Rainbow is for Optimists

Rainbow is for everyone—especially Optimists! It’s easy and fun to use Rainbow to interact with the Optimism network—no other wallet makes it easier to interact with Layer 2 networks.

Learn how you can get started with Rainbow Wallet and use it to navigate the wonderful world of Optimism! Don’t have Rainbow? Download it today before you read on.

Optimism is a Layer 2 network—a blockchain built on top of a blockchain— built on top of Ethereum. Optimism offers speed, security, and low cost transactions.

From Optimism’s website:

The Optimism network lets you send transactions, similar to Ethereum, but with two important advantages, and one feature that stays exactly the same.

Source: Why Use Optimism?

Optimism uses a rollup to record transactions on Ethereum without the costs associated with Mainnet transactions. Groups of transactions are bundled together off-chain, and then recorded on Ethereum in a large batch.

One simple way you can think about rollups is by likening your transactions to pieces of mail. It would be costly to get a private delivery person to hand-deliver every single individual piece of mail you ever wanted to send to a person. If everyone sent mail this way, it would mean you would have to be available constantly to accept deliveries.

Instead, you take the mail to the post office, and mail is bundled together. The mail is delivered to you once a day, eliminating the need for each piece of mail to come one-by-one.

Rollups are like a post office for Ethereum. Transactions are bundled together on Optimism and delivered to Ethereum mainnet in a batch, instead of submitting them to Ethereum one by one.

Optimism gets its name from the type of rollup it uses: an Optimistic rollup.

An optimistic rollup gets its name because it will positively — optimistically! — assume that all of the transactions submitted to mainnet are valid. To continue the mail analogy, our imaginary post office doesn’t necessarily double check the addresses on the mail, it just delivers them, assuming that they are correct.

If any inaccuracies are found, there’s a dispute period that ensures that people can challenge a transaction if any mistakes are discovered.

Optimism has its own token, OP, that is only available on the Optimism network.

$OP also is the governance token for Optimism—meaning when you hold OP, you also gain the ability to participate in The Optimism Collective.

⚠️ You do not pay transaction fees on Optimism with OP. Transaction fees are paid in Ethereum that has been bridged to Optimism instead.

First-class support for Optimism is built natively into Rainbow—you don’t need to do anything special to get started, unlike other wallets.

No adding networks, no complicated setup — your NFTs and tokens on Optimism will show up in Rainbow right alongside your Mainnet and other Layer 2 assets automatically.

You can transfer your assets from other networks to Optimism with just a few taps.

From there, you’ll be able to complete your transaction. Rainbow will automatically and securely route your bridge through the cheapest and fastest route. Learn more about Swaps with Rainbow here.

Just like with Ethereum mainnet, all of these transactions require money for gas fees—the benefit of Optimism being that you don’t need a lot of money to complete transactions.

$1.00 of Optimistic Ethereum should be enough for you to get started and cover transaction fees for anything you want to do.

To get started with Optimism, there’s no better way than to get a free NFT!

The Optimistic Explorer NFT is free to mint—you only need the cost of gas—and you can choose from one of several designs corresponding to your personal interests.

Mint the Optimistic Explorer here — and make sure to check Rainbow after, you might find a special surprise.

Optimism has set up fun learning guides, Quests, that allow you to earn NFTs by completing tasks that help you get up to speed on the ecosystem.

PoolTogether is a one-of-a-kind protocol that lets you save money while getting the chance to earn prizes.

You can use Rainbow to bridge funds to Optimism and deposit money on PoolTogether.

Learn how to use Rainbow with PoolTogether here.

You can browse the full Optimism ecosystem at the Optimism website to find more ways to trade, shop, and use your Optimism!