OP Labs debuts Rust-based node implementation of OP Stack for scalable Ethereum Layer 2 rollups

OP Labs has released Kona-node, a high-performance rollup node implementation of the OP Stack written in Rust, aimed at providing greater scalability than the existing OP Node.

"If you're building scalable Layer 2 solutions on Ethereum, this is your cue to get excited," OP Labs said in a blog post.

Kona-node advances OP Stack's efficiency and provides developers freedom to use and extend it as a library or application.

The release of Kona also means that OP Stack will soon support ZK rollups. It enables zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) generation for OP Stack rollups, allowing chains to transition from optimistic fault proofs to ZK rollups — reducing transaction finality times from a seven-day fraud-proof window to minutes and lowering transaction costs to a few cents.

Kona supports multiple proof backends such as OP Succinct's SP-1 and Risc0, which are useful for ZKP generation. The software ensures memory safety and operates with low resource usage. Through OP Succinct, Kona can enable the development of Type-1 zkEVM rollups, allowing seamless upgrades of OP Stack chains to ZK rollups.