Does RaaS Open a New Era? An Article on the Caldera Technology Architecture and Core Use Cases

Key Summary

• Caldera is a RaaS (Roll-up as a Service) platform focusing on Layer 2 infrastructure, known for its enterprise-level reliability and 99.99% uptime. The platform currently supports a total locked value (TVL) of over $1 billion and serves 8 million users.
• Caldera supports all mainstream Roll-up frameworks, including Arbitrum Nitro, Optimism Bedrock, zkSync, and Polygon CDK, and provides optimized solutions for each project. Caldera provides a comprehensive blockchain infrastructure solution, including block explorers, Alt-DA (alternative data availability), bridging stablecoins, cross-chain bridges, and guardian nodes.
• Through its Metalayer technology, Caldera is integrating the fragmented Layer 2 ecosystem. This innovation achieves direct connections between Roll-ups, efficient fund transfer, and the development of multiple Roll-up applications, establishing a new paradigm for the blockchain ecosystem.

1. The Great Era of RaaS

With the development of Web3, more and more teams are starting to develop their own blockchain solutions. While some teams choose to develop Layer 1, most teams choose to build Layer 2 solutions on existing Layer 1 platforms. This approach allows teams to leverage the mature security, user base, assets, and consensus mechanisms of Layer 1 platforms like Ethereum, while customizing the execution layer according to project requirements.

The main advantage of Layer 1 is the ability to access Ethereum’s large user base, liquidity, and developer infrastructure without the need to build a separate validator network. Initially, the blockchain industry was skeptical of Layer 2 chains. Concerns about the complex Roll-up mechanism required by Layer 2 and its reliance on Ethereum’s security have raised centralization concerns. As an emerging technology, Layer 2 also faces the challenge of establishing trust.

With the maturity of Layer 2 technology, new solutions emerge. Early teams either built infrastructure from scratch or forked existing code. After the success of multiple Layer 2 platforms, the industry began to see it as a standard technology. The introduction of RaaS (Roll-up as a Service) further accelerated the development of Layer 2 platforms.

! RaaS opens a new era? An article interprets the Caldera technology architecture and core use cases

Source: Tiger Research

The RaaS platform is responsible for managing complex Roll-up mechanisms and infrastructure maintenance, enabling project teams to focus on service development. This innovation reduces development time from several months to a few weeks, sometimes even a few hours, allowing teams to focus on core projects and user growth. This heralds the arrival of the “Great Era of RaaS”, similar to the historic “Age of Discovery”.

As major NFT projects embrace Layer 2, this trend is accelerating. BAYC’s ‘Apechain’ and RWA project ‘Plume’ are typical examples of this trend. With the increasing number of Layer 2 chains, reliability has become a key focus for RaaS providers in managing infrastructure deployment.

Caldera stands out with its Service Level Agreement (SLA) guaranteeing 99.99% uptime. The platform supports all major Roll-up frameworks - Arbitrum Nitro, Optimism Bedrock, zkSync ZK Stack, and Polygon CDK, attracting over $1 billion TVL and more than 8 million wallets. This report explores how Caldera builds its RaaS infrastructure and its key advantages.

2. Enterprise reliability of Caldera

Reliability is crucial to RaaS solutions, as chain errors and system failures can lead to significant losses and undermine trust. In today’s technological environment, even a basic map API interruption can cripple delivery systems and have a severe impact on e-commerce companies. Due to the chain linking all transactions in blockchain services, it requires matching or even higher stability than traditional cloud services to maintain user confidence.

The reliability of blockchain services can be measured by two key indicators: indirect ‘references’ and direct ‘service coverage’. Caldera has obtained more than 75 reference cases, including Manta Network and ApeChain, while its 8 million active wallets indirectly prove the reliability of the service.

Source: Caldera

Caldera’s direct service coverage meets enterprise standards through its 99.9% uptime SLA guarantee. The platform uses Betterstack monitoring tools for system health checks, which can monitor in real time and send immediate anomaly alerts to the technical team. With round-the-clock support and systematic event response protocols, Caldera provides the stability required by enterprises.

Caldera operates AWS data centers in multiple global regions to ensure that if one region fails, another can take over immediately - similar to the redundant design of the power grid. The platform uses proxy load balancing to distribute RPC providers, similar to switching operators when the signal is interrupted on a mobile phone. By running multiple RPC providers simultaneously, Caldera ensures that the service can continue to run even if a specific provider fails.

In order to propel Layer 2 beyond its current scope of development, enterprises need a secure foundation to build services. Caldera’s multi-layer reliability strategy is poised to accelerate enterprise adoption of Layer 2 solutions.

3. Customized Roll-up framework: providing optimized solutions for each project

Different blockchain projects have different technical requirements. DeFi and RWA projects prioritize security and reliability, games require low-cost processing of high transaction volumes, and the NFT market relies on efficient metadata handling. The choice of Roll-up framework and chain directly affects costs and efficiency, making it a critical decision.

