Hop: Send Tokens Across Rollups
We’re proud to officially introduce our plans for Hop Protocol. Hop allows users to quickly and easily transfer tokens directly between layer-2s, sidechains, and layer-1 Ethereum. After running head-first into high gas fees with Authereum, we’ve decided to pivot our full attention to enabling a composable and interoperable layer-2 ecosystem for Ethereum.
Hop Protocol 🐰
The Hop protocol provides a scalable token bridge for Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem using a two-pronged approach:
- Create a special intermediary asset called an hToken (e.g., hETH, hDAI, etc.) that can be quickly and economically moved from one network to the next.
- Use Automated Market Makers (AMMs) to swap between the hTokens and their corresponding assets on each layer-2 network.
The end result allows users to seamlessly transfer tokens from one network to the next.
Hop Launch 🧑🚀
The Hop contracts are currently being audited and will go live in April. Initially, we’ll focus on bridging a handful of assets from Optimism to layer-1 Ethereum. From there, we’ll onboard more scaling solutions and expand the set of supported tokens. You can expect the following scaling solutions to be supported in the near term:
Where We’re Headed 🚀
The current version of Hop enables users to transfer tokens between EVM-compatible scaling solutions. We believe that this just scratches the surface of layer-2 interoperability and composability. Future areas of research will include:
- Enabling cross-chain contract calls
- Improving the capital efficiency and gas efficiency of the system
- Adding support for non-evm compatible rollups
We believe future Ethereum users will be onboarded directly to layer-2 and will stay on layer-2 without ever needing to touch layer-1 and the gas fees that come with it. It’s our goal to make this a reality. In the meantime, stay tuned for more info and learn how you can get involved in the community.
Get Involved!
👾 Join us on Discord
🌉 Try out the Demo
🐦 Follow us on Twitter