Degen Chain L3 now tops the TPS charts within the Ethereum ecosystem

April 19, 2024 Coin Telegraph

zkSync unveils new network of ‘Hyperchains’ — Testnet by end of year

June 26, 2023 Coin Telegraph

zkSync Era’s new ZK Stack will use recursive scaling and “hyperchains” to create an ecosystem of interoperable protocols and sovereign chains.

Ethereum zero-knowledge proof scaling system zkSync Era has unveiled its answer to Optimism’s Superchain concept in the form of ZK Stack.

It’s a modular framework for a series of ZK-powered custom blockchains called yperchains, which will operate as a new layer on top of the existing layer-2 protocol. The chains will be composable and interoperable, enabling almost-instantaneous transfers of liquidity and flash loans between protocols in the system, which is not possible between L1 blockchains.

It shares some similarities to the Superchain network of L2s unveiled by Optimism when it announced Coinbase’s BASE would be the first addition.

Alex Gluchowski, the co-founder and CEO of zkSync, told Cointelegraph that the system did away with the need for clunky and insecure token bridges, which are the weak point exploited by many of the biggest crypto hacks.

"We have the ZK Stack now available for people to start building and we already have the first products we're working with to build it, and this will be live on the testnet definitely by the end of the year," he said.

While Gluchowski expects more than 95% of DApps will still port over directly to the L2, the Hyperchains will likely be used by projects with specific requirements around privacy, speed and data availability. Games, social networks, low-latency exchanges and banks are some of the potential users.

After a slightly muted launch, zkSync Era has grown in leaps and bounds, notching up almost $620 million in total value locked. It now processes 20.8 million transactions per month at around 8 transactions per second, peaking at 12 TPS.

*The fast growing TVL of zkSync Era. Source: L2beat*

Gluchowski compared the ZK Stack to the framework of the internet, which enables a limitless expansion of the network. “You can always add more servers, more cables, more connections and grow it from 1000 servers to 1 million servers to 1 billion servers,” he says. “Blockchains today are not having this property."

ZK Stack will make use of recursive scaling, where transactions are batched into a ZK proof, and then a series of those ZK proofs are batched into a single proof for progressively greater compression. This means the system can theoretically scale up to any demand.

"We can still combine multiple proofs from multiple protocols together and paste them together recursively," he explained, adding:

"Every once in a while we will just publish one single proof on Ethereum which trustlessly incorporates the proofs of all these chains."

The code is free and open source under the MIT/Apache license. zkSync told Cointelegraph that a couple of big partners are already on board to trial the system, but did not provide further details.

While the ZK Stack can theoretically connect other ZK roll-ups, such as Polygon’s zkEVM, ConsenSys’ Linea or StarkNet, Gluchowski indicated that this was unlikely. So the ZK Stack looks unlikely to solve the interoperability problem with ZK rollups any time soon.

Magazine: Here’s how Ethereum’s ZK-rollups can become interoperable

DeFi driving zkSync growth as 1inch deploys on Ethereum layer-2 scaling platform

April 20, 2023 Coin Telegraph

1inch Network

1inch Network is the latest decentralized Finance protocol to deploy on Ethereum layer-2 scaling platform zkSync Era.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol 1inch has deployed its aggregation and limit order protocols on Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution zkSync Era to tap into faster and cheaper transactions.

1inch Network is the latest of a host of Ethereum-based platforms and services to deploy on the zero-knowledge proof (zk-proof) based scaling platform. Uniswap, SushiSwap, Maker and Curve Finance have also launched on the zk-proof roll-up zkSync Era.

1inch Network co-founder Sergej Kunz highlighted the promise of the layer-2 solution as his platform joins a handful of first-movers to integrate with the zk-proof powered protocol:

“As zkSync Era gains steam, 1inch users will benefit from faster and cheaper transactions.”

