From 'On-chain Involution' to 'Ecological Spillover': How Caldera (ERA) Uses 'Rollup as a Service' to Activate the Long-tail Innovation of Web3.

In the wave of development in Ethereum Layer2, the 'performance competition' was once the core narrative of the industry—each Rollup was competing in TPS, gas fees, and confirmation speed, trying to attract applications and users through the optimization of technical parameters. However, this 'on-chain involution' eventually fell into a deadlock: the more Rollups there are, the more fragmented the ecosystem becomes; applications are forced to repeatedly deploy to cover users, leading to high costs; users find it hard to achieve scalable growth due to asset fragmentation and complicated operations. What Layer2 needs is not 'another faster Rollup', but a new paradigm that allows innovation to shift from 'single-chain involution' to 'ecological spillover'.

Caldera (ERA)'s 'Rollup Internet' is essentially a scalable solution for 'Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS)'. It does not compete with existing Rollups in performance but lowers the creation and interconnection thresholds of Rollups through a modular architecture, allowing any team—whether a large project, a small and medium developer, or a traditional enterprise—to have a dedicated Rollup at a low cost and quickly connect to the Layer2 ecological network. This model allows innovation to no longer be limited to 'internal optimization' of a single chain but to spill over to the entire ecosystem through interconnection, ultimately activating the long-tail innovation potential of Web3.

One, the dilemma of 'on-chain involution': Why Layer2 innovation falls into 'low-level repetition'.

To understand the value of Caldera (ERA), one must first break down the three major constraints of 'on-chain involution' on the Layer2 ecosystem—these constraints cause innovation to remain at a 'low-level repetition', unable to break through the bottleneck of scaling.

1. The 'unidirectional consumption' of innovation resources: 90% of energy spent on 'infrastructure catch-up'.

For most Web3 teams, wanting to implement innovation on Layer2 requires first overcoming the 'infrastructure hurdle'. Taking a small team focused on Web3 social as an example, if they want to build a 'social on-chain + NFT interaction' scenario, they need to complete a series of tasks unrelated to core innovation:

- Underlying technology adaptation: After choosing a certain Rollup, one needs to learn its specific virtual machine rules (such as Arbitrum's precompiles and zkSync's zkEVM differences), adjusting smart contract code; just the adaptation work takes 2-3 months.

- Security compliance costs: To ensure the safety of assets on the Rollup, separate audits of contracts and the establishment of on-chain monitoring systems are required, with the cost of a single audit exceeding 50,000 dollars, accounting for 30% of the team's annual budget;

- Cross-chain capability building: If you want to connect with users from other Rollups, you need to connect with third-party cross-chain bridges, handling asset cross-chain delays and security risks, which requires 1-2 months of development time.

Ultimately, 90% of the team's energy was spent on 'infrastructure catch-up', leaving only 10% for core 'social scene innovation'. This 'unidirectional resource consumption' deters many small teams—according to a 2024 Layer2 ecosystem report, only 15% of Web3 innovation projects can complete multi-Rollup deployment, while the remaining 85% are forced to remain limited to a single chain due to high costs, significantly suppressing innovation potential.

2. The 'islandization' of innovation results: 'local optimization' that cannot be reused across chains.

Even if some teams overcome the infrastructure hurdle, their innovative results are often limited to a single Rollup, unable to form ecological-level influence. For example:

- A certain team developed a 'layered pricing model for gas fees' on Optimism (50% fee reduction for new users), which could only serve the Optimism ecosystem due to its inability to adapt to the economic models of other Rollups, covering only 20% of the total users of Layer2.

- A certain developer optimized the 'NFT batch minting algorithm' on zkSync (reducing minting costs by 60%), but due to differences in the contract execution logic of different Rollups, it could not be directly copied to Arbitrum and had to be redeveloped, leading to a significant decline in innovation efficiency.

This kind of 'islandization of innovation' causes the Layer2 ecosystem to fall into 'repeating the wheel'—each Rollup has its own gas optimization scheme, NFT tools, and identity system, but no one solution can cover the entire ecosystem. An industry survey shows that there are over 300 functionally similar 'local optimization tools' in the Layer2 ecosystem, but less than 5% can be reused across more than three Rollups.

3. The 'transformation barrier' for traditional enterprises: Web3 technology becomes a 'high-threshold filter'.

For traditional enterprises, the technical complexity brought by 'on-chain involution' becomes the biggest barrier to Web3 transformation. A certain retail company wants to launch a 'member points on-chain' service, but faces difficulties even at the 'choosing Rollup' stage:

- Difficulty in technical choice: Not understanding the differences between Optimistic Rollup and ZK Rollup, fearing that choosing the wrong chain would lead to high migration costs later;

- The development team lacked: no Web3 development talent internally, outsourcing team quotes exceeded 200,000 dollars, far beyond the budget;

- Poor user experience: If deployed on a single Rollup, users need to download a specialized wallet, switch networks, which disconnects from the existing membership system, affecting the transformation effect.

