Arbitrum Grows with Rari Mainnet and Espresso's Testnet

The Rari Foundation has officially launched the Rari Chain mainnet on Arbitrum, introducing a new layer of innovation to the NFT ecosystem. This launch marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of blockchain technology, offering a specialized, creator-focused platform designed to enhance the NFT landscape and empower digital creators. With embedded royalties and enhanced scalability, Rari Chain aims to redefine the creator economy, setting a new standard for NFT platforms.

In related news, Espresso Systems has unveiled its latest technological advancement, the Gibraltar testnet, now available to Arbitrum developers. This launch represents a crucial step forward in blockchain scalability and interoperability, showcasing Espresso Systems' commitment to enhancing the infrastructure of decentralized networks. By introducing a shared sequencer network, the Gibraltar testnet aims to address the pressing challenges of centralization and trust assumptions in the blockchain space, promising a more unified and efficient ecosystem for developers and users alike.

Rari Foundation Unveils Rari Chain Mainnet on Arbitrum, Pioneering a New Era for the NFT Ecosystem

In a groundbreaking move that marks a significant milestone for the NFT community, the Rari Foundation, acting on behalf of the Rari DAO, has officially launched the Rari Chain mainnet on Arbitrum. This innovative development introduces Rari Chain as an Arbitrum-based EVM equivalent chain, uniquely designed to preserve royalties at the node level, thereby ensuring creators' rights and incentives are maintained within the ecosystem.

Rari Chain emerges as a Layer 3 solution, enhancing the capabilities of Arbitrum's Layer 2 infrastructure. This strategic layering not only amplifies scaling possibilities but also introduces a suite of advanced features specifically tailored to enrich the NFT landscape. The mainnet's deployment signifies a leap forward in the pursuit of a creator-centric blockchain environment, fostering an ecosystem where the creator economy can thrive unencumbered.

Jana Bertram, the Head of Strategy at Rari Foundation, expressed her enthusiasm about the launch, stating, "The launch of Rari Chain mainnet turns our vision of creating an NFT-specific, creator-focused chain into a tangible reality. This is a monumental step towards establishing a dedicated home for the creator economy. We're thrilled to lay down the infrastructure that will spur innovation and usher in a new era of NFT use cases. Our goal is to welcome an influx of new NFTs and projects by providing a robust decentralized platform to the web3 community.”

Accompanying the mainnet's debut is an exclusive open edition NFT drop, featuring the works of ten distinguished digital artists. This initiative, realized through a collaborative effort between the Rari Foundation, the NFT platform Rarible, and other partners, underscores the foundation's commitment to nurturing creative talent and expanding the horizons of digital artistry within the blockchain domain.

The journey to the mainnet's launch was paved during the Rari Chain testnet phase, which commenced on Nov. 30, 2023. The testnet phase witnessed significant engagement, with approximately 46,000 wallet addresses participating and conducting around 251,000 transactions. This active participation and robust testing underscore the community's anticipation and support for Rari Chain's value proposition.

Central to the Rari Foundation's ecosystem is the $RARI token, which plays a pivotal role in governance and ecosystem dynamics. The Rari Foundation's treasury, bolstered by nearly 6.3 million $RARI tokens, boasts a valuation close to $8 million, reflecting the community's trust and investment in the foundation's vision and capabilities.

The Rari Foundation, representing the interests and governance of the RARI DAO, is steered by $RARI token holders. This democratic governance model ensures that the Rari ecosystem remains aligned with the community's interests and continues to evolve in response to the needs and aspirations of its members.

The launch of the Rari Chain mainnet on Arbitrum is more than a technological achievement; it represents a paradigm shift in how NFTs are created, traded, and preserved. By embedding royalties at the node level and providing a scalable, creator-focused infrastructure, Rari Chain is set to redefine the NFT landscape, offering unprecedented opportunities for creators and collectors alike in the burgeoning web3 space.

Espresso Systems Launches Gibraltar Testnet, Revolutionizing Blockchain Scalability and Interoperability

Espresso Systems has announced the public availability of its Gibraltar testnet, marking a significant milestone as the company's fourth testnet launch. This latest development is specifically designed for Arbitrum developers, further enhancing the capabilities of blockchain scaling and infrastructure within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Espresso Systems, renowned for its innovative approach to blockchain scalability, has been at the forefront of developing decentralized sequencer solutions. Sequencers play a crucial role in the blockchain infrastructure, processing and ordering transactions from the mempool into blocks, which are then executed by a virtual machine. These sequencers are akin to validators found in traditional monolithic blockchains or layer-1 networks, and are integral to maintaining the security and integrity of the network.

However, the current landscape of sequencers presents challenges, particularly in terms of trust assumptions and centralization concerns. Many rollups operate their own sequencers with distinct execution environments, and zero-knowledge solutions employ their own provers, leading to a fragmented and potentially less secure ecosystem. This fragmentation is often viewed as contrary to the foundational principles of cryptocurrency, which emphasize decentralization and trustless interactions.

Espresso Systems addresses these challenges with its shared sequencer network, a novel distributed consensus system that facilitates collaboration between rollups. This shared network has already seen successful integrations with major platforms such as Optimism, Cartesi, and Polygon zkEVM through testnets, showcasing its potential to unify and secure the blockchain landscape.

Ian Sagstetter, the community and marketing lead at Espresso, highlighted the significance of the Gibraltar testnet, particularly its integration with the Arbitrum stack. This integration allows for seamless transaction submissions across different networks using the Espresso sequencer, thereby enhancing interoperability between rollups. Sagstetter emphasized the potential for improved atomicity guarantees and economically secure pre-confirmations, which are crucial for the efficiency and security of cross-chain transactions.

Espresso Systems' collaboration with Arbitrum is not a new venture. The company has previously worked with Offchain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum, to develop Timeboost, a cutting-edge transaction-ordering technology. The Gibraltar testnet builds on this partnership, enabling Arbitrum developers to test decentralized applications (dApps) within a shared sequencer network for the first time. This testnet also marks a significant step forward by involving external node operators, with the Blockdaemon team taking the lead in running the network. This collaboration is expected to support the hyper-scaling and seamless interoperability essential for the Ethereum ecosystem's growth.

The launch of the Gibraltar testnet is further supported by Caldera and AltLayer, protocols that facilitate the deployment of rollup solutions. These protocols ensure that any rollup deployed on Gibraltar will be fully integrated with Espresso's shared sequencer network, reinforcing the ecosystem's cohesion and scalability.

Matt Katz, CEO of Caldera, expressed enthusiasm for the shared sequencing initiative, recognizing it as a pivotal development for rollup interoperability and decentralization. Katz's support for the Espresso Sequencer, through the deployment of numerous rollups integrated with the shared network, underscores the industry's collective effort to advance blockchain technology.

While Espresso Systems leads the charge in shared sequencing, other projects like Astria are also exploring similar avenues, albeit with a focus on the Celestia ecosystem. Josh Bowen, co-founder of Astria, emphasized their commitment to providing developer tools necessary for building rollups on Celestia, highlighting a divergent yet complementary approach to blockchain scalability and developer support.

Espresso Systems' Gibraltar testnet represents a significant leap forward in addressing the challenges of blockchain scalability and interoperability. By fostering a more unified and secure environment for transactions and rollups, Espresso Systems is paving the way for a more robust and interconnected blockchain ecosystem, promising a future where decentralized applications can thrive without the constraints of current technological limitations.