Loopring has posted its official Q2/2022 update, significant milestones have been hit with Gamestop Wallet (beta) launch and most recently the Gamestop NFT marketplace, whilst running purely on Ethereum at its beta launch, is now fully operational on Loopring Layer 2. Social media followers have grown at a healthy rate. Loopring investors and enthusiasts will be far more excited by Q3 however, with Loopring ‘Earn’ with passive staking integration, potentially the long awaited rollout of zKEVM and fiat off-ramp with current on-ramp providers meaning a seamless transfer in and out of Loopring via fiat/bank transactions
This is the second edition of our 2022 Loopring Quarterly Updates. You can catch up on the previous quarter here; you can also receive these updates in your inbox every quarter by subscribing here.
What a quarter!💙
Q2/2022 was headlined with some major announcements of Loopring L2 integrations, with the launch of GameStop NFT as well as the new GameStop Wallet.
We also experienced some incredible growth this quarter within the L2 ecosystem, hitting a major milestone with over 100,000 Layer 2 accounts now active on Loopring.
Here are a few notable accomplishments:
Major Milestones in Q2/2022 🔥
- More social growth in Q2 (2022):
* Over 100,000 Loopers now on Reddit
* Over 200,000 followers on Twitter
* A highly active Discord community with over 30,000 members
Summary of Q2
1. GameStop NFT Launch
The game has changed, NFT creators, buyers, and sellers are no longer constrained by costly gas fees. Now anyone can mint and trade NFTs for a fraction of the cost without sacrificing on security.
GameStop NFT is fully integrated with Loopring’s L2 zkRollup. Simply connect your L2 activated wallet and start exploring + trading all of the many NFT collections available on L2.
You can read more by checking out our latest blog on the new marketplace here.
2. GameStop Wallet Launch
GameStop also delivered a new browser-based EOA wallet this quarter, with Loopring L2 directly baked into the experience. Their website shows a mobile version coming soon.
Now, crypto and NFT users can download and set up a new Ethereum-based wallet at no cost and start interacting with NFTs and DeFi immediately.
Pro-tip: you can learn more about the differences between an EOA wallet (GameStop Wallet, MetaMask) and a Smart Contract Wallet (Loopring Wallet) here
If you haven’t already, you can check out our detailed blog or video guides for step-by-step instructions on how to set up and use the new GameStop Wallet.
3. Loopring L2 + Wallet Upgrades
We took time this quarter to fix some bugs, making the app that much smoother, and we’ve also added a number of new upgrades + features.
Here are some notable upgrades we’ve rolled out across mobile and web apps this past quarter👇
- NFT functionality — display, deposit, withdrawal, and transfer functionality has been added to the iOS app (Android already supported)
- Pro orderbooks were added to the iOS app
- Small quantity support was added at the protocol level (minimum swap amounts have been decreased substantially)
- LayerSwap was seamlessly integrated into the app experience to facilitate direct deposits (+ soon withdraw) from CEX’s to Loopring L2
- Force Withdrawals — a new front end has been built to make this important security feature more accessible to everyone
- A new wallet activation flow was introduced to mobile to make it even easier for users to activate their Loopring Smart Wallets
- Loopring Bridge was introduced (bridge.loopring.io) — to better allow users to onboard directly from L1 to any L2 address, removing one extra step and eliminating more gas-fees
- Smart Wallet Send/Receive mobile flow was cleaned up for a smoother user experience
- A new “Earn” tab was implemented to make room for more upcoming DeFi integrations, including Loopring Earn functionality
We will continue to gather feedback from the community as well as work with the best partners to add new features, tools and improve accessibility to Loopring L2 so that users can truly move closer to becoming their own bank.
4. More NFT Functionality on L2
We made minting NFTs a breeze this quarter!
You no longer need to be technically savvy in order to mint NFTs on Ethereum’s second layer. Simply connect your wallet, hit the Create NFT button, upload your content, and fill out the required fields to quickly and cheaply mint on Layer 2. The Advanced Create option is also still available for those who want a little extra flexibility when minting.
On top of this, we also added👇
We’re in the early innings for NFTs on Layer 2. We are excited to continue building out this functionality, bringing on support new features like galleries, mass minting tools, NFT gating and so much more.
