Blockchain
Optimism, an Ethereum-based layer-2 blockchain, will use Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS), an on-chain attestation protocol, which will allow users to assess the trustworthiness of the platform’s users and ensure that something has actually happened on the blockchain, according to a release sent to CoinDesk.
This could promote fairer distribution of OP tokens and community voting systems on Optimism.
Any Optimism user can use the technology to testify to information they believe is accurate, such as whether a person built or contributed to a particular project, whether or not a person makes profitable trades, and more.
The launch of EAS is intended to enable Optimism users to verify on-chain content that could determine how the platform’s native OP tokens are distributed and how users interact more broadly.
“We are trying to be a base layer where identity platforms can exist, where supply chain companies can attest to supply movements and provenance, where governments can attest to land registers and entities can vote,” EAS co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Steve Dakh told CoinDesk.
The team said the technology will allow developers to create innovative identity products in Optimism and other networks such as Base, Polygon and Ethereum.
Such a service could include products such as an aggregated DeFi user reputation rating system, which could assign an individual a reputation score based on other users’ testimonials about their interactions with that individual.
The technology could also support the work of the Optimism Collective, an entity that rewards the ecosystem’s contributors with crypto, by giving the group the information it needs to distribute OP tokens to community members who have contributed positively to the blockchain. Zain Bacchus, senior ecosystem product manager at OP Labs, told CoinDesk.
This will incentivize developers to build critical infrastructure on Optimism and pursue other projects that improve user experiences within the ecosystem.
“People in the Optimism Collective have been trying to figure out, ‘hey, how do we actually identify one person – and not just any person, but as a positive contributor to the space – to indicate these tokens’ and that’s when we started to experiment with explanations,” Bacchus said.
Using EAS, users can also post a publicly accessible, on-chain record of how it collectively distributes tokens. This makes it easier for on-chain analysts to understand who is receiving OP tokens and for what purpose, promoting transparency across the entire ecosystem.
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