Cardano is poised to launch its inaugural permissionless Layer 2 (L2) solution, placing it ahead of competitors such as Ethereum. This exciting news was revealed at the Cardano Summit 2024 in Argentina, where Philip DiSarro, CEO and founder of Anastasia Labs, shared insights into the upcoming release of Midgard, an optimistic rollup designed to improve ADA’s scalability and capabilities.
DiSarro emphasized the distinctive innovations of Midgard on X, stating, “No blockchain has achieved genuine permissionless general-purpose rollups. Ultimately, the leading ‘L2s’ in the current blockchain landscape rely on custodial multisigs.” He underscored that many existing L2 solutions depend on custodial multisignature frameworks, introducing centralization into a fundamentally decentralized blockchain setting.
Cardano Outpaces Ethereum, Solana, and Sui
Midgard sets itself apart by utilizing the full security of Cardano’s Layer 1 (L1) through a range of pioneering features. Unlike Ethereum’s L2 solutions such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base, Midgard functions without a centralized sequencer, challenge response proofs, multisignatures, or custodians. Rather, it employs a permissionless operator set, trustless fraud proofs, and trustless deposits and withdrawals, guaranteeing that the inbox and outbox processes remain entirely censorship-resistant.
On X, DiSarro showcased Cardano’s unique local state Extended Unspent Transaction Output (EUTxO) architecture. “This is all made feasible by Cardano’s distinctive local state EUTxO architecture. Issues like UTxO contention, limited block size, local state, and transaction determinism may have led you to wonder why these design decisions were taken. Midgard seeks to demonstrate that these are not problems, but rather opportunities.”
The founder of Anastasia Labs further contended: “In fact, quite the opposite; they are exceptionally valuable attributes that, when combined, create unique advantages that simply cannot be found in other ecosystems. These are, in truth, the fundamental pillars enabling Midgard to exist in the first place,” DiSarro articulated.
Midgard’s structure is reportedly built to leverage the intrinsic advantages of ADA’s design, making it impossible to replicate on alternative blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Solana, or Sui. DiSarro proclaimed, “You cannot construct Midgard on Ethereum, Solana, or Sui. It is a protocol solely feasible on Cardano.”
The highly anticipated launch of Midgard is expected within the next few months, with DiSarro confidently forecasting its implications: “Authentic rollups, L2 protocols that inherit the full security of the L1, are on the horizon. Our optimistic rollup, Midgard, is a groundbreaking permissionless rollup.”
The announcement has caught the attention of the ADA community and beyond. Danogo, who operates the first decentralized exchange (DEX) trading Optim Bond tokens on Cardano, referenced DiSarro’s presentation at the Cardano Summit: “Only on Cardano can you experience a new generation of Rollups that is permissionless! There is no multi-sig controlling the Layer-2 as there is on Ethereum! Even Vitalik recognizes this now. […] That inherits full security from L1. And Cardano is set to unveil the first fully permissionless L2 in just a few months!!!!”
Moreover, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, reacted to the conversation with a meme on X saying, “This guy gets it,” indicating support for DiSarro’s vision and the potential of Midgard.
As of now, ADA is priced at $0.343.
Featured image from X, chart from TradingView.com