Ultimately, the enterprise's Web3 transformation plan was shelved. This kind of 'high-threshold filtering' has caused Layer2 to miss out on the massive user base brought by traditional enterprises—estimates suggest that if traditional enterprises could access Layer2 at low cost, the user base of Layer2 could increase more than tenfold, but the technical barriers of 'on-chain involution' prevent this potential from being released.

Two, Caldera (ERA)'s 'spillover logic': How RaaS enables innovation to break through islands.

Caldera (ERA)'s 'Rollup Internet' is essentially a combination of 'RaaS + interconnectivity' that breaks the constraints of 'on-chain involution'. It transforms innovation from 'single-chain local optimization' into 'ecological-level reusable solutions', focusing on two main capabilities: low-threshold creation of dedicated Rollups and barrier-free connection to the entire ecosystem.

1. The 'lightweight creation' of RaaS: Enabling any team to have a dedicated Rollup in 7 days.

Caldera (ERA) standardizes and modularizes the Rollup creation process, launching the 'RaaS workbench'—no underlying development capability is required, any team can quickly generate a dedicated ERA Rollup through a visual interface configuration, and the entire process can take as little as 7 days, costing less than 1/10 of traditional Rollups.

Its 'lightweight creation' is supported by three major modular supports:

(1) Infrastructure modularization: Choose 'prefabricated components' as needed.

Caldera (ERA) breaks down the core functions of Rollups into 'prefabricated components', allowing teams to simply select the required functionalities without starting from scratch:

- Security components: Choose between 'Optimistic proof' or 'ZK proof' (more proof types will be supported in the future), the component is built with on-chain logic for Ethereum mainnet data to ensure asset security;

- Performance components: Choose transaction throughput (100 TPS-1000 TPS), block confirmation time (1s-10s), the component will automatically match the corresponding node configuration without manual optimization;

- Economic components: Customizable gas fee tokens (supporting ETH, USDC, or native tokens), fee distribution ratios (developer share, node rewards), the component includes smart contract templates, no code writing required.

For example, a certain Web3 gaming team wants to create a dedicated Rollup, they only need to choose 'ZK proof (high security) + 500 TPS (high throughput) + USDC gas fees (lowering user thresholds)' to generate a Rollup that meets gaming needs without needing to understand the underlying technical details.

(2) Development tool modularization: Reducing innovation thresholds with 'low-code'.

To enable non-Web3 professional teams to quickly implement functions, Caldera (ERA) provides a 'low-code development kit', encapsulating complex on-chain logic into visual modules:

- Contract template library: Built-in contract templates for scenarios such as DeFi, NFT, social, and gaming, supporting one-click deployment; the team only needs to modify parameters (such as NFT attributes, lending rates) to use;

- API interface pool: Provides a unified cross-Rollup communication API and user data synchronization API, allowing for asset transfer and data synchronization without the need to develop cross-chain logic;

- Front-end component library: Provides Web3 interface components adaptable to multiple terminals (such as wallet connection, transaction confirmation, NFT display), which can be directly embedded in existing apps or websites, maintaining a consistent user experience.

A certain traditional e-commerce team completed the deployment of 'membership points NFT' ERA Rollup in just 10 days using the 'low-code suite': invoking the 'NFT minting template' to generate points NFTs, connecting the existing membership system through the 'API interface', allowing users to receive on-chain points within the e-commerce app without needing to download a new wallet, and the transformation cost was less than 50,000 dollars, far lower than outsourcing solutions.

(3) Operation and maintenance support modularization: Goodbye to '24-hour chain monitoring'.

Caldera (ERA) provides 'managed operation and maintenance services', allowing teams to obtain professional support without needing to assemble an operation and maintenance team:

- Node hosting: Responsible for deploying, scaling, and troubleshooting nodes for ERA Rollups, ensuring the stability of on-chain services at 99.9%;

- Security monitoring: Real-time monitoring of abnormal transactions and contract vulnerabilities on-chain, triggering alerts immediately upon discovering risks and providing emergency repair plans;

- Upgrade support: When Caldera (ERA) launches new features (such as support for new proof types, cross-ecosystem interconnection), dedicated Rollups can be upgraded with one click without downtime.

This kind of 'managed operation and maintenance' allows small and medium teams to focus on product innovation without worrying about technical issues. The founder of a certain DeFi startup said: 'In the past, we had to spend half our time monitoring the chain, worried about node issues; now that we leave it to Caldera for operation and maintenance, we can fully invest in product innovation, and our development efficiency has doubled.'

