What Is Caldera (ERA) and How Does It Work?
Caldera (ERA) is a Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) platform designed to make blockchain scaling accessible and developer-friendly. It allows projects to launch their own customizable
Layer‑2 rollups on
Ethereum without dealing with complex infrastructure. Developers can choose from multiple tech stacks like
Optimism Bedrock,
Arbitrum Orbit,
Polygon CDK, and
zkSync’s ZK Stack. With a few clicks, they can configure their chain, select a
data availability layer, and deploy, enabling high-performance rollups that support faster transactions and lower fees.
What sets Caldera apart is its Metalayer, an interoperability framework that connects all Caldera-powered rollups. This shared layer facilitates seamless cross-chain communication, pooled
liquidity, and composability, solving the fragmentation issues seen in most rollup ecosystems. Developers and users benefit from instant bridging, unified messaging, and ecosystem-wide liquidity without extra engineering effort. Paired with Caldera’s SDKs and APIs, it offers a plug-and-play solution for building scalable and interconnected
Web3 applications.
With over 100 active rollups, millions of users, and hundreds of millions of transactions processed, Caldera has become a critical scaling solution for projects like
Manta Pacific,
ApeChain, and
Injective. It combines enterprise-grade uptime, developer tools, and modular infrastructure to deliver a robust environment for both startups and large-scale blockchain platforms.
When Was Caldera Launched?
Caldera (ERA) was founded in 2022 by Constellation Labs (operating as Caldera Foundation), backed by leading investors including Founders Fund, Sequoia, Dragonfly, and Arkstream. The founding team, led by CEO Matthew “Matt” Katz and CTO Parker Jou, set out to address Ethereum’s scalability challenges by offering a streamlined “rollup-in-a-box” solution for developers.
The official launch of Caldera occurred in 2022, introducing its core platform: the Rollup Engine and the Metalayer. This empowered users to deploy custom
Layer‑2 rollups in a single click, while ensuring interoperability through shared messaging and pooled liquidity across chains.
Timeline & Roadmap Highlights
- Company founding & platform debut in 2022: Caldera launched, enabling one-click rollup creation with modular infrastructure support.
- Series A funding ($15M) in July 2024: Led by Founders Fund, with Dragonfly, Sequoia, Arkstream, and Lattice; funds allocated toward expanding the Metalayer and interoperability work.
- Rollout & optimization of Metalayer and Rollup Engine upgrades (Early–Mid 2025), enabling integration of over 100 rollups, improved cross-chain messaging, and broadening technical capabilities.
- ERA token launch & airdrop (Jul 2025): Pre-claims began on July 10, 2025, with a retroactive airdrop distributing
7% of the total 1 billion‑coin supply to early ecosystem participants. ERA will serve as the native
gas token, staking asset, and governance tool on Caldera-powered rollups.
What Is the ERA Token Utility?
The ERA token is the native utility and governance token of the Caldera ecosystem. It powers gas payments on all Caldera rollups, incentivizes
validators and sequencers, and secures the network through
staking. ERA also enables decentralized governance, allowing token holders to propose and vote on protocol upgrades, treasury allocations, and technical council elections. Additionally, ERA is used within the Metalayer for cross-rollup transactions and liquidity provisioning.
What Is Caldera Tokenomics?
Caldera's
total supply comprises 1,000,000,000 ERA tokens minted at the Token Generation Event (TGE).
ERA Token Allocation
- Early Backers & Investors: 32.06% (320.6 M ERA)
- Community Treasury: 21% (210 M ERA)
- Foundation: 14.94% (149.4 M ERA)
- Core Team: 14.75% (147.5 M ERA)
- R&D: 10.25% (102.5 M ERA)
- Retroactive
Airdrop: 7% (70 M ERA)
How to Claim Caldera Airdrop
The Caldera airdrop is a genesis token distribution where 7% of the total 1 billion ERA supply (~70 million ERA) is allocated to early ecosystem participants. It rewards activity across Caldera-powered networks, testnet contributions, modular ecosystem participants, community builders,
NFT holders, and public goods developers.
Key Dates for Claiming ERA Tokens
- Snapshot Date: March 5, 2025
- Pre‑Claim Window: July 10, 2025 – July 17, 2025 at 00:00 UTC
- Deadline Reminder: Last chance to pre‑claim is July 17, 2025 at 00:00 UTC (~July 17, 5:30 PM IST).
Missing the deadline forfeits your allocation, which will return to the community treasury.
Eligibility Criteria for the Caldera Token Airdrop
Eligible users include
wallets that, before the snapshot date, engaged in any of the following:
- Transacted on Caldera-powered rollups (e.g. dApp interactions, bridges)
- Held Caldera NFTs or usernames (.era NFTs)
- Participated in testnet campaigns or completed Metalayer quests
- Belonged to partner ecosystems (Ape/BAYC, Manta, modular projects)
- Developed or contributed to public goods and modular tech
- Regular users of other Layer‑2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, ZKSync, Base
How to Claim ERA Tokens
1. Visit the official Caldera pre-claim portal: claim.caldera.foundation
2. Connect your EVM wallet that matched the snapshot
4. Optionally link GitHub or X accounts to verify contributions for bonus eligibility.
5. Sign the gas-free pre-claim transaction and review your allocation
6. Confirm claim before the July 17, 00:00 UTC deadline
Most eligible wallets can complete the process in under 3 minutes.