Espresso Mainnet 0 is Live!

6 min readNov 11, 2024

We’re excited to announce the Espresso Network is in production and running on Ethereum mainnet.

This is a major milestone for the Espresso Systems team, which has worked over the past two years on research and development into the infrastructure necessary to enable cross-chain composability in a multi-chain world.

Our mission is to empower chains to embrace composability without sacrificing scalability or sovereignty, enabling developers and users to interact seamlessly with applications across chains as if they were deployed on a single chain.

The Espresso Network, which acts as a global confirmation layer, provides the foundation for our team and others to get us there.

Ethereum United

Our vision is for all chains to be able to work together like one, while maintaining the benefits of each unique chain. And our mission starts in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Composability is essential to what makes Ethereum, Ethereum. It’s the foundation of the “infinite garden” — an open, permissionless environment where developers can use existing smart contracts as building blocks to create innovative products and engaging new user experiences.

Rollups have succeeded in scaling Ethereum, but have done so at the expense of composability. Building silos that settle on Ethereum has forced users into slow, cumbersome cross-chain experiences when all they want is to interact with apps and assets across chains in a simple, seamless manner.

It’s not that we, as an ecosystem, intentionally broke composability (we’re proud to work alongside various rollup teams also pursuing greater composability); it’s just that when it was time to scale, we all lacked crucial infrastructure that would have enabled us to retain that composability as we developed a flourishing ecosystem of rollups, applications, and unique execution environments beyond the base Ethereum L1.

That’s why we set out to solve cross-chain composability. And that’s where the Espresso Network comes in.

It’s All About the Confirmations

To achieve synchronous composability, chains need a shared source of truth they can use to quickly and reliably confirm the state transitions of other chains.

The Espresso Network, powered by our high-performance HotShot consensus protocol, provides those confirmations. It confirms the information that a chain’s full nodes need in order to quickly calculate the chain’s state (pre-L1 finality) without trusting centralized actors, or can provide a light node with a ZK proof or TEE attestation of the state. This is particularly important when apps on one chain need to reference events on other chains.

Espresso confirmations offer stronger security compared to centralized sequencer confirmations by relying on BFT consensus from a decentralized group of operators, providing confirmations in just a few seconds instead of the 15 minutes typically required for Ethereum L1 finality. In addition, as Espresso transitions to proof-of-stake, its confirmations will be further reinforced by economic security.

When an L2 chain integrates with the Espresso Network, its sequencer (whether centralized or decentralized) submits blocks to Espresso, where validators maintain a consistent view of all published blocks using BFT consensus. The L2 chain’s L1 settlement contract will only recognize blocks finalized by Espresso’s BFT consensus, allowing anyone to confirm the L2’s state by reading and executing blocks directly from Espresso.

What to Expect

We’re calling this Mainnet 0 to reflect its early nature.

Mainnet 0 is part of a phased approach to layering on functionality, onboarding early launch partners, refining our designs, and progressively decentralizing our node operator set. We’ll be shipping features throughout 2025 and beyond as we continue to update and leverage the Network to enhance cross-chain composability.

Since this is Mainnet 0, we could experience some early hiccups. Should there be any disruptions or performance challenges, the Espresso core development team will update the community via multiple channels, including Twitter, Discord, Telegram, and the Espresso Research forum, based on the situation’s urgency.

Security is important to us and invite those interested to check out our collection of audits, both internal and external.

Supported Stacks

At the outset, the Espresso Network will support Cartesi’s Linux-based stack, Arbitrum’s Nitro stack, and the Airchains zkFHE stack.

Looking ahead, we plan to add support for OP Stack and Polygon CDK next year.

Some of the early integrations may take a little extra time, but we expect to ship early next year a quick-start integration tool that will simplify the process for any Arbitrum Orbit chain using the Nitro stack to integrate with Espresso.

If you’re an Orbit chain and don’t want to wait for the off-the-shelf integration options (we don’t blame you!), our updated documentation provides the steps necessary to integrate with the Espresso Network. As we add support for new stacks, we’ll provide similar guides to streamline integration efforts.

Why the Phased Approach?

We’re building infrastructure that will underpin the future of the web. A staged rollout allows us to:

Ensure Stability: Testnets are valuable, but we want to make sure that before onboarding rollups, bridges, and builders, the Espresso Network is reliable and resilient in a production environment.

Encourage Community Involvement: A gradual rollout invites more community feedback and collaboration, ensuring we can continue to refine the Network based on real-world testing and input from developers, users, and partners.

Protocol Optimization: Taking a measured approach provides opportunities for performance optimization at each step, allowing Espresso to address issues related to rollup composability or network scalability.

Mitigate Risk: Smaller releases help minimize risk, ensuring we can catch and correct bugs or issues early before they impact a larger user base.

Support Education and Adoption: A gradual rollout gives us more time to educate developers and rollup teams, supporting smoother integrations while ensuring partners are fully prepared as we introduce our synchronous cross-chain messaging protocol and add the Marketplace.

Launching with a Permissioned Set of Node Operators

The Espresso Network will launch with 100 nodes, geographically distributed across 6 continents, run by a permissioned set of ~20 high-caliber node operators.

This is an important milestone on Espresso’s journey of steadily growing the operator set with each release. We plan to transition the Espresso Network to proof-of-stake next year—with our ultimate goal being for the Network to encompass the distribution and staked capital of the entire Ethereum validator set.

The Espresso Network wouldn’t be where it is today without these operators:

01node
Blockdaemon
BlockPI
Chorus One
deNodes
Figment
Finoa Consensus Services (FCS)
Imperator.co
Informal Systems
Kiln
KudasaiJP
LinkPool
Luganodes
Nethermind
Node Guardians
P2P.org
Pier Two
Staked (Kraken)
Sub7 Security
Treasure
Unit 410
Validation Cloud
ZKValidator

Operators were selected from a range of locations to improve geographic diversity, as well as enable support for several cloud and bare metal environments. Espresso selected highly technical operators who could help us further refine our network processes to adhere to industry best practices. This is crucial as we look to create a smooth onboarding process for future operators and network participants.

Our plan, as reflected in our roadmap, is to transition to proof-of-stake and a permissionless network of node operators in the first half of 2025.

Looking Ahead

The Espresso Network’s versatility and ability to provide fast, reliable confirmations of the present state of any integrated chain will ultimately power a multitude of protocols that will enable everything from faster, cheaper cross-chain bridging to full synchronous composability among Ethereum rollups.

Read more about the Network and the Road to Composability
Read more about how the Network fits into the Modular Stack
Read more about the First Wave of Applications launching on the Network

Whether you’re ready to start building, diving into the technical details, or just want to stay in the loop, there are plenty of ways to get involved.

👉 Explore our docs to learn more about what Espresso can do for your app
👉 Connect with fellow builders and our team in Discord
👉 Contribute your ideas in our research forum
👉 Engage with us on X

This is only the beginning — jump in and help us shape the future of composability!

About Espresso Systems

Espresso Systems builds the infrastructure and incentive mechanisms to ensure that all chains can work together as one. The Espresso Network provides chains with fast, reliable confirmations of their own state, as well as the states of other chains. Its versatility also means chains can use the Network for decentralized sequencing and data availability. Espresso Research explores the design space of cross-chain composability, defines the role of the Espresso Network within it, and collaborates with design partners to develop and test innovative proposals. Founded in 2022, the company has raised $60 million from partners including a16z Crypto, Greylock Partners, and Electric Capital.