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Cardano wants to catch up with the Ethereum ecosystem regarding its Layer-2 scaling solution. While this is not its primary goal or technological focus, some of its associated applications are making the pivot. According to a recent update from Sundae Labs, the developer of Sundaeswap, it has made impressive advancements around its Layer 2 protocol.
Cardano and Layer 2 protocols — Catch
As Sundaeswap noted, it has finished the initial draft specification for its L2 protocol, Gummiworm. The startup designed the protocol "to provide fast and instant transaction finality to Cardano DeFi."
Cardano is considered a relatively faster chain than Ethereum. However, according to their designs, L2s are faster, cheaper, and have more throughput. While the exact technical details around Gummiworm are yet unknown, it has triggered an expectation from community members.
If Sundae Labs succeeds with Gummiworm, Cardano might be on a path to compete with Ethereum in the long term. The natural scaling solution for Cardano is Hydra Head, a highly unique and different technical implementation for ADA, which differs from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) that most L2s operate with.
Layer-2 protocols might soon form the main battleground for Layer-1 outfits in the long term.
Catching up with Ethereum
As the pioneering chain for Layer 2 solutions, Ethereum has continued to set a new bar for its L2 ecosystem.
Recently, Uniswap sought to raise the bar when it announced its plans to launch Unichain, its in-house L2. Unichain is designed using the OP tech stack, and the decentralized exchange has launched its testnet for developers.
Protocols like LayerZero have integrated with the testnet to help solidify its interoperability. Notably, other entities, like Coinbase, have also launched their own L2s Base.
The Ethereum L2 ecosystem now includes Arbitrum and Polygon, all of which have a larger DeFi TVL share than Cardano.