Any user can challenge and remove an invalid withdrawal attempt by the team’s sequencer on Ethereum layer-2 Optimism, as reported by the OP Labs development team. Optimism has reached what Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, calls “Stage 1” of decentralization by including fault proofs in its smart contracts.
Base, Metal, Mode, and Zora are the minimum number of OP Stack networks that will soon implement the fault proofs. Users of Optimism can now request withdrawals of ERC-20 tokens and Ether (ETH) without the need for any trusted third parties, as stated in a post by OP Labs. Users also have the ability to challenge and remove an invalid withdrawal attempt by providing evidence that the withdrawal is not valid.
The Optimism Security Council can override the fault proofs with a six-of-eight majority, allowing the sequencer to still potentially stop lawful withdrawals or process invalid ones. However, users are now responsible for verifying withdrawals, with any changes requiring a vote by the Council.
This move to “Stage 1” is seen as a step towards achieving complete decentralization, with plans for “Stage 2” in the future where the Security Council can only bypass fault proofs in specific circumstances. Optimism aims to implement more than just the Cannon fault-proof system, ultimately reaching a state where the sequencer only confirms legitimate transactions using multiple evidence mechanisms.