A statement from Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski, who heads up the zkSync development firm, notes that DeFi protocols have been a major factor in the uptake of zkSync era:

“DeFi has been a driving force behind zkSync Era’s explosive growth that has seen over $200 million in TVL driven to the protocol in just three short weeks, and we expect the deployment of 1inch to contribute to even greater adoption and usage of zkSync Era.”

Gluchowski said that 1inch Network’s position as the largest decentralized exchange aggregator by on-chain volume would provide deeper liquidity to zkSync Era. The deployment is also touted to offer faster trades, better rates and lower transaction slippage.

zkSync is among a number of layer-2 solutions that have pioneered the use of zk-rollups to increase Ethereum’s throughput and scalability. The technology enables layer-2 protocols to move computation and blockchain state storage offchain, allowing these platforms to process thousands of transactions before providing summary data proofs to Ethereum’s mainnet.

Matter Labs secured $200 million during a series-c investment round in November 2022, taking its total fundraising to over $450 million to continue the development of its Ethereum scaling platform.

Other major Ethereum development firms, including Polygon and ConsenSys, have also developed their own zk-proof powered scaling protocols. ConsenSys released its zkEVM rollup to its public testnet on March 28.

Meanwhile, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal described zk-rollups as “the holy grail of Ethereum scaling” upon the release of its open-source zkEVM Ethereum scaling technology to the mainnet on March 27.

Magazine: ZK-rollups are ‘the endgame’ for scaling blockchains: Polygon Miden founder

zkSync Era denies 921 ETH ‘stuck forever’ in smart contract

April 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

One member of the cryptocurrency subreddit pointed out that “EVM equivalent” compilers like zkSync Era does not necessarily mean it is fully “EVM compatible.”

Matter Labs, the team behind Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution zkSync, has denied that 921 Ether (ETH) worth $1.7 million will be "stuck forever" in one of its new projects.

The statement comes as one zkSync project is currently experiencing issues in transferring the funds that it accumulated during its token sale.

In a response tweet, Matter Labs confirmed that they're working to solve the problem and will soon publish a "detailed update."

Not stuck forever. We are working with the team to help them solve the problem and will publish a detailed update in a bit. Tune in.
— zkSync ∎ (@zksync) April 6, 2023

The issue appears to have been caused by its new zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine solution, "zkSync Era," not being fully Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible.

While the zero-knowledge rollup solution is “EVM-equivalent,” the two systems compile smart contract code ever so slightly differently from one another, which, in some cases may result in errors in the compiling process.

Several members of the “CryptoCurrency” subreddit expressed their frustration on the matter:

“Another example of why a chain shouldnt be rushing its mainnet launch. Always remember this guys, EVM compatible =/= EVM equivalent.”

"I'm all in for seeing Zero Knowledge tech becoming more and more relevant in the crypto space. However, these chains also have to take into consideration the fact that people's funds are at stake,” said another.

The project is believed to be GemstoneIDO (GEMS). On the zkSync explorer page, the last four transactions requests have "failed," while exactly 921 Ether is stored in its smart contract.

GemstoneIDO is believed to be the project impacted on zkSync. However, Matter Labs has not confirmed this. Source: zkSync Explorer

Matter Labs launched zkSync Era on mainnet last week, promising that decentralized exchanges Uniswap and SushiSwap would be live in a matter of days. That hasn't happened yet, however projects including Argent, Celer Network and MetaMask are live on the network now.

Cointelegraph reached out to Matter Labs, who reiterated funds weren't stuck forever and promised an update shortly.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Magazine: Ethereum is eating the world — ‘You only need one internet’

zkSync Era launches with Uniswap and Sushi — First zkEVM on mainnet

March 24, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

A new Era has dawned with the launch of the first Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible ZK rollup, enabling projects like Uniswap and Sushi to easily port over for scaling.

Some of the biggest names in decentralized finance, including Uniswap, Sushi, Maker and Curve, are set to launch March 24 on zero-knowledge proof roll-up zkSync Era.