2. The 'innovation spillover' of interconnectivity: Allowing a single innovation to cover the entire ecosystem.

If RaaS solves the 'difficulty of implementing innovation', then Caldera (ERA)'s 'interconnection protocol' solves the 'difficulty of reusing innovation'—it allows innovations on a certain ERA Rollup to quickly 'spill over' to all ERA Rollups and even connect with external ecosystems, forming ecological-level influence.

Its core mechanism of 'innovation spillover' includes:

(1) Cross-Rollup functional reuse: One development, usable throughout the ecosystem.

The ERA interconnection protocol supports 'function template synchronization'—innovative functions developed by teams on a certain ERA Rollup can be encapsulated as 'function templates' and synchronized to all other ERA Rollups through the protocol, allowing other teams to use them without redeveloping.

For example, a certain team developed the 'on-chain identity verification feature' on the 'social ERA Rollup' (supporting binding on-chain addresses with phone number + facial recognition). After encapsulating it as a template, it was synchronized to the 'gaming ERA Rollup' and 'e-commerce ERA Rollup' through the interconnection protocol:

- The gaming team invoked this template to quickly implement 'player identity anti-cheating';

- The e-commerce team invoked this template to achieve 'member identity on-chain confirmation';

- The entire process takes only 1 day, while traditional models require over a month of adaptation time.

This kind of 'functional reuse' transforms innovation from 'single-chain assets' into 'ecological public resources'. By 2024, the Caldera (ERA) ecosystem has synchronized over 50 innovative function templates, covering multiple scenarios such as DeFi, NFT, and social, saving over 10 million dollars in development costs for the ecosystem.

(2) User and asset flow: Innovative scenarios automatically attract users from the entire ecosystem.

The ERA interconnection protocol supports 'real-time flow of cross-Rollup users and assets'—innovative scenarios on a certain ERA Rollup can automatically connect with users and assets across the entire ecosystem without the team actively pulling new users.

Taking a certain 'cross-chain DeFi aggregation ERA Rollup' as an example:

- Through the interconnection protocol, this Rollup can obtain real-time user asset data from all ERA Rollups (such as USDC from Rollup A, ETH from Rollup B, and NFTs from Rollup C);

- Users logged into any ERA Rollup can see the financial products of this aggregation platform and directly participate with their existing assets without needing cross-chain transfers;

- The innovation revenue model of the platform (such as 'multi-asset combined mining') is synchronized to the entire ecosystem through the protocol, attracting users from various Rollups to participate.

This kind of 'automatic traffic diversion' allows the user scale of innovative scenarios to grow exponentially. This aggregation platform attracted over 200,000 users within a month of launch, with 80% coming from other ERA Rollups, far exceeding the growth rate of traditional single-Rollup DeFi projects (traditional projects usually attract less than 50,000 users in three months).

(3) Cross-ecosystem innovation collaboration: Connecting with external Rollups to expand spillover boundaries.

Caldera (ERA) not only realizes interconnection among ERA Rollups within the ecosystem but also connects with external Rollups (such as Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync) through a 'cross-ecosystem adaptation layer', allowing innovations to spill over to the entire Layer2 ecosystem.

Its core is the 'bidirectional adaptation protocol':

- Asset adaptation: Convert the asset format of the ERA Rollup to a format compatible with external Rollups, enabling cross-ecosystem asset transfers (e.g., USDC from ERA Rollup can be directly used on Arbitrum);

- Function adaptation: Adapt the innovation templates of the ERA ecosystem (such as identity verification, gas optimization) to interfaces supported by external Rollups, allowing external ecosystems to reuse ERA's innovative results;

- User adaptation: Support users to seamlessly switch between ERA Rollups and external Rollups using the same wallet address, maintaining a consistent operation experience.

A 'lightweight NFT minting tool' developed on an ERA Rollup achieved support for both Arbitrum and Optimism in just two weeks through a cross-ecosystem adaptation layer, reducing minting costs by 70%. The tool's monthly active users grew from 10,000 to 50,000, demonstrating significant innovation spillover effects.

Three, activating long-tail innovation: How RaaS reshapes the innovation landscape of Web3.

Caldera (ERA)'s 'RaaS + Interconnectivity' model is reshaping the innovation landscape of Web3—it makes innovation no longer an 'exclusive right' of large projects, but a 'long-tail movement' that small and medium teams and traditional enterprises can participate in. This change in structure is giving rise to three new types of innovative entities, injecting new vitality into the Layer2 ecosystem.

1. Small and medium developers: From 'relying on large chains' to 'independent innovation'.

In the past, small and medium developers often had to rely on large Rollups like Arbitrum and Optimism, being limited by platform rules (such as gas fee adjustments and functional restrictions), which constrained their space for innovation. However, through Caldera (ERA)'s RaaS, small and medium developers can create their own dedicated ERA Rollup, define their own rules, and focus on core innovation.

