Glass Protocol Leverages Optimism Layer-2 for Affordability and Speed

In an exciting turn of events, Glass Protocol, the Web3 video NFT platform, announced it is deploying on Ethereum Layer-2 (L2) network Optimism, following its recent switch back to Ethereum from Solana.

After much deliberation, Glass Protocol reversed its migration to Solana in June 2023, opting for Ethereum - its original home - citing a number of reasons. While the initial transition to Solana in September 2022 was seen as a crucial move at the time, this recent pivot back really shows how Ethereum L2s may indeed be the solution to Ethereum main net's problems - such as high gas fees, congestion, and more. All these problems must be overcome for the ever evolving DeFi and rapidly evolving NFT landscape to progress and hit mainstream.

And on the note, Glass has taken their game a notch higher with their integration onto Ethereum Layer-2 Optimism.

Glass on Ethereum L2 Optimism

The Glass team took to Twitter to share the news, stating that they've made it possible for users to upload videos on-chain for less than $1 and collect them for under 25¢ in gas fees. With these measures, on-chain video is more accessible than ever via Glass.

Glass now also provides collectors with more payment options. They can now choose to pay with a credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, as well as use ETH on mainnet without the need for bridging. Transactions are faster and cheaper, which is a massive win for the creator economy and the platform's user base at large.

Nearly two months after returning to Ethereum, the Glass team identified high gas fees as a significant impediment to user engagement. With creators and collectors faced with exorbitant costs to upload and collect videos (sometimes even free ones), the move to an L2 solution was seen as a necessary measure. Glass notes that fees for creators to upload a video on the Ethereum version could reach $100 (or higher), while collectors were looking at around $20 in gas to get their hands on a video NFT, even the free ones.

As a layer-2, Optimism offers a solution that is both fast and stable while maintaining compatibility with Ethereum. Ethereum's developers designed Optimism to work as a minimal extension to existing Ethereum software, allowing it to scale Ethereum apps without any surprises. Applications that function on Ethereum can all operate on Optimism without any integration issues - and at just a fraction of the cost.

The move towards a Layer-2 solution is not just a significant change for Glass Protocol, but a promising sign for the larger Ethereum ecosystem. It shows that Ethereum's L2 solutions are starting to gain real-world traction, alleviating congestion and high transaction fees while improving scalability.

In the coming months, it will be interesting to see which other platforms make the move over to Optimism.

If you want to check out some of the highlights on Glass, check out the "Top Moments on Glass", curated by the Glass team themselves below, with each video showcasing artists and community members from within the Glass ecosystem.