🚀 Objective:

• Understand Layer 2 solutions and why they are essential for scaling Ethereum DApps.
• Learn how Layer 2 can reduce gas fees and increase transaction throughput.
• Implement gas optimization techniques in your smart contracts to reduce transaction costs.
• Deploy your smart contracts to Polygon (a popular Layer 2 network) and interact with it using your frontend.

🧠 What is Layer 2?

Layer 2 refers to a secondary protocol or technology built on top of an existing blockchain (in this case, Ethereum) to increase scalability, reduce gas fees, and improve transaction speed.

🔑 Key Features of Layer 2:

1. Off-chain computation: Layer 2 solutions handle transactions and computations off the Ethereum main chain (Layer 1), which reduces the load on the main network.
2. Lower fees: By processing transactions off-chain, Layer 2 solutions drastically reduce gas costs, making them ideal for high-frequency applications.
3. Higher throughput: Layer 2 can handle a larger volume of transactions per second (TPS), reducing network congestion.
4. Security: While Layer 2 solutions are built off-chain, they still leverage the security of the Ethereum mainnet.

🔑 Popular Layer 2 Solutions:

1. Polygon (Matic):
   • Polygon is a Layer 2 scaling solution that provides faster transactions and lower fees.
   • Polygon uses Plasma, Optimistic Rollups, and zk-Rollups to scale Ethereum.
2. Optimism:
   • Optimism is an Optimistic Rollup solution that allows for scaling by executing transactions off-chain and only periodically submitting batch data to Ethereum.
3. Arbitrum:
   • Arbitrum is also an Optimistic Rollup solution designed to offer high throughput while maintaining the security of Ethereum.

🏗️ Deploying to Polygon

Step 1: Configure Hardhat for Polygon