diff --git a/.changeset/poor-avocados-arrive.md b/.changeset/poor-avocados-arrive.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..9e00a2d9c2916
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/poor-avocados-arrive.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@eth-optimism/core-utils': patch
+---
+
+Clean up the L1 => L2 address aliasing utilities
diff --git a/packages/core-utils/src/alias.ts b/packages/core-utils/src/alias.ts
index ded2b3fb74cca..db39b8735134f 100644
--- a/packages/core-utils/src/alias.ts
+++ b/packages/core-utils/src/alias.ts
@@ -1,22 +1,21 @@
 import { ethers } from 'ethers'
+import { bnToAddress } from './bn'
 
+// Constant representing the alias to apply to the msg.sender when a contract sends an L1 => L2
+// message. We need this aliasing scheme because a contract can be deployed to the same address
+// on both L1 and L2 but with different bytecode (address is not dependent on bytecode when using
+// the standard CREATE opcode). We want to treat L1 contracts as having a different address while
+// still making it possible for L2 contracts to easily reverse the aliasing scheme and figure out
+// the real address of the contract that sent the L1 => L2 message.
 export const L1_TO_L2_ALIAS_OFFSET =
   '0x1111000000000000000000000000000000001111'
 
-export const bnToAddress = (bn: ethers.BigNumber | number): string => {
-  bn = ethers.BigNumber.from(bn)
-  if (bn.isNegative()) {
-    bn = ethers.BigNumber.from('0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF')
-      .add(bn)
-      .add(1)
-  }
-
-  const addr = bn.toHexString().slice(2).padStart(40, '0')
-  return ethers.utils.getAddress(
-    '0x' + addr.slice(addr.length - 40, addr.length)
-  )
-}
-
+/**
+ * Applies the L1 => L2 aliasing scheme to an address.
+ *
+ * @param address Address to apply the scheme to.
+ * @returns Address with the scheme applied.
+ */
 export const applyL1ToL2Alias = (address: string): string => {
   if (!ethers.utils.isAddress(address)) {
     throw new Error(`not a valid address: ${address}`)
@@ -25,6 +24,12 @@ export const applyL1ToL2Alias = (address: string): string => {
   return bnToAddress(ethers.BigNumber.from(address).add(L1_TO_L2_ALIAS_OFFSET))
 }
 
+/**
+ * Reverses the L1 => L2 aliasing scheme from an address.
+ *
+ * @param address Address to reverse the scheme from.
+ * @returns Alias with the scheme reversed.
+ */
 export const undoL1ToL2Alias = (address: string): string => {
   if (!ethers.utils.isAddress(address)) {
     throw new Error(`not a valid address: ${address}`)
diff --git a/packages/core-utils/src/bn.ts b/packages/core-utils/src/bn.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a4de2b624278f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core-utils/src/bn.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import { ethers } from 'ethers'
+import { remove0x, add0x } from './common/hex-strings'
+
+/**
+ * Converts an ethers BigNumber into an equivalent Ethereum address representation.
+ *
+ * @param bn BigNumber to convert to an address.
+ * @return BigNumber converted to an address, represented as a hex string.
+ */
+export const bnToAddress = (bn: ethers.BigNumber | number): string => {
+  // Coerce numbers into a BigNumber.
+  bn = ethers.BigNumber.from(bn)
+
+  // Negative numbers are converted to addresses by adding MAX_ADDRESS + 1.
+  // TODO: Explain this in more detail, it's basically just matching the behavior of doing
+  // addr(uint256(addr) - some_number) in Solidity where some_number > uint256(addr).
+  if (bn.isNegative()) {
+    bn = ethers.BigNumber.from('0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF')
+      .add(bn)
+      .add(1)
+  }
+
+  // Convert to a hex string
+  let addr = bn.toHexString()
+  // Remove leading 0x so we can mutate the address a bit
+  addr = remove0x(addr)
+  // Make sure it's 40 characters (= 20 bytes)
+  addr = addr.padStart(40, '0')
+  // Only take the last 40 characters (= 20 bytes)
+  addr = addr.slice(addr.length - 40, addr.length)
+  // Add 0x again
+  addr = add0x(addr)
+  // Convert into a checksummed address
+  addr = ethers.utils.getAddress(addr)
+
+  return addr
+}
diff --git a/packages/core-utils/src/index.ts b/packages/core-utils/src/index.ts
index 0e60c32e9cfd5..3604c7b622d79 100644
--- a/packages/core-utils/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core-utils/src/index.ts
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ export * from './fees'
 export * from './provider'
 export * from './alias'
 export * from './types'
+export * from './bn'