5. New Community Creator Grants
Our new Loopring Community Creator Grants have been unveiled and distributed this quarter, spurring even more building on Loopring L2!
These new grants are aimed at Community Creators building tools, apps, and educational content that have contributed to the growth of the Loopring L2 ecosystem.
If you are interested in learning more or want to receive a grant in the future, you can read more about this new initiative here.
6. Loopring New Hires
Markets up, markets down, we’re still growing. This quarter, we’ve added four new hires to the Loopring team👇
- 1️⃣ Product Manager
- 1️⃣ Test Engineer
- 1️⃣ UI Designer
- 1️⃣ Android Engineer
We’re excited to welcome more talent to Loopring and believe this growing team will only help to level up Loopring’s products and user experience. Keep an eye on our hiring portal for more opportunities to join our growing team in the future.
7. Protocol Fees
Another quarter, another new record high in protocol fees. As we saw an uptick in exchange volumes, Loopring captured and distributed a quarterly high 236,893.10 LRC in fees.
Liquidity providers, insurers, and the DAO receive fees in return for strengthening the protocol.
Loopring in the Media ☆
Catch some of Loopring’s media and blog coverage highlighting Ethereum Layer 2’s growing significance.
BANXA AMA w/ Byron from Loopring:
twitter.com/loopringorg/status/1511896503719182337?s=20&t=T6azSP1Cs0VAsTR5zcZsOQ
Yahoo! coverage of Loopring:
GameStop Launches Beta Version of Non-Custodial Crypto Wallet
finance.yahoo.com/news/gamestop-launches-beta-version-non-092459001.html
Messari coverage of Loopring:
Loopring: More than a Meme
The Daily Gwei coverage of GameStop NFT and Loopring
Decrypt coverage of Loopring:
What Is Loopring? An Ethereum Tool for Decentralized Exchanges and Payments
decrypt.co/resources/what-is-loopring-ethereum-tool-decentralized-exchange-payments
Path Forward 💙
1. Loopring Earn
Loopring Earn will be rolling out in Q3 with the first passive staking integration, Lido staked ETH. Loopring Earn will be available on both the web app (loopring.io) as well as the mobile Smart Wallet apps (iOS + Android).
This is just the first of many, as more earning opportunities will be integrated and added over time so stay tuned 👀
2. Taiko + zkEVM
In Q3/2021 we announced that we were contributing to a new zkEVM core design alongside the Ethereum Foundation, and much progress has been made.
Since then, Taiko, a new team has formed to build and expand upon this zkEVM design.
Why the separate team + token?
There are two main reasons why this effort required the formation of a separate team and token:
- Neutrality + strategic focus — For this zkEVM to succeed it would need to be credibly neutral, censorship resistant, permissionless, and decentralized. Yet some of these principles came at odds with the realities of Loopring’s existing and established products. Specifically, deploying Loopring’s apps atop its zkEVM could conceivably conflict with the network’s neutrality. With these potential conflicts of interest, others would likely perceive Loopring to favor its own applications to theirs. This would deter communities and developers from deploying their applications onto Loopring’s general purpose chain, and pose a great risk to bootstrapping a thriving network. The new team allows for credible neutrality as well as the ability to strategically focus on new target markets (developer communities, as opposed to end-users) in order to properly compete with other general-purpose rollups.
“[…]when building mechanisms that decide high-stakes outcomes, it’s very important for those mechanisms to be credibly neutral.” — Vitalik
- Max decentralization —in order to achieve strong decentralization at the onset and over time, a new (inflationary) token model would be needed. This new token and token model would allow for the network to properly incentivize a diverse and vast group of proposers and provers. Additionally, it would enable the project to be self-sustainable over time by keeping the DAO resources available to incentivize and attract builders, projects, and other contributors.
While the efforts must be separate, we are happy to share that the Loopring community will be an important component in helping bootstrap the Taiko network and token distribution. Taiko is still in the early stages; the team is focused on building the layer 2 infrastructure and will share details as they get closer to a testnet launch.
To stay in the loop on everything Taiko, join the new Taiko discord here, Taiko Reddit, or follow along on Twitter here.
