The Metalayer: Caldera’s Solution to Blockchain Silos

Key Insights

• Caldera’s Rollup Engine powers over 100 customizable L2s and L3s, representing nearly 25% of all Ethereum rollups. It supports a range of application-specific blockchains, including Manta Pacific, ApeChain, and B3.
• Building on this foundation, Caldera is introducing the Metalayer: an interoperability network designed to solve rollup fragmentation by unifying crosschain communication and liquidity across fragmented blockchain ecosystems.
• The Metalayer leverages intent-based execution, which enables users to request outcomes without directly interacting with bridges, routes, or wrapped assets.
• For developers, the Metalayer provides a plug-and-play toolkit with APIs, SDKs, and a white-label UI.
• Execution, settlement, and security are coordinated under the hood, which allows rollups to interoperate without sacrificing performance or control. The Metalayer aggregates bridge routes, validates messages through configurable security modules, and relays data across chains.

Primer

Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap envisioned a scalable and interconnected blockchain ecosystem. However, rollup adoption has outpaced interoperability. While leading Layer-2s (L2s) like Base and Arbitrum One exceed Ethereum mainnet in various key metrics, the broader network of rollups remains fragmented. New rollups are launched every month, but most fail to grow to a meaningful level of adoption. Liquidity is siloed, user flows are broken, and developers are left building crosschain infrastructure instead of applications.

Canonical bridges prioritize security over speed, imposing seven-day withdrawal delays for optimistic rollups. Meanwhile, third-party bridges sacrifice security for speed. Inconsistent token standards across bridges create fragmented liquidity with incompatible wrapped tokens. Complex bridging paths require multiple steps, which require users to navigate complex interfaces or separate websites. Framework-specific solutions, like Optimism’s Superchain bridge, work within their own ecosystem but struggle to connect across ecosystems such as Arbitrum’s Nitro. Shared bridges face scalability constraints as more rollups join. These interoperability gaps are the reason new rollups are trapped in a cycle of low liquidity and poor user engagement, undermining Ethereum’s vision of a cohesive ecosystem.

Caldera is introducing the Metalayer to solve blockchain’s fragmented ecosystem. After launching over 100 rollups and seeing these challenges firsthand, Caldera is building a shared interoperability layer designed to unify rollups into a more composable network. The Metalayer makes it easier for users to move assets between chains and for developers to build crosschain apps without managing bridging complexity. By standardizing execution, settlement, and developer tooling, the Metalayer offers a new model for how rollups can scale.

Caldera: The Internet of Chains

Caldera functions as the central deployment hub for a diverse and interoperable ecosystem of rollups. With Caldera’s Rollup Engine, developers can launch rollups using popular tech stacks like OP Stack, Arbitrum Nitro, or ZK Stack. As of April 2025, Caldera powers over 100 chains, including 30 live mainnets and 15 testnets. Chains built on Caldera have cleared 400 million transactions and hold over $390 million in TVL. More than 11 million addresses interact with Caldera chains. Caldera was used to deploy some of the industry’s most active rollups including Manta Pacific, ApeChain, B3, Kinto, Bluwhale’s Oceanum, and Clearpool’s Ozean, which host applications like DeFi, AI, and Gaming. The protocol has attracted support from Founders Fund, Dragonfly, and Sequoia Capital , complemented by crypto-focused funds such as Ethereal Ventures (established by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin), and the web3 accelerator Alliance DAO.

With this foundation, Caldera enables powerful appchains through rollups, custom environments tailored to application-specific needs. For example, B3’s gaming rollup offers gasless transactions, so users can join and play without funding a wallet. Clearpool’s Ozean rollup includes chain-level KYC for secure Real-World Asset trading. Caldera’s Rollup Engine makes these tailored appchains possible, supporting ecosystems from fast-paced gaming to strict compliance.

After helping teams launch over 100 rollups since April 2023, Caldera is now tackling a deeper problem: blockchain fragmentation.

Blockchains are Fragmented

As DeFi adoption surged in 2020, Ethereum experienced scalability constraints. As network usage increased, transaction fees increased dramatically, with one user documenting a fee of $989 to execute a transaction during peak demand. The network constraints prompted Ethereum leadership to develop a solution, which culminated in the introduction of “A rollup-centric ethereum roadmap” by Vitalik in October 2020. The roadmap established a modular framework for Ethereum, which proposed to achieve scaling via Layer 2 (L2) networks that process transactions offchain while inheriting mainnet security. Since then, there have been numerous deployments of Ethereum rollups, with successful rollups eclipsing Ethereum mainnet in various key metrics. Leading L2s like Base and Arbitrum One collectively processed over $500 billion in DEX trading volume and 2 billion transactions in 2024.

