Optimism and Unichain Plan Native Ether Transfers Across Networks

The Optimism Foundation and Unichain Foundation plan to add a protocol-level feature for native Ether (ETH) transfers between Unichain and OP Mainnet, letting the networks validate cross-chain messages without a separate third-party bridge validator set.

The initial phase would focus on transfers between those two networks. It would not include general ERC-20 transfers, shared balances or cross-network liquidity pools. Arbitrary cross-chain app actions also would not execute atomically.

Later phases are planned to add support for other tokens, app integrations and more networks. More than 50 production chains use the OP Stack, whose broader network ecosystem is known as the Superchain.

The feature still requires technical preparation and governance approval. Upgrade 20 and Upgrade 21 would build supporting infrastructure but would not activate interoperability; a separate governance proposal would address activation.