London, UK — Fast Withdrawals are now live on Tezos, significantly reducing withdrawal times for tez from Etherlink to Layer 1. Traditional withdrawals, which previously took approximately 15 days due to the refutation period required by optimistic rollups, can now be completed within a minute, thanks to this innovative enhancement.
The fast withdrawal option allows users to receive their tez rapidly by paying a small percentage fee, with the minimum being 1 tez. This feature leverages the existing withdrawal process, built-in protocol support, and smart contracts on both Etherlink and Tezos networks, eliminating the need for third-party services. Liquidity providers on the Tezos Layer 1 facilitate fast withdrawals by supplying the withdrawn tez (minus the fee) to users immediately. They then receive the original withdrawn tez after the standard 15-day period.
This system compensates liquidity providers for the accelerated service, the operational costs of monitoring withdrawal requests, and the risk associated with providing funds before the withdrawal commitment is confirmed. The integrity of the process is maintained by the bridge, which allows liquidity providers to verify that they will receive the withdrawn funds once the transaction state is finalized on Tezos.
The fast withdrawal process involves a specific precompiled contract on Etherlink and a corresponding fast withdrawal contract on Tezos Layer 1. Liquidity providers monitor incoming requests, claim fast withdrawals, and forward the funds to users swiftly. If no liquidity provider claims a withdrawal within one day, the request expires, and users receive their funds without a fee after the standard commitment period.
The introduction of fast withdrawals on Tezos marks another enhancement for user experience and interoperability, providing a quicker and more convenient way for users to access their funds on the network.