Welcome to Superchain Sunday - our weekly newsletter! Every Sunday, we will provide you with the latest news and updates in the world of the Superchain.
The Superchain accounts for over 52.9% of all Layer 2 transactions and sees 18.4M daily transactions. The network boasts 767 Unique Apps, contributing to the Optimism Collective. It is estimated that 154.9 ETH will be contributed to the Optimism Collective in September. Data Fetched from the Superchain Health Dashboard.
The Optimism Collective is preparing for Upgrade 16a, a maintenance release that replaces Upgrade 16. The primary change is the temporary removal of interop withdrawal-proving code introduced in U16 but not enabled on mainnet, following partner feedback. While this interop functionality remains in the Optimism Monorepo, it will be reintroduced in a future upgrade once further refinements are complete. U16a also introduces system-level feature toggles via the SystemConfig contract, giving OP Stack chains the flexibility to adopt new features iteratively rather than all at once.
For users and operators, the impact of U16a is minimal: no downtime, no change to withdrawal proofs, and no disruption for projects or products already live on the Superchain. Chains already on U16 can continue using ETHLockbox, while those upgrading directly from U15 will defer its adoption until later. The upgrade has been audited by Spearbit, with only low-severity issues identified and already addressed for future releases. U16a marks a shift toward more collaborative development, with chain partners included earlier in the design of features and with a framework now in place for customizable upgrades across the Superchain. Read more here.
Ronin has announced its first-ever RON buyback program, set to begin on September 29. The Ronin Treasury, which holds over $5M in assets from Katana DEX, Ronin Market, and Ronin Name Service fees, will swap 100% of its ETH and USDC into RON over the course of a month. At current prices, this represents about 1.3% of RON’s circulating supply, with all transactions executed onchain through third-party market makers.
The buybacks are designed to increase the Treasury’s RON holdings while reducing circulating supply, signaling strong conviction in the network’s growth as it transitions into a full-fledged Ethereum Layer 2. Importantly, the Treasury has no plans to sell RON, making this a one-way street of accumulation. Ronin frames this as “onchain Nintendo buying back its own tokens,” positioning the ecosystem for its next phase of expansion in Web3 gaming. Read more here.
Base has announced that it is exploring the launch of a network token for the first time since its inception. When Base launched, its focus was on building a secure, low-cost, developer-friendly chain rather than introducing a token. That approach helped the chain reach its milestone of sub-second, sub-cent transactions and evolve into an open stack that supports building, trading, and earning onchain.
Now, as Base looks toward building a global onchain economy, a network token is being considered as a way to accelerate decentralization and expand opportunities for builders and creators. No specifics have been shared yet around timing, design, or governance, but Base has emphasized three commitments: continuing to build on Ethereum, working with regulators and legislators as a US company, and involving the community throughout the process. Read more here.
Base has unveiled a new bridge to Solana, reinforcing its mission to act as a hub rather than an island in the global onchain economy. The bridge allows assets to move seamlessly between ERC20 and SPL formats, enabling users to deposit and use SOL in any Base app, bring Solana assets into the Base ecosystem, or export Base assets back into Solana. This expands access for users while giving builders a direct path to more liquidity and a broader audience.
The bridge is already open-source on GitHub and live on testnet, with a mainnet launch expected in the coming weeks. For Base, this is the first step toward a vision of an interoperable network where payments, trading, apps, and social experiences all connect. More chain integrations are planned as Base continues to grow into an “everything chain” at the center of the onchain economy. Read more here.
Boba Network is moving closer to stage 1 decentralization with the migration of its mainnet from the older L2OutputOracle to the newer DisputeGame system for posting state roots to Ethereum. Right now, the system runs with permissioned dispute games, but it sets the stage for a future where fault games are fully permissionless. The main hurdle is cost — each permissionless dispute game would require over 300 ETH to resolve, which makes it tough for any single chain to manage on its own.
To solve this, Boba is looking at joining the Superchain ecosystem as a standard configuration chain. That way, it could tap into a shared pool of challenger funds, spreading out costs and making the network more resilient. At the same time, the team is exploring op-succinct, a project that uses zero-knowledge proofs as an alternative to fault proofs, which might eventually remove the need for them altogether. With these steps, Boba is positioning itself as a frontier chain that’s experimenting boldly while keeping decentralization in focus. Read more here.
The Superchain has grown to 33 different OP Chains, each with its flourishing Ecosystem. These are some extra stories to make your Sunday that much more Super.
