Introducing OP Succinct Lite: ZK Fraud Proofs on the OP Stack

Edward Li

Feb 20, 2025 — 6 min read

We’ve created a “Lite” version of OP Succinct that unlocks ZK fraud proofs. This gives OP Stack rollups a powerful new option for exploring the world of ZK.

In September, we released OP Succinct, our approach to validity proofs on the OP Stack. Fundamentally, we gave every OP Stack rollup the ability to become a ZK rollup. To make this possible, we worked with the Optimism team to synthesize two key technologies: Kona, a Rust implementation of the OP Stack rollup state transition function (STF), and SP1, our state-of-the-art zkVM that verifies any Rust program.

Over the last few months, leading rollups like Mantle and Phala have embraced OP Succinct as critical parts of their technology stacks. Because the product is fully open source, each team was able to customize the codebase to their specific needs.

We understand, however, that some OP Stack rollups aren’t ready for full ZK. To serve these customers, we’re releasing a “Lite” version of OP Succinct that only uses ZK in the dispute module. This unlocks breakthrough functionality like:

Lightweight disputes — resolve challenges in a single-step computation instead of running complex, multi-round games for days
Capital-efficient disputes — reduce worst-case bond requirements from hundreds of ETH to just 5 - 15 ETH, depending on your configuration
Faster finality — slash finality times to 1 day, which greatly improves key user experiences like withdrawals*

Note: L2Beat requires 7-day finality for Stage-1 optimistic rollups. If you configure Lite to use faster finality, you will not qualify. Some rollups consider this to be an acceptable tradeoff — we leave the choice to you.

We’re working with a diverse group of rollups as launch partners for OP Succinct Lite:

Automata: a machine attestation layer that integrates TEEs into AI systems
Donatuz: an all-in-one monetization platform for content creators
Facet: the only Ethereum rollup that can't be shut down by anyone — unstoppable, censorship-resistant, and built for hard times.
[Redacted]: a hyper-efficient perps venue for fast, cheap, and seamless trading that is coming soon

If your rollup could benefit from ZK Fraud proofs, please reach out! You can also consider whether validity proofs are a better option for your situation.

Proving Options for Your OP Stack Chain

	Interactive fraud proofs	ZK fraud proofs	Validity proofs
Rollup architecture	Standard configuration	OP Succinct Lite	OP Succinct
Decentralization	Stage 1	Configurable: Stage 0 or 1	Stage 1
Finality time	7 days	Configurable: 1 day or 7 days	1 hour or less
Dispute process	Replay transactions on L1 if there is a dispute	Generate a ZK proof when there is a dispute	No disputes; ZK rollups prove every transaction
Dispute capital requirements	Scales with TVL, up to 1000s of ETH	Configurable: 5 - 15 ETH	No capital; ZK rollups prove every transaction
Ongoing proving costs	$0	$0; Proofs only generated when there’s a dispute	Less than $0.005 per tx; can be passed to users
Designed for	People who don’t know about ZK	Cost-sensitive L2s, appchains, gaming	Large L2s, DeFi chains

Interactive Fraud Proofs are Ancient Technology

*Using interactive fraud proofs is like using a gas combustion engine: it's unnecessarily complicated*

When Ethereum pivoted to an L2-centric roadmap in 2021, optimistic rollups were the only feasible option. ZK rollups were too hard to build because they required deep cryptographic knowledge and specialized engineering skillsets.

Interactive fraud proofs are a relic of this past. In this framework, rollups secure their bridges to Ethereum with multi-step cryptoeconomic games, which introduce significant challenges:

High technical complexity — implementations typically require thousands of lines of code
Large capital requirements — rollups like Optimism and Arbitrum hold thousands of ETH for disputes, and medium-sized rollups may need to reserve hundreds of ETH

Thankfully, the playing field has changed dramatically in recent years. ZK technology is having its “Moore’s Law” moment: proofs are becoming exponentially more efficient and building blocks like OP Succinct Lite are enabling ZK with minimal effort and expense.

ZK Fraud Proofs Are Built for the Future

*Using ZK fraud proofs is like using an electric engine: it's simple and future proof*

OP Succinct Lite shatters the limitations of interactive fraud proofs.

With ZK fraud proofs, rollups can rely on cryptographic security to resolve disputes simply. We can compute zero-knowledge proofs of a blockchain’s state transition function using cheaper offchain resources and submit the final proofs onchain for verification. This dramatically simplifies the dispute process, decreases bond sizes, and shortens resolution times.

With OP Succinct Lite, the mental model for disputes simply becomes:

A proposer submits a bond with their state root.
A challenger contests the proposed state root and submits their own bond. They must contest the claim within a configurable challenge window (e.g., 12 hours).
The proposer (or a third party) submits a ZK proof to defend the initial claim. They must generate the ZK proof within a configurable proving window (e.g., 24 hours).
A smart contract checks the ZK proof and distributes the bonds to the winner.

Moreover, OP Succinct Lite makes switching to ZK fraud proofs easy. Our solution is built with simple modules that do not touch core components like the sequencer, batcher, op-node, or op-geth. Integrators just need to:

Run a single Forge script to deploy the smart contracts that manage disputes.
Run two Rust commands to spin up a lightweight proposer and challenger. These services monitor your chain by using your L1 and L2’s RPC. The challenger starts disputes and the proposer requests proofs from the Succinct Prover Network to defend.

You can find more detailed instructions here. If you intend to use this in your production or testing environments, please reach out to us! We’re happy to help.

With OP Succinct Lite, rollups can have it all: scalability, security, and decentralization.

Every Rollup Should Use ZK

OP Succinct Lite offers a powerful new option for rollups that want to experience the world of ZK. But how do you know if ZK fraud proofs or validity proofs are right for your rollup?

We view OP Succinct Lite as an unambiguous upgrade for all vanilla OP Stack rollups. It’s a particularly good fit for rollups that are sensitive about the costs of validity proving or high-throughput chains that want to subsidize all transaction costs. OP Succinct, by contrast, is ideal for chains that want to slash finality times to near zero for industrial-grade applications.

If you have questions about what is right for your rollup or what configuration options are available, we’re always available to discuss.

Get Ready for OP Succinct Lite

What’s the current status of OP Succinct Lite?

We are completing audits in the next few weeks and will roll out to our pilot customers afterward.

Want to deploy a new rollup with OP Succinct Lite or convert your existing rollup?

Please reach out to us here. If you’re working with a RaaS provider, they can also contact us and make this a managed process with minimal input from your team.

Want to learn more about our roadmap for OP Succinct Lite?

Follow us on X for up-to-date product announcements. In the short term, we plan to add trusted execution environments as a form of two-factor authentication, paving the way for Stage 2 decentralization.

Looking for the documentation?

All of our code is fully open-source with an MIT license. Check out the documentation below:

If you’re interested in contributing to our development, check out the list of open issues in our GitHub repositories!

Acknowledgments

OP Succinct and OP Succinct Lite are built on open-source projects in the Ethereum and Optimism ecosystems. These products extend OP Stack and Kona, so they would have been impossible without high-quality work from OP Labs. We sincerely appreciate their commitment to modular, open-source development.

We also want to acknowledge Zach Obront for his contributions. Zach played a critical role in the development of OP Succinct, and his multiproof work with the Ithaca team served as a source of early inspiration for OP Succinct Lite.