In the industry phase of Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) ecosystem where 'scaling results are significant but collaboration is insufficient', Caldera, founded by Constellation Labs Inc. in 2022, has positioned itself around 'integrating decentralized Rollups and lowering L2 usage barriers', constructing an infrastructure system of 'Rollup Engine (inclusive development hub) + Metalayer (cross-chain collaboration hub) + $ERA (fuel for ecological operation)'. Its innovative value lies not in fabricated functions but in a pragmatic design that connects the full chain of the L2 ecosystem 'development-deployment-interconnect', with all information sourced from publicly available project technology documents, ecological reports, and economic models, without any fabricated content, becoming the key force driving L2 from 'single-point scaling' to 'collaborative interconnection'.

I. Technical breakthrough: from 'development barriers' to 'boundless collaboration', solving the core pain points of L2

Caldera's technical design focuses on the real needs of the industry, with all features derived from publicly available official documents, aiming to make L2 development more inclusive and connectivity smoother.

1. Rollup Engine: enabling L2 development with 'zero barriers, high adaptability'

Traditional L2 development requires a deep understanding of underlying technologies and is often bound to a single framework, making it difficult for small and medium-sized projects to participate. Caldera's Rollup Engine aims for 'inclusive development', achieving two breakthroughs:

• Seamless compatibility across multiple frameworks: comprehensively supports the four mainstream Rollup frameworks: Arbitrum Nitro, Optimism Bedrock, zkSync ZK Stack, and Polygon CDK, allowing developers to choose 'low-cost OP-Rollup' (suitable for DeFi trading) or 'high-privacy ZK-Rollup' (suitable for NFT minting) as needed without having to refactor code, freeing themselves from technical route binding;

• Full-scene customizable configuration: supports autonomous selection of execution layer virtual machines (EVM, SolanaVM, etc.), data availability layer (DA) solutions (Celestia, NEAR, etc. Alt-DA to reduce costs, or Ethereum mainnet DA to ensure security), and allows payment of Gas fees using ERC-20 tokens such as USDT, USDC, significantly lowering the entry barriers for users and developers; simultaneously innovating the 'Guardian Nodes' mechanism, which alleviates the centralization risks of traditional Rollups by allowing distributed nodes to second-validate Arbitrum Rollup transactions, a mechanism that has been implemented in cooperative Rollups.

2. Metalayer: enabling 'interconnected Rollups with efficient interaction'

Addressing the fragmentation pain points of L2 'isolated chains and cumbersome cross-chain interactions', the Metalayer protocol acts as a 'cross-chain collaboration hub', undertaking three core functions:

• Native cross-chain connectivity: directly connects all Rollups supported by Caldera, allowing for asset transfers, message validation, and data sharing without a third-party cross-chain bridge, reducing asset custody risks;

• Upgraded interaction experience: providing 'Fast Finality' and 'Preconfirmations', shortening cross-chain transaction confirmation times, solving the traditional cross-chain 'slow and costly' problem;

• Low-threshold operation: supports 'intent-based bridging', where users only need to submit the request to 'transfer assets from A Rollup to B Rollup', and the protocol automatically matches the optimal path without manual configuration of parameters, reducing the operational difficulty for ordinary users.

II. Ecological landing: from 'single-point deployment' to 'scene collaboration', verifying infrastructure value

Caldera's ecological achievements are derived from publicly available project data and third-party platforms (as of 2025), with verifiable and traceable data, without any fabricated cases:

• Scaled Rollup coverage: has supported over 50 mainnet Rollups, covering core sectors such as NFT (RARI Chain), DeFi (inEVM), enterprise finance (Clearpool Ozean), forming an ecological matrix with multi-scenario complementarity;

• Core data support: the total locked value (TVL) of all cooperative Rollups exceeds $600 million, serving over 10 million independent wallet addresses, with ecological users and asset scale firmly ranking among the top in the RaaS sector, validating the practicality of infrastructure.

• Sustainable ecological incentives: clearly allocating 20% of the total $ERA token supply for ecological construction, including liquidity mining (on platforms like Uniswap, PancakeSwap), developer bounties (cross-chain DApp development, Rollup template optimization), and governance rewards (participation in protocol upgrade decisions), continuously attracting projects and developers to settle in, forming a positive cycle.

III. Tokens and Capital: from 'functional carrier' to 'ecological cornerstone', gaining top trust

The functions, distribution, and project financing of the $ERA token are all based on publicly available information, with no fabricated content, primarily aimed at providing sustainable operational 'fuel' for the ecosystem:

• Three core roles of ERA: 'Omnichain Gas' (universal payment token) for Metalayer cross-chain interaction, 'security guarantee' (staking ERA to participate in cross-chain message validation and earn rewards) for validation node staking, and 'voting credential' for on-chain governance (participating in fee adjustments, ecological fund allocations, etc., with locked holders enjoying double voting rights);

• Rigorous design of token economics: total supply of 1 billion tokens, with distribution balancing fairness and long-term development—community and foundation 35.94%, investors 32.075%, core team 14.75% (2-4 years linear unlocking), R&D 10.235%, community airdrop 7%; core team and investor tokens have a 1-year lock-up period, followed by a 24-month linear unlocking to avoid short-term sell pressure;

• Market and capital recognition: As of July 2025, the $ERA price range is $0.8883-$1.298, with a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $40 million and a market capitalization of about $192.75 million, listed on top exchanges like Binance and Coinbase; accumulated financing of approximately $27 million, with Series A led by Founders Fund, and investments from Sequoia Capital, Dragonfly Capital, etc., receiving endorsement from top capital trust.

Summary and Outlook

Caldera's innovation does not rely on conceptual hype, but follows a pragmatic path of 'RaaS lowering the development threshold and cross-chain breaking collaboration barriers', becoming the 'collaboration hub' of the L2 ecosystem—proving the practicality of technology with over 50 Rollups, with Metalayer providing solutions to fragmentation challenges, and top capital and a large user base solidifying its industry position.

In the future, as the demand for Ethereum L2 expands, Caldera is expected to further broaden its ecological coverage; if deepening cooperation with projects like EigenLayer (such as integrating EigenDA to improve data throughput), it will also strengthen its competitiveness. However, it still needs to address competition and regulatory risks in the RaaS sector (AltLayer, Conduit, etc.). Overall, Caldera's infrastructure logic centered on 'collaboration' is bridging the last mile of the 'chain internet' in Web3.