Optimism Co-Founders: What Happened to the L2s? Ben Jones & Karl Floersch
This week, Ben Jones and Karl Floersch join the show to discuss what happened to the L2s. We take a deep dive into Optimism's new strategy for 2026, the current state of Ethereum, why companies need to launch a chain, having a token, and more. Enjoy!
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(03:43) What L2s Got Right vs Wrong
(12:46) peaq Ad
(13:42) Optimism’s Strategy in 2026
(32:36) What’s Optimism’s Moat?
(40:02) Who Needs To Build a Chain?
(51:20) The Current State of Ethereum
(59:39) Launching a Token
(01:03:10) What Defines Success in Crypto?
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, Rob and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
Optimism Is Done With “Ethereum Alignment” — Users Come First
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Camila Russo sits down with Jing Wang to discuss how Optimism is evolving and why the debate over what counts as a “real” Ethereum L2 might be missing the point.
Jing argues that the most important question isn’t whether a chain is an L1, L2, or sidechain.
It’s whether the architecture actually serves users and real-world use cases.
“If it looks like an L1, we’ll build that. If it looks like an L2, we’ll build that.”
In the conversation we cover:
Why Optimism now sees itself as a network of blockchains (the Superchain)
The debate around Ethereum L2 decentralization sparked by Vitalik Buterin
Why institutions are already using decentralized rails
Why ZK proofs are the future
And why Jing believes finance inevitably moves on-chain
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The Real Strategy of Optimism's Superchain | Ben Jones & Ryan Wyatt
In today's episode Optimism co-founder Ben Jones and growth lead Ryan Wyatt discuss the Superchain vision. They explore how the OP Stack and Superchain are transforming Ethereum scaling through unprecedented collaboration between major players like Base, Coinbase, and Kraken. The conversation covers the strategic importance of interoperability, the role of open source development, and Optimism's innovative approach to building sustainable tokenomics and governance. Featuring candid insights about enterprise adoption, the future of data analytics in crypto, and how AI could change DAO governance. Thanks for tuning in!
devcon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tds-Bik7zM
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Timestamps
(00:00) Introduction
(01:55) What is Optimism Today
(14:55) Retaining L2s & Open Source
(20:12) Kraken vs Coinbase Interop
(26:10) Optimism's Stack in 5 Years
(30:23) Interop as a Service
(34:56) Customizability on the SuperChain
(40:19) Geodnet Ad
(41:17) Uniswap Ad
(42:05) Aptos Ad
(42:49) Leaving the SuperChain
(46:27) Ecosystem Model
(51:00) OP Mainnet's Place
(55:38) Andreessen Horowitz's Impact
(01:00:09) Enterprise Crypto
(01:05:10) Open Data Investment
(01:10:44) Optimism's 2025
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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.
Kraken's 'Ink' - the Newest L2 in the Optimism Superchain | Ben Jones & Andrew Koller
Optimism’s Ben Jones and Kraken’s Andrew Koller join us today to talk about Kraken’s latest release. Kraken is launching Ink, a blockchain built on the OP Stack, joining the Superchain to scale Ethereum. Ink offers 1-second block times and connects users to top DeFi applications while contributing to a unified ecosystem.
Kraken will share revenue with the Optimism Collective and participate in OP Governance, alongside major players like Coinbase and Uniswap. Ink’s mainnet is set to launch in early 2025, focusing on onchain wealth management and developer engagement.
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------ ✨ Mint the episode on Zora ✨ https://zora.co/collect/zora:0x0c294913a7596b427add7dcbd6d7bbfc7338d53f/83?referrer=0x077Fe9e96Aa9b20Bd36F1C6290f54F8717C5674E
------ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro 5:43 Ink Explained 10:23 What Happens on Ink? 12:52 Technicalities of Ink 14:00 Kraken x Ink Synergy & Goals 16:15 Why Superchain? 17:36 Ink Roadmap 19:08 Scaling Ink 24:41 Wen Superchain Promise 33:19 Superchain 2025 Forcast 37:36 Kraken BTC x Ink 38:38 $INK 39:35 Superchain Economics 48:28 What’s Next? 51:30 Closing & Disclaimers
------ RESOURCES
Ink
http://inkonchain.com
Kraken https://x.com/krakenfx
------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
The Superchain Thesis: Scaling Ethereum with Optimism - A Deep Dive with Benjamin Jones
Benjamin Jones is the director of the Optimism Foundation, which is dedicated to scaling Ethereum and the team building Optimism Layer 2. Currently, Optimism sits in third place among Layer 2s with $6.42B in Total Value Locked. In this episode, we dive deep into the Superchain Thesis and explore how Optimism aims to optimize Ethereum scalability. We start by discussing what Optimism is and its mission to scale Ethereum, moving on to the foundation's end goal and its vision for the future. We also take a closer look at Benjamin Jones, his role, background and contributions. We also compare various scaling solutions, assess their effectiveness and potential, and discuss the future of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK). Benjamin also explains the philosophy underpinning Optimism's Retro Funding approach.