While established L2s have seen adoption, new entrants fail to see growth. Data from L2BEAT shows that, of the 63 L2s tracked, over 87% of the Total Value Secured (TVS) is concentrated on only three networks (Arbitrum One, Base, and OP Mainnet). In contrast to an interconnected network of rollups envisioned in Vitalik’s rollup-centric roadmap, the current state is characterized by siloed L2s that lack seamless interoperability amongst one another, resulting in fairly isolated networks of users and assets. Consequently, developers are required to allocate resources to interoperability rather than their own application or ecosystem development. Meanwhile, users must utilize disparate assets and interoperability protocols to move funds and access applications.

To address this fragmentation, the limitations of current interoperability solutions must be overcome: users face the hassle of bridging assets and managing funds across several networks, and current interoperability solutions limit the potential of DeFi applications. Due to the architectural requirements for inheriting Ethereum's security, Layer-2 rollups have native bridges between Ethereum that inherently involve a long waiting period when bridging back to mainnet. For example, when transferring tokens from OP Mainnet to Ethereum using the native bridge requires a seven-day delay, a significant bottleneck in the fast-paced world of DeFi.

As a result of high latency, users often opt for third-party bridges and interoperability aggregators. However, third-party solutions introduce security risks and can lack composability across disparate asset standards and bridging infrastructure. This lack of composability requires users to “asset hop,” where multiple trades of wrapped versions of the same underlying asset (e.g. USDC) must be executed to reach the desired asset on the destination chain. In addition, this fragmentation requires application developers to manage liquidity between different versions of the same asset. For nascent rollups, this paradigm does not provide the liquidity, speed, or composability needed to reach the final form of Ethereum's rollup-centric roadmap.

Introducing the Metalayer

Caldera is launching the Metalayer, a shared interoperability network designed to solve the growing fragmentation across rollups. Teams building new chains today face a familiar set of challenges: siloed ecosystems, fragmented liquidity, and complex crosschain interactions. These are problems Caldera has encountered firsthand since its earliest mainnet deployments. The Metalayer addresses them by giving rollups access to a unified set of interoperability solutions without forcing developers to rebuild their apps around outdated architecture. The protocol is already live across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, ZKsync, and Optimism. Six major networks within the Caldera ecosystem, including ApeChain, Manta Pacific, Zero Network by Zerion, Sanko by Sanko GameCorp, Kinto, and B3 have all publicly committed to integrating the Metalayer upon launch.

As of April 2025, the Metalayer testnet is operational across networks including Base, Optimism, Arbitrum, and ZKSync, with a mainnet launch anticipated in May 2025. Furthermore, Caldera plans to enable direct user liquidity provision (LPing) for the Metalayer ecosystem later this summer.

Metalayer Architecture

The Metalayer consists of three interconnected layers: Execution, Settlement, and the Developer Toolkit.

Execution Layer

Caldera’s execution layer turns crosschain actions into simple, intent-based requests. Users input what they want to achieve, such as moving USDC crosschain, and the execution layer handles execution automatically. This removes the need for users to construct transactions step by step or interact with bridge protocols directly. The Metalayer computes optimal routes based on cost, latency, and security using real-time data from interoperability partners like Across, Eco, and Relay. Caldera aggregates this data and selects the best path behind the scenes. The full flow is delivered through a unified interface, which is also available as a white-label frontend for Caldera rollups.

Settlement Layer

Caldera’s settlement layer enables secure crosschain execution, data access, and intent settlement for applications across the Metalayer. Message passing allows the Metalayer to send data between networks to coordinate contracts, settle intents, execute governance actions, and support multichain applications. The Metalayer initiates this process by calling a dispatch function that includes the payload, the destination chain ID, and the address of the receiving contract. The Metalayer then relays the message to the destination chain, where the receiving contract decodes the data and executes the assigned action.

In addition to message passing, the Settlement Layer supports crosschain reads. Crosschain reads allow applications to fetch data from other chains, such as token balances, DEX liquidity, or governance outcomes. A contract on one chain initiates a query, then the Metalayer activates Interchain Security Modules (ISMs) to validate the request. Relayers then fetch the data from RPC nodes, aggregate it, and return it to the original contract. This process allows contracts to securely access data across chains without requiring manual input or offchain coordination.