3. More NFT Marketplaces
In the coming months, we will be releasing an open source marketplace, which will allow anyone to fork and build new marketplaces on Loopring L2. We already have more commercial partners building upon this new marketplace framework and will be sharing more news and releases soon.
Loopring L2 is set to become the home for NFTs on Ethereum’s second layer with its highly optimized performance for fast and cheap NFT minting and transactions. Stay tuned ✨
4. DAO Voting on L2
This quarter, DAO voting is coming to you live from Snapshot.org. LRC holders will soon decide which liquidity providers will be incentivized by Loopring protocol fees. Users will be able to vote with their LRC on Ethereum L1 as well as Loopring L2.
5. Loopring HQ — New + Improved
As our relationships and communities continue to move from physical to digital, our virtual spaces in which we interact should evolve too.
Our new Loopring HQ in the Decentraland Metaverse is close to being released! Stay tuned for an announcement around a beta version meetup this quarter.
This new space will allow many more users to join us in the Metaverse for meet-ups, concerts, games and much more. We look forward to meeting more of you in the digital realm soon!
6. Off-ramps <> Loopring L2
Last but surely not least, off-ramps are coming to Loopring L2.
All on-ramp partners are currently working on off-ramps, including Ramp, BANXA + LayerSwap. Many of these integrations are now in alpha or beta testing phases and more regions will be rolled out in the coming months.
Soon, users of Loopring L2 will be able to seamlessly on-ramp and off-ramp fiat directly to + from Loopring L2, to save on steps and fees by bypassing Ethereum L1, making L2 even more accessible for all.
⭐️ Community Initiatives + Events ⭐️
We have such an amazing and growing community with so much happening that we want to start to share some of the cool things going on in this new regular piece as part of the quarterly reports.
Here are some recent + upcoming community initiatives and events👇
Note: Loopring does not directly endorse the use of any third-party applications as we have not been able to independently verify the code, so please exercise caution and use at your own risk.
Puzzle Gang Special Event
The Puzzle Gang is a collective creating challenges, puzzles, and games with one reward: a tasty (LRC filled) Loopring Red Packet.
Their motto is: “Do Good, Be Good.” and we couldn’t be more excited to have such an amazing crew in our community.
QUADRANT:222 was the Puzzle Gang’s most recent special giveaway challenge and was a big success. It was split up into two special challenges over two separate weekends in July. The momentum of these events keeps growing, with more entrants joining to try to solve the puzzles and earn LRC rewards in the process. You can check out more information about this most recent event here.
Be sure to follow the crew and stay up to date on all of their special giveaways and events on our Discord in the #puzzle-gang channel.
LoopExchange
LoopExchange.art is a community-driven NFT exchange based on Loopring API, where everyone can share and sell their L2 NFTs (no approval processes!).
It launched a couple months ago as a simple P2P linking tool for Loopring artists, so they could easily share and directly sell their NFTs to their audiences instead of using Google Forms. The proof of concept worked and has been evolving into a proper NFT marketplace ever since, adding more and more requested features every week.
The goal is to become an inclusive, feature-rich platform for all creators and collectors alike, while giving them as much governing power over their Web3 presence and the community itself as possible, hence #PowerToTheCommunity.
Check out the new community driven marketplace for yourself here.
Loopmon L2 Gaming Events
Loopmon is a new community-driven L2 NFT game built on Loopring L2, and it is now in Beta! There have been many exciting community events and the game has been evolving with new improvements and features being added all the time.
You can check it out for yourself here: play.loopmon.com
Want to get into the next Community section?
Get into our Discord server and post your community events into the #community-initiatives channel or make some noise on Twitter and we will follow along and pick out some of the coolest things happening on Loopring L2 and post them in each new addition of our quarterly reports!
More Questions & Feedback
If you’d like to talk to us about any partnerships, have questions, and/or feedback, please join our Discord, or drop us a line at: foundation@loopring.org. We also have an active Reddit community for anyone to join.
About Loopring
Loopring is an Ethereum Layer 2 zkRollup protocol for scalable, secure DeFi and NFT applications. Loopring builds non-custodial, high-performance products atop our L2, including the Loopring Wallet — a mobile Ethereum smart wallet, and the Loopring L2 web app — an L2 orderbook and AMM DEX. To learn more, follow us on Medium or see Loopring.org.
