ZKsync goals to foster an interconnected ecosystem of ZK Stack-based Layer 2 rollups.
ZKsync is the most recent Ethereum scaling resolution to undertake a multi-chain structure following the deployment of its 3.0 improve final month.
On July 2, ZKsync introduced its imaginative and prescient for “Elastic Chain,” an ecosystem of interconnected Layer 2 rollups leveraging ZKsync’s tech stack, ZK Stack.
Elastic Chain was enabled by the ZKsync 3.0 protocol improve, which went reside on June 7, which reconfigured ZKsync’s Layer 1 bridge into “a shared router contract to support the expanding network of interoperable ZK Chains.”
“Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap successfully reduced transaction fees, but fragmented liquidity and user experience,” ZKsync stated. ”The current ZKsync 3.0 improve solves this by enabling native, trustless, low-cost interoperability between the chains powered by ZK Stack… ZKsync 3.0 thus transforms from a single Ethereum L2 into The Elastic Chain.
ZKsync stated its ZKsync Period community includes the primary chain inside the ecosystem, and can quickly be joined by greater than 20 new ZK Stack-based chains slated to launch throughout 2024.
Interconnected ecosystems
The information comes as a number of of Ethereum’s high scaling options need to set up interconnected ecosystems of Layer 2 networks leveraging shared infrastructure quite than siloed L2 architectures.
These initiatives search to beat the challenges related to liquidity fragmentation encountered by Ethereum, the place property and customers develop into splintered throughout an ever-expanding community of Layer 2 and Layer 3 scaling options. In line with L2beat, 20 Ethereum L2s presently host greater than $100 million in complete worth locked.
Optimism arguably led the pack with its Bedrock improve in June 2023, which established the foundations for an ecosystem of interconnected chains constructed utilizing the OP Stack dubbed the “Superchain”.
ZKsync responded only a few weeks later by delivery the ZK Stack, paving the best way for the challenge to appreciate its imaginative and prescient for “Hyperchain” scaling first articulated throughout the October 2022 SmartCon convention.
Polygon additionally entered the fray in January 2024 with the launch of its AggLayer bridge as a part of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap. The bridge permits builders to attach any Layer 1 or Layer 2 chain to Polygon’s AggLayer ecosystem, beginning with the Polygon ZkEVM community.
“Ethereum-aligned rollups have achieved impressive cumulative throughput capacity, [but] this progress came with a massive deterioration in user experience, capital efficiency, and network integrity,” ZKsync stated.
Elastic Chain
ZKsync highlighted the safety dangers and capital inefficiency related to cross-chain bridges, which presently comprise the principal mechanism for transferring property throughout completely different Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains.
“Even if centralized bridges were perfectly secure, they are very capital-intensive to operate because they require liquidity on every integrated chain,” the challenge stated. “As the number of independent blockchains as well as optimistic rollups grows, the capital that needs to be available in these bridges will have to grow quadratically.”
In contrast, ZKsync described Elastic Chain as an ecosystem of autonomous chains which are natively interconnected on the protocol degree to facilitate the free motion of crypto property, bolstering capital effectivity and eliminating friction.
“It’s a united multi-chain ecosystem that feels and behaves like a single chain,” ZKsync stated.
Elastic Chain helps account abstraction, with customers in a position to onboard by way of FaceID or Passkeys, bypassing the necessity for seed phrases.
Submit-airdrop pullback
The announcement follows ZKsync’s long-awaited airdrop, which distributed 17.5% of the ZK token’s provide to early adopters on June 17.
Whereas the token debuted at a greater than $1 billion market cap, ZK has since pulled again to a capitalization of $651 million.
The value of ZK bounced 6% in 24 hours to tag $0.18, in accordance with The Defiant’s crypto value feeds.
Associated: ZkSync Airdrop Allocations Depart DeFi Group Break up