The Ethereum layer 2 scaling network has finally opened to users in alpha after four years in development, enabling faster and cheaper transactions. It is the first Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible zk-Rollup to launch on mainnet (competitor StarkWare uses a bespoke language called Cairo), allowing most Ethereum DApps to simply port over with very few changes.

Between 32 to 50 projects are expected to go live on March 24 or over the weekend, including Balancer, Pyth Network, Mute, Redstone, Graph and Argent. Banxa, Yearn Finance, Celer, Chainlink, Aragon, Woo Network and Tracer DAO are also porting to the network.

“Friday for us is the big one, it’s full launch alpha,” Anthony Rose, the head of engineering for zkSync developer Matter Labs, told Cointelegraph earlier in the week.

“But the systems are super complex and there's a million other things we want to do.”

While zkSync Era can provide scaling "orders of magnitude" greater than Ethereum’s current 10 to 12 transactions per second (TPS), Rose said it would offer “tens of TPS” initially and scale up as demand requires.

The project launched its “fair onboarding alpha” on Feb. 17, allowing projects to port over and test out security and optimizations. Matter Labs said it spent $3.8 million on security testing, seven independent security audits and a bug bounty program to reduce the risk of any incidents.

The mission continues, and we’ve got more exciting news to share from zkSync Era’s fast-growing ecosystem. Today, we’re announcing our collaboration with WEMADE, creators of @WemixNetwork, to make the future of blockchain gaming a reality. #jointhemission https://t.co/UVBHE838Rr
— zkSync ∎ (@zksync) March 22, 2023

What is a zk-Rollup?

Zk-Rollups — which include zkSync, Scroll and solutions from Polygon, StarkWare and Consensys — compute transactions away from the Ethereum blockchain while providing a tiny cryptographic proof that is written as a single transaction back on Ethereum showing that a bundle of other transactions has been carried out correctly. zkSync also employs recursion, which generates a proof showing a batch of other proofs (each representing many transactions) have been carried out.

Zk-Rollups can enable virtually instant withdrawals, giving them an advantage over optimistic-rollup layer 2s such as Optimism, where withdrawals take a week. However, zkSync Era will impose a 24-hour waiting period initially as a security precaution.

“The reason being is if you have some critical bug that has somehow got through the many different audits and security mechanisms and somebody completely drains the protocol, this is obviously a disaster for everybody involved,” he said. The waiting period is likely to be reduced to an hour within weeks.

Native account abstraction

zkSync has also enabled native account abstraction, meaning every account in the network is a “smart account” that can utilize two-factor authentication (2FA), social recovery, autopay transactions and more via smart contract wallet providers like Argent.

"This was and probably still is my favorite feature,” Rose said, explaining that it’s an improvement on Ethereum’s ERC-4337 implementation and will help remove the “jankiness” for new crypto users getting into the space.

"Scalability is fine, the infrastructure needs to be there. But it needs to come with a user experience that can also scale."

Account abstraction is a way to appeal to the next billion users ⚡️ #Ethereum https://t.co/Ma3O0iPRhj
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 1, 2023

Not decentralized yet

zkSync Era will not be fully decentralized on launch, so the team can implement fast fixes for any security or technical issues. However, a time lock will later be implemented so that the Security Council and community can sign off on decisions.

Like competitor StarkWare, zkSync relies on a centralized sequencer and prover, which are faster, but provide a centralized point of failure. Running a prover, however, requires the purchase of expensive hardware or renting cloud capacity at $10,000 a month, which makes decentralizing that aspect of the network tricker. Underscoring the challenge, the decentralized version of StarkWare is called StarkNet and is currently running at a paltry 0.11 TPS.

Rose said a new proof system was already being developed that substantially reduces hardware requirements and should be available on mainnet this year.

“So the idea for us is to get through this, then start talking about how we upgrade the proof system to be such that we can be meaningfully decentralized,” he said.

“There's lots of hard problems to solve to make the systems real.”

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zkSync Era

What is a zk-Rollup?

Native account abstraction

Not decentralized yet

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