0:00 What Is Optimism?
2:04 End Goal
3:44 Security
5:50 Benjamin Jones
10:00 Open Source
13:02 OP Token
16:25 1 Human = 1 Vote
20:32 Scaling Solutions
30:00 Is ZK The Future?
36:27 Optimism Superchain
49:00 Retro Funding
57:34 Arbitrum
01:01:27 Building On Optimism
01:05:52 Mainstream
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726: Seven Factors for Successful Data Leadership
Ben Jones, CEO of Data Literacy, discusses the seven crucial components of effective data leadership. From ethics to technology and fostering a data-centric culture, Jones provides actionable insights and practical examples. Tune in to empower your organization with purposeful and ethical data strategies from day one.
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/726
Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Visit JonKrohn.com/podcast for sponsorship information.
185 - The Superchain Explained with Jesse Pollak & Ben Jones
On today’s episode we brought on repeat Bankless guests, Ben Jones, Co-Founder of Optimism and Creator of Base, Jesse Pollock.
------ ✨ DEBRIEF | Ryan & David unpacking the episode: https://www.bankless.com/debrief-superchain
----- Base! Coinbase’s Layer 2 has almost hit 1 million users in 2 weeks. It has more transactions per second than Ethereum mainnet. Jesse digs into the magnitude of this development. Base chain was built on Optimism’s tech stack. This is just 1 chain of many thousands we’ll see over the coming years. How do we tie them all together? Ben dives into all things Superchain. The Superchain is how we bring 1 billion people onchain.
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⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum
🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle
🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE https://bankless.cc/uniswap
👾STADER LABS | ETHX LIQUID STAKING https://bankless.cc/Stader
----- TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro 7:42 Base Launch Reflection 9:53 Optimism’s Reflection 11:35 Coinbase x Optimism Collaboration 17:14 OP Stack Incentives 23:43 Base’s Impressive Numbers 26:26 Explaining the Superchain 31:40 Why Join the Superchain? 33:55 The Law of Chains 45:26 The Coinbase Onchain Formula 51:15 Base Part of Optimism Governance 58:40 What About Other L2s? 1:04:56 Optimism Collective’s Fee 1:08:25 The Tech Behind the Superchain 1:13:34 Superchain Timeline 1:15:45 Fault Proofs 1:18:36 Risk Profile of Base 1:22:15 Optimism’s Governance Minimization 1:24:10 Wen Fault Proofs & Stages 1:30:00 How Many Clients Does Optimism Have? 1:33:36 Near Term Focus For Base 1:37:01 Near Term Focus For Optimism 1:38:27 Closing & Disclosures
----- RESOURCES
Jesse Pollock https://twitter.com/jessepollak
Ben Jones https://twitter.com/ben_chain
The Law of Chains https://gov.optimism.io/t/law-of-chains-v0-1-full-draft/6514
----- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
How To Decentralize a Fortune 500 Company
This week on The Defiant podcast, Tegan Kline hosts Jesse Pollak, senior director of Engineering at Coinbase, Eva Beylin, the director of the Graph Foundation, and Ben Jones, the director of the Optimism Foundation, to give us a deep dive into the launch of Base, Coinbase's recently-launched Layer 2 blockchain.
Base is an Ethereum Layer two that offers a secure, low-cost, developer-friendly way for anyone anywhere to build decentralized applications.
In this episode, we talk about the evolution of Base from inside a Fortune 500 company, the importance of decentralized tools like the Graph and Optimism, and the importance of thinking positive sum, not zero-sum.
Jesse discusses decentralization inside a centralized company and how Coinbase plans to onboard millions of dapps and a billion users.
Thanking our podcast sponsors:
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Optimism Base Superchain 🔵_🔴 with Ben Jones, Karl Floersch, & Jing Wang
In today's show, we bring on Ben Jones, Chief Scientist of the Optimism Foundation, Karl Floersch, CTO at OP Labs, and Jing Wang, Executive Director of Optimism Foundation
The five discuss Coinbase's Base launch, the OP Stack integration, and what it means for the Superchains vision!