Arbitrum Nitro is leading in Ethereum compatibility and security, zkSync excels in processing speed and low fees, Optimism stands out in ecosystem growth with SuperChain, and Polygon CDK provides enhanced scalability and cost efficiency through zkValidium.

Source: Caldera

Caldera’s multi-framework RaaS solves these challenges by providing access to all mainstream Roll-up frameworks for projects, allowing projects to choose the framework that best suits their business objectives. For teams lacking deep technical expertise, Caldera also provides guidance on choosing the best approach.

4. One-stop Blockchain Infrastructure Solution

Building a Roll-up chain is just the first step for a blockchain project. A fully functional blockchain ecosystem requires additional infrastructure - these components will consume a lot of time and resources if built from scratch. By providing off-the-shelf solutions for key infrastructure, Caldera enables projects to launch more quickly.

4.1. Block Explorer

Block explorers are crucial to the blockchain ecosystem. Users rely on them to verify transactions, while developers need them to inspect smart contract states and interactions. Although building a custom explorer typically takes 1-2 months, Caldera offers a customizable solution through Blockscout integration to meet user needs.

4.2. Alt-DA (Alternative Data Availability)

Caldera’s Alt-DA has introduced innovation in blockchain data storage. Traditional Ethereum Roll-up requires storing all transaction records on the Ethereum mainnet, with data storage consuming over 95% of the total transaction cost.

Alt-DA was originally launched with Celestia, utilizing its efficient data storage while only sending transaction proofs to Ethereum, avoiding Ethereum’s high storage costs. This has reduced monthly data storage costs from $50,000 to 75%. If there are issues with the Celestia network, the system will automatically switch to Ethereum storage to maintain service. The addition of options like EigenLayer will further reduce entry costs and accelerate blockchain adoption.

4.3. Bridging stablecoins

Caldera’s bridging of USDC provides significant advantages for projects using OP Bedrock and Arbitrum Nitro, enabling them to immediately utilize USDC from day one.

The system excels in native USDC conversion efficiency. Traditional bridged tokens require high user education and incentive costs in the native conversion process, while bridged USDC eliminates the need for complex liquidity migration.

For developers, using the smart contract that bridges USDC allows them to keep the contract address intact when upgrading to native USDC, without the need to modify the code, ensuring project stability.

Users can continue various financial activities without the need for token exchange, which helps the new blockchain network to develop its ecosystem faster.

4.4. Cross-Chain Bridge

Caldera automatically deploys web-based cross-chain bridge UI for each chain, facilitating asset transfer. The cross-chain bridge serves as a gateway for users to provide liquidity for Layer 2 chains.

The interface matches the branding of each Roll-up, with adjustable colors, text, and branding elements. It makes asset flow between the Caldera chain and major networks such as Ethereum and Polygon smoother, while also making cross-chain bridges more user-friendly for new users.

4.5. Guardian Node

Caldera’s guardian node system is built on Arbitrum’s “Nitro” stack, specifically designed to validate transaction batches of Arbitrum Roll-up. Its innovative “lightweight validator” can verify transactions without running a full Arbitrum node.

The Guardian Node is the first operating system that provides rewards to validating participants. HYCHAIN demonstrated its success by selling 16,000 node keys and generating 2,000 ETH in revenue within two weeks of implementation.

The system provides value in multiple ways: it creates new revenue streams, enhances network security through wider validator participation, drives natural demand for project tokens, and elevates community members from investors to network operators—thus promoting deeper project participation and loyalty.

5. Metalayer: A new paradigm for the blockchain ecosystem

Source: Caldera

Caldera’s innovation journey reached a new milestone in a $15 million Series A financing led by Founders Fund. This investment is not just a funding—it marks a turning point in defining the future of the Layer 2 ecosystem.

Layer 1 ecosystem faces fragmentation issues. Layer 1 needs to perform intermediate transfers between Roll-ups, resulting in high costs and delays. Each chain requires separate infrastructure components such as cross-chain bridges and oracles, while network operators and validators face strict limitations in cross-chain operations.

Caldera introduces the meta-layer to address these challenges. The meta-layer represents a new paradigm for a unified fragmented Layer 2 ecosystem, driving the evolution of blockchain infrastructure by combining Caldera’s core strengths - enterprise-grade stability, multi-framework support, and all-in-one infrastructure solutions.

The Meta Layer enables efficient fund transfer through direct Roll-up connection, simplifies development environment, and supports the development of multiple Roll-up applications. Its unified ecosystem covers ZK and Optimistic Roll-up stacks, which are expected to change the usability of Web3.

Caldera is surpassing RaaS and shaping the next era of blockchain innovation. Like explorers opening new routes, Caldera has opened up new territories in Layer 2 through its meta-layer. The company is leading the evolution of blockchain towards a more scalable and interconnected future. These advances will make it easier for institutions and projects to establish their own chains, far beyond the capabilities of traditional RaaS.

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