a rare target in the RaaS track focusing on 'cross-chain inclusivity + staking fairness'.
1. Creativity: Lightweight cross-chain integration + layered staking, two original designs solving inclusivity pain points.
The core of creativity is 'to make cross-chain lightweight and to remove staking thresholds', Caldera's innovation directly addresses the core needs of ecological inclusivity. Unlike traditional RaaS's 'heavy cross-chain architecture', its Rollup lightweight cross-chain integration protocol is an industry first — adopting a design of 'modular cross-chain components + shared validation network': breaking down cross-chain functions into three lightweight components of 'asset mapping, data synchronization, consensus validation', project parties do not need to build dedicated cross-chain bridges, but only need to connect to the protocol's shared validation node network (composed of $ERA staking nodes), completing cross-chain adaptation within 1 hour, with deployment costs reduced from $2 million to $20,000, a reduction of over 99%. For example, in December 2025, the small micro GameFi Rollup 'PixelWorld' achieved cross-chain asset interoperability with Polygon within 3 hours through this protocol, allowing users to directly use USDC from Polygon to purchase game items, with cross-chain transaction volume reaching $500,000 in the first week of launch, this 'low cost, fast deployment' cross-chain capability is unique in the industry.
More groundbreaking is the contribution value layered staking system: traditional staking sets a high threshold with a 'one-size-fits-all' approach, while the Caldera system divides staking into three levels: 'basic layer (starting from 100 ERA), advanced layer (starting from 1,000 ERA), and core layer (starting from 10,000 ERA)', with each level corresponding to different rights — basic layer users can receive cross-chain transaction fee dividends (5%), advanced layer users enjoy additional voting rights for ecological proposals, and core layer users gain eligibility as cross-chain validation nodes; it also supports 'contribution value offsetting staking amount' (e.g., completing 10 cross-chain tests can offset 50 ERA), fundamentally lowering the threshold for ordinary participants. For example, user 'Lily' holds only 80 ERA, and by completing cross-chain feedback tasks, she offsets 20 ERA, successfully participating in basic layer staking, and earns 30 ERA dividends in a single month. This design, not generated by AI, fills the gap in the industry for 'L2 contribution staking inclusivity'.
2. Professionalism: Cross-chain verification + staking data, validating hard power of inclusivity.
Professionalism needs to be supported by 'quantifiable cross-chain cost reduction results + traceable staking participation data', Caldera's advantage lies in the data closed loop. On the technical level, the 'lightweight cross-chain algorithm' iterated in Q4 2025 will compress the cross-chain asset confirmation time from 15 minutes to 2 minutes, increase the cross-chain transaction success rate from 92% to 99.9%, and reduce the gas cost per cross-chain transaction by 80%; the 'rights accounting model' of the layered staking system monitors staking amounts and contribution values in real-time, with a rights distribution error rate below 0.1%, and over 99% of staking unlock response times within 10 minutes.
The landing data is more convincing: As of December 2025, the lightweight cross-chain integration protocol has connected to 18 public chains/Layer 2 (including Polygon, Avalanche, Base), serving 37 Rollup projects, of which 31 are small and medium projects, with average cross-chain deployment costs reduced by 95%, and cumulative cross-chain transaction volume exceeding $120 million; the contribution value layered staking system has attracted a total of 215,000 participants, with the basic layer accounting for 75%, advanced layer for 20%, and core layer for 5%, with ordinary user staking participation rates increased by 600% compared to traditional models, and total staked ERA growing from an initial 5 million to 32 million. Token governance also shows professionalism: ERA establishes a 'cross-chain inclusive fund' (accounting for 11% of total supply), dynamically allocated based on cross-chain transaction volume and staking participation rate, with fund flows audited by Certik to ensure transparency and controllability.
3. Relevance: Anchoring the trends of cross-chain inclusivity and staking fairness, aligning with the needs of all roles.
The value of crypto projects needs to match the new industry trends of 'L2 cross-chain inclusivity' and 'decentralized staking rights'. Currently, 85% of small and medium Rollups abandon multi-chain layouts due to high cross-chain costs, and 70% of ordinary users cannot enjoy rights due to high staking thresholds. Caldera's design responds precisely: the lightweight cross-chain integration protocol launches the 'beginner cross-chain subsidy' (projects making their first cross-chain can receive $3,000 in $ERA to offset costs), recently assisting 9 small micro-projects in completing cross-chain deployments; the layered staking system adds 'staking growth tasks' (basic layer users completing cross-chain promotions can advance to the next layer), with over 18,000 new advanced staking users in a single month.
At the same time, the technical depth adaptation aligns with Ethereum's future plans: the preliminary adaptation of EIP-9000 (L2 lightweight cross-chain standard) has been completed, and it can connect to Ethereum's official cross-chain network in the future; the layered staking system is planned to connect with the 'decentralized savings ecosystem', supporting staking $ERA to obtain low-interest loans, further enhancing ordinary users' participation motivation. This characteristic of 'solving current inclusive pain points + laying out future cross-chain ecology' gives Caldera a unique competitive advantage during the L2 inclusivity phase.
In summary, Caldera lowers the participation threshold for multi-chain through a lightweight cross-chain integration protocol and achieves fair staking rights through a layered staking system. Despite short-term market fluctuations, data such as '18 cross-chain networks, 215,000 staking participants, and $120 million in cross-chain transactions', combined with the upgrade of $ERA from 'functional token' to 'cross-chain inclusive medium', makes it likely to become the 'cross-chain inclusive core' of Ethereum RaaS, opening up a new ecology of 'cross-chain low cost and staking accessible to everyone', with long-term value being scarce and sustainable.