Security is handled by ISMs, which validate messages and data queries before they are processed. These modules are configurable, enabling developers to select security assumptions based on their application’s needs, with associated costs reflected in solver quotes. The Settlement Layer is built on Hyperlane, an open-source interoperability protocol that gives every Caldera rollup native access to crosschain messaging and function calls.

Developer Toolkit

The Developer Toolkit makes it easier to build on the Metalayer by providing APIs, SDKs, and a prebuilt UI that works across all Caldera chains. Developers can submit intents, fetch quotes from supported bridges, execute transactions, and receive real-time updates through webhooks or callbacks. With the SDKs handling much of the integration work, teams can focus on their core application logic instead of crosschain infrastructure.

A key feature of the Toolkit is intent-based execution. Developers define a goal, such as transferring assets between chains, and the executor determines how to complete it. There is no need to write out every step or handle edge cases manually. The system handles routing, asset processing, and security, behind the scenes. This reduces complexity and allows teams to onboard assets quickly while maintaining flexibility as their applications scale. Since apps connect at the intent layer, they automatically benefit from new Metalayer features without needing to change their code.

Caldera’s Ecosystem

The Caldera ecosystem represents one of the largest and fastest-growing networks of application-specific rollups settling on Ethereum. Powered by Caldera's flexible Rollup Engine, and supporting leading frameworks including OP Stack, Arbitrum Nitro, and ZK Stack, Caldera accounts for nearly a quarter of all active Ethereum rollups. As of April 2025, the network encompasses over 100 deployed chains, including 30 live mainnets and numerous active testnets.

Collectively, rollups within the Caldera ecosystem have processed over 480 million transactions, attracted more than 11.8 million unique wallets, and currently secure over $440 million USD in Total Value Locked (TVL). This scale underscores Caldera's role not just as a rollup deployment platform, but as the foundational infrastructure for a significant and expanding segment of the L2 & L3 landscape.

Leading projects within the Caldera ecosystem demonstrate the platform's capacity to support diverse, high-demand applications:

• Manta Pacific: As a modular Layer 2 focused on Zero-Knowledge (ZK) applications, Manta Pacific utilizes Caldera's scalable infrastructure to offer low transaction fees essential for its DeFi and dApp environment.
• ApeChain: Serving the Yuga Labs ecosystem, ApeChain leverages Caldera to deploy a dedicated, high-throughput environment specifically optimized for demanding gaming and metaverse applications within the Bored Ape Yacht Club universe and associated projects.
• B3: This Layer 3 gaming rollup, built on Base, utilizes Caldera's Rollup Engine to implement application-specific features, such as gasless transactions. This customization has been instrumental in driving user adoption, resulting in hundreds of millions of transactions and attracting millions of gamers.
• Kinto: Operating as the first Modular Exchange (MEX), Kinto employs a Caldera-powered Layer 2 tailored for security and compliance. Caldera's infrastructure enables Kinto's chain-level KYC enforcement, facilitating the integration of traditional finance requirements with DeFi protocols for institutional use cases.

The Caldera ecosystem continues to expand into new frontiers, attracting innovation across various sectors, as evidenced by notable projects currently building on testnet. These include Clearpool's Ozean, targeting compliant institutional DeFi and Real-World Assets (RWAs); Bluwhale's Oceanum, focused on decentralized AI data marketplaces; and XPLA, a significant gaming platform migrating from a standalone L1 architecture to leverage Caldera's L2 capabilities and Ethereum's ecosystem. Other examples include Huddle01, a decentralized communications network operating as a DePIN client, and Towns, a SocialFi project developing sovereign online communities. The introduction of the Metalayer is set to bring these diverse chains together, enhancing network effects by enabling seamless asset transfer and composability across the entire Caldera internet of chains. Planned future integrations of the Metalayer aim to bridge Caldera rollups with major networks like Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Base, Sophon, and more.

Closing Summary

The Metalayer marks an attempt at solving blockchain’s fragmentation problems. By combining intent-based execution, secure crosschain settlement, and a developer-friendly interface, Caldera introduces a unified solution that simplifies how rollups interact. Developers can integrate with the Metalayer through a single toolkit, which removes the need to build and maintain custom bridging infrastructure. This streamlines development, accelerates asset integration, and allows apps to scale across chains without rewriting code or compromising on security.

For users, the Metalayer makes crosschain interactions simple and seamless. Instead of navigating multiple bridges or swapping between wrapped assets, users can express a single goal, like moving USDC between chains, and the Metalayer handles the rest. As adoption grows, this architecture could support the next generation of crosschain applications that feel more interconnected and intuitive. With the core infrastructure now in place, Caldera is laying the groundwork for a more composable and user-friendly future across blockchain networks.