Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling is well underway with many rollups already available for use. Optimism and zkSync have certainly brought a new dimension to Ethereum but Metis is on a mission to solve a different problem. The main goal of this crowdfunded rollup is to offer a scalable solution that would cater to a Web 2.0 audience and the gig economy.
What Is Metis? #
As already mentioned, Metis is an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution that was developed and funded by Metis DAO. In their own words, Metis is solving six of Ethereum’s biggest challenges: Simplicity, speed, native storage, scalability, security and saving.
Metis is fully EVM compatible but it also allows Web 2.0 applications to be easily ported to the blockchain. According to the available documentation Metis can easily be integrated in a Web 2.0 environment without the need to make any changes in the code.
This feature should offer a simple solution to business and website owners that want to incorporate blockchain technology. Through the Pollis dashboard users can easily deploy their Ethereum dapps over to Metis but also transfer their Web 2.0 apps with no blockchain development knowledge required.
This gives Metis the ability to allow the migration of yield farming dapps and exchanges from other chanis with the main goal still being to revolutionize the gig economy and provide ease-of-use to Web 2.0 businesses.
How To Use Metis? #
To get started Metis will need to be added as a custom network to your Metamask wallet. Click on the dropdown menu, select “add new network”.
From here enter the following information and click “save”:
Network Name: Metis Network
New RPC URL: https://andromeda.metis.io/?owner=1088
ChainID: 1088
Symbol: Metis
Block Explorer URL: https://andromeda-explorer.metis.io/
Transacting on the Metis network will require having some Metis tokens in your wallet. Currenty, the only way to do this is to purchase Metis on Ethereum or Binance Smart chain and then bridge them using the PolyBridge.
After you have acquired Metis, you can easily bridge it by connecting your wallet to the PolyBridge and selecting Metis as the currency and destination chain.
Transactions should not take longer than a few minutes.
Conclusion #
Ethereum gas fees are a real problem for users that can’t afford to pay such large sums. Metis can surely find its place as a scalable Layer 2 solution especially if it succeeds at attracting gig economy users and Web 2.0 businesses that could benefit from migrating to Metis.
Rollups like Optimism are already onboarding a lot of ETH users, but fees can still be an issue on busy days. Metis could prove to be a competitor in this space with faster and cheaper transactions that are secured by Ethereum’s L1 security.
