OP Labs Shifts to Direct Support Model, Phases Out Third-Party Providers

**Privacy Boost** has introduced pre-confirmation support for OP Stack chains, marking a significant improvement in transaction speed. **Key Features:** - Private transfers now complete in under one second - Settlement processes continue running in the background - First privacy solution specifically designed for OP Stack chains **What This Means:** Users can now execute private transactions with near-instant confirmation while maintaining the security of background settlement. This addresses a common pain point where privacy features typically slow down transaction speeds. The update builds on Privacy Boost's existing capabilities, which include private balances, private sends/receives, and full auditability—features specifically requested by institutional users.

**Ether.fi has officially gone live on OP Mainnet**, bringing its liquid staking protocol to Optimism's Layer 2 network. **Key highlights:** - Users can now access ether.fi's staking services with faster transactions and lower fees on Optimism - The integration expands ether.fi's reach beyond Ethereum mainnet - Leverages Optimism's scalability for improved user experience This deployment marks another step in ether.fi's multi-chain expansion strategy, offering stakers more options for where they manage their ETH positions. [Read the full case study](https://www.optimism.io/case-studies/etherfi)

**Ether.fi's migration to OP Mainnet continues to break records**, with daily spending reaching new highs since moving $220M in total value locked (TVL), 70,000 active cards, and 300,000 accounts to the network. **Key metrics:** - Transaction costs: fractions of a cent per transaction - Crypto card volume grew 10x in 90 days - March: $12.7M → May: $128M - OP Mainnet now ranks #2 globally for crypto card volume, surpassing Solana, BSC, and Arbitrum **The economics are working at scale.** Low transaction fees enable sustainable unit economics, making OP Mainnet an attractive platform for high-volume payment applications. The network has climbed into the top 15 chains by TVL, with 84% growth in 30 days driven largely by this migration. The success demonstrates how Layer 2 solutions can support real-world payment use cases with meaningful transaction volumes.

**Reserved blockspace is now live on OP Mainnet**, introducing a stake-based ordering experiment that changes how transactions are processed on the network. **Key points:** - The new system allows users to reserve blockspace based on their stake - This represents a shift from traditional first-come-first-served transaction ordering - The experiment aims to improve transaction predictability and reduce MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) For technical details and implementation specifics, visit the [official blog post](https://www.optimism.io/blog/reserved-blockspace).