Optimism (OP) Prepares for Canyon Hardfork Across Superchain Testnets on November 14

The Optimism ecosystem is set to embrace a milestone with the Canyon hardfork, slated for activation on the OP Goerli, OP Sepolia, Base Goerli, Base Sepolia, PGN Sepolia, and Zora Sepolia testnets on November 14, 2023, at 17:00 UTC. Announced by the OP Labs Team on November 7, 2023, this upgrade follows the previous Bedrock network enhancement and is eagerly anticipated across the Superchain.

Collaboratively developed with Base, the Canyon hardfork has undergone successful initial activation on a devnet, paving the way for its deployment on testnets. A subsequent rollout to the OP Mainnet and other Superchain mainnets will depend on the Optimism governance protocol’s approval.

Canyon’s launch brings with it several improvements including Shanghai and Capella hardfork support, alongside a series of minor bug rectifications. Noteworthy EIPs—EIP-3651, EIP-3855, EIP-3860, EIP-4895, and EIP-6049—are incorporated, featuring enhancements like new Ethereum instructions, the phasing out of the SELFDESTRUCT function, and modifications for beacon chain push withdrawals.

A crucial update within Canyon is the fine-tuning of EIP-1559, which adjusts the basefee’s sensitivity to network congestion. This aims to moderate the speed of basefee adjustments, fostering a more stable network fee environment.

Protocol modifications also include improved handling of unclosed channels, allowing for uninterrupted operation progression in certain scenarios. A new field in the deposit transaction receipt encoding is also introduced to correct a discrepancy in the nonce consensus.

Furthermore, the hardfork ensures the deployment of the create2Deployer bytecode across all networks, enabling consistent access to this critical contract for developers.

While end-users may not experience direct impact from these upgrades, node operators are required to update their nodes to conform to the new Canyon specifications. Detailed instructions are available through a publicly accessible guide. Participants in the Optimism ecosystem should watch for upcoming governance updates, which will signal the potential mainnet integration of the Canyon hardfork.

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