For example, a three-person developer team wants to create a 'low-threshold DeFi tool for students'. They created a 'student-exclusive ERA Rollup' through RaaS:

- Custom rules: Gas fees are only 0.01 USDC (far lower than mainstream Rollups), supporting campus card binding to on-chain addresses (reducing identity verification thresholds);

- Core innovation: Developing 'small amount fixed-term financial management' features (minimum investment of 10 dollars, annual yield of 5%-8%), connecting with nearby campus businesses, allowing financial management returns to be directly exchanged for products;

- Ecological spillover: By connecting to student users from other ERA Rollups through the interconnection protocol, it attracted 50,000 student users within two months of launch, becoming a benchmark project in its niche field.

This kind of 'independent innovation' allows small and medium-sized developers to precisely enter niche scenarios, avoiding direct competition with large projects. The 2024 Caldera (ERA) ecological report shows that the ERA Rollup created by small and medium developers accounts for 60%, with 30% of the projects achieving profitability in niche scenarios (such as student finance, gray-haired Web3, niche games), far exceeding the industry average.

2. Vertical industry teams: From 'technical anxiety' to 'scene deep cultivation'.

For vertical industry teams (such as gaming, social, e-commerce), past Web3 innovations often fell into 'technical anxiety'—fearing that underlying technology was unstable and cross-chain experiences were poor, preventing them from focusing on deep cultivation of industry scenarios. Caldera (ERA)'s RaaS allows teams to shift their focus from 'technical adaptation' to 'scene innovation'.

Taking a certain Web3 social team as an example, their core goal is to 'make on-chain social as smooth as Web2'. After constructing a 'social-exclusive ERA Rollup' through RaaS, the team focuses on three major scene innovations:

- Real-time messaging on-chain: Develop 'lightweight messaging contracts' that support real-time on-chain storage of user chat records (only storing hashes to protect privacy), synchronized to other ERA Rollups through the interconnection protocol, allowing users to view chat records across different Rollups;

- Social relationship cross-chain reuse: Friends lists and follow relationships of users in this Rollup can be synchronized to social applications of other ERA Rollups without the need to re-add friends;

- Web2 account interoperability: Supports login via WeChat and phone number, automatically generating on-chain addresses, allowing new users to use the wallet without learning how to operate it.

These innovations have resulted in a user retention rate of 60% for the social application (the industry average is only 30%), with daily active users exceeding 100,000, of which 40% are first-time Web3 users. The team leader stated: 'RaaS helped us solve our technical concerns, allowing us to finally focus on 'how to make social interactions smoother', which is what users truly care about.'

3. Traditional enterprises: From 'transformation observation' to 'lightweight trial'.

Caldera (ERA)'s low-threshold RaaS provides traditional enterprises with a path for 'lightweight Web3 transformation'—without large-scale investment, they can test scenarios through dedicated ERA Rollups, verifying commercial value before gradually expanding scale.

The transformation case of a certain chain restaurant is highly representative:

- Step one: Lightweight trial (1 month, cost 30,000 dollars): Create a 'restaurant membership ERA Rollup' through RaaS, launching 'consumption points NFTs'—users earn 1 NFT point for spending 100 yuan, and 10 points can be exchanged for free meals, with points redeemable for products on the e-commerce platforms of other ERA Rollups through the interconnection protocol;

- Step two: Effect verification: After one month online, it attracted 20,000 members to participate, with a repurchase rate increase of 25%, validating the commercial value of 'on-chain points';

- Step three: Scale expansion: Based on verification results, expand Rollup functionality and add 'NFT blind box activities' (spend 200 yuan to draw restaurant-related NFTs), connecting with users from external Rollups, with membership surpassing 100,000 in three months.

This kind of 'lightweight trial' allows traditional enterprises to explore Web3 transformation paths gradually without taking on high risks. By 2024, more than 50 traditional enterprises (retail, catering, cultural tourism) have achieved Web3 transformation through Caldera (ERA)'s RaaS, bringing in over 1 million new users, becoming an important source of growth for Layer2 users.

Four, the future challenges of 'Rollup Internet': Balancing openness and governance.

Although Caldera (ERA)'s RaaS model has activated long-tail innovation, as the scale of the ecosystem expands, it also faces three major challenges: 'protocol openness', 'ecological governance', and 'performance bottlenecks'. The answers to these questions will determine whether it can upgrade from an 'innovation tool' to 'Web3 infrastructure'.

1. Protocol openness: How to avoid 'ecological barriers'.

Currently, Caldera (ERA)'s interconnection protocol mainly supports ERA Rollups within the ecosystem, while the connection with external ecosystems is still @Caldera Official #Caldera $ERA