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EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS https://bankless.cc/earnifi
------ Timestamps:
0:00 Intro 6:20 Sentiment at Optimism 7:00 Biggest Deal with the News? 11:28 Reflection on Coinbase's Base 15:45 OP Stack 17:15 Is Base a Competitor? 20:53 Puberty State of Chains 33:30 Superchains 40:35 Security of the Superchains 44:35 Superchain Standards 51:51 Base Decentralization Timeline? 57:10 Closing & Disclaimers
------ Resources:
Coinbase Base Announcement https://www.coinbase.com/blog/introducing-base
Optimism + OP STack Details https://optimism.mirror.xyz/2jk3D1Y8-hid8YOCUUa6yXmsyzNCYYyFJP0Nhaey9x0
Ben Jones https://twitter.com/ben_chain
Karl Floersch https://twitter.com/karl_dot_tech
Jing Wang https://twitter.com/jinglejamop
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Will Optimism's OP Token Draw People Back to Layer 2s on Ethereum? - Ep.350
Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix, and Ben Jones, cofounder and chief scientist at Optimism Foundation, discuss the current state of Ethereum Layer 2s, Optimism’s new governance structure, why Synthetix chose to build on Optimism, and more. Show topics:
what Optimism and Synthetix are
how zero-knowledge rollups differ from optimistic rollups
why Synthetix decided to build on Optimism
what makes L2s more enticing to build on than other L1s
how Optimism’s governance is going to change with the launch of the Optimism Collective and OP token
what issues Synthetix has had with Discord governance and early token voting, and how they have now solved this by forcing users to consolidate wallet addresses
what retroactive public goods funding is and how it could create a “flywheel” of development on Optimism
why whales might be excluded from Optimism’s token grant to Synthetix
why Ben thinks the future is about the “superchain” rather than multi-chain
what Kain and Ben think about bridging between L2s and Mainnet
why Optimism is a staunch backer of EIP 4844
how the merge could affect Optimism and Synthetix
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Episode Links
Guests
Ben Jones: https://twitter.com/ben_chain
Kain Warwick: https://twitter.com/kaiynne
Synthetix
https://twitter.com/synthetix_io
Optimism
https://twitter.com/optimismPBC
Optimism Collective
https://optimism.mirror.xyz/gQWKlrDqHzdKPsB1iUnI-cVN3v0NvsWnazK7ajlt1fI
Synthetix Launching on Optimism
https://blog.synthetix.io/optimism-launch-announcement/
Synthetix Governance
https://docs.synthetix.io/governance/
Kain’s Blog
https://blog.synthetix.io/author/kain/
Rollups
What are the biggest risks to optimistic rollup chains?
https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html#:~:text=Anatomy%20of%20a%20fraud%20proof
What is the difference between optimistic and ZK rollups? And why did Synthetix choose Optimism?
https://blog.matter-labs.io/optimistic-vs-zk-rollup-deep-dive-ea141e71e075
EIP 4844
https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4844
https://www.eip4844.com/
The Merge
https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-ethereums-merge-was-delayed-and-why-it-wont-reduce-gas-fees-much/
Kain’s previous Unchained appearances
Ethereum killers episode
https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-solana-and-binance-smart-chain-could-take-ethereums-lead/
How Synthetix became the second-largest DeFi platform
https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-synthetix-became-the-second-largest-defi-platform/
DeFi summer
https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-comp-5xed-on-day-1-and-what-this-means-for-a-defi-bull-market/
Optimism’s Bridging Solution
https://twitter.com/optimismPBC/status/1517548430297604096
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The Great L2 Migration | Cross-Chain L2 Panel
We think 2022 is going to be a huge year for Layer 2 scaling solutions. Cross-Chain protocols will be a crucial infrastructure for the great migration to L2s, allowing users to bridge assets across platforms.
Composability and user experience is the glue of modular blockchains, which optimize for decentralization, scaling, and cost. The projects and representatives each present cryptographic solutions for building a web of liquidity across the many suburbs of DeFi, where average users will live and engage.
GUESTS:
Ben Jones - Optimism https://twitter.com/ben_chain?s=20
Hart Lambur - UMA https://twitter.com/hal2001?s=20
Arjun Bhuptani - Connext https://twitter.com/arjunbhuptani?s=20
Chris Whinfrey - Hop Protocol https://twitter.com/WhinfreyChris?s=20
Vaibhav Chellani - MOVR https://twitter.com/vaibhavchellani?s=20
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----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
The State of Optimism | Ben Jones & Karl Floersch (SotN 8/10)
Optimism is scaling Ethereum with its open-source Optimistic Rollup. Uniswap recently deployed on Optimistic Ethereum, officially kicking off Ethereum's Scalability Summer. Where does Optimism stand now? What's next?
Optimists Ben Jones & Karl Floersch join to talk about working on Ethereum’s hardest problems and pioneering a better future for humanity.
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Topics Covered:
0:00 Intro 7:00 Ben Jones & Karl Floersch 9:10 Is Ethereum Scaling? 10:03 The History of Optimism 16:20 A Scaled Ethereum Chain 19:26 A Mental Model & Theme Parks 27:24 Governors & Contracts 29:29 Infrastructure & Use Cases 37:07 The Optimistic EVM 41:32 How Much Scale is There? 49:04 Latency & Liquidity 58:59 Layer 2 to Layer 2 1:06:29 Understanding Tradeoffs 1:09:18 MEV & Sequencing 1:19:17 Power & Responsibility 1:27:08 Saving Humanity 1:29:48 Fire Round Questions 1:34:54 Closing & Disclaimers
------ Resources:
Optimism: https://optimism.io/ Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ben_chain?s=20 Karl on Twitter: https://twitter.com/karl_dot_tech?s=20
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures
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