Etherlink Deploys Calypso Upgrade, Bringing a 30x Performance Boost to Its Tezos Layer 2 Network

The Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer 2 solution built on Tezos (XTZ) announced the Calypso upgrade was live on the mainnet on March 12

Etherlink, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible layer 2 solution built on Tezos (XTZ), has deployed its third protocol upgrade, Calypso, on mainnet.

The layer 2 solution, which is a smart rollup, announced the upgrade on Monday. It comes a few weeks after the L2 deployed on testnet and follows approval from key Tezos ecosystem components, known as bakers, for the mainnet launch.

The Calypso upgrade will bring a range of performance-enhancing features to Etherlink, including an increase in speed for common network operations and greater resilience and efficiency for decentralized application developers. It will also enable faster XTZ withdrawals from Etherlink to Tezos.

Etherlink’s non-custodial platform, powered by the Tezos smart rollup technology, allows for seamless integration of dApps and supports Ethereum ecosystem tools such as wallets and indexers. With its latest upgrade, its performance could see up to a 30x boost—significant numbers in the world of decentralized finance and exchanges.

Calypso will also bring improvements to smart contract storage and governance on the Tezos blockchain, and it lays the foundation for improvements to non-custodial and trustless token bridging.

As it stands, users can bridge the native Tezos token tez from the layer 1 chain to Etherlink and back. Bridging XTZ from Etherlink to Tezos L1 is called withdrawing, while bridging XTZ from the layer 1 chain to the Etherlink network is called depositing. In both cases, XTZ is the native token on both chains.

“Moving tez from Etherlink to Tezos L1 currently can feel like waiting in traffic. Calypso introduces a new precompiled contract entrypoint, which lays the groundwork for much faster withdrawals,” Tezos said in February ahead of this mainnet rollout.

Etherlink, which is powered by the Atomic Park technology, introduced its alpha testnet in December and beta in early March, with key roadmap milestones including the integration of oracle price feeds, the LayerZero bridge, and a decentralized sequencer.

Meanwhile, Tezos recently deployed its 17th upgrade with the activation of Quebec, which will bring faster transactions, improved staking mechanics and new token issuance capabilities to the blockchain.