zkSyncs 2022 look back: The project is ready for the next boom (P1)

• General update about zkSync
• What is zkSync?
• Fundraising deals in 2022
• Technological changes
• On-chain metrics of zkSync mainnet
• Transaction fee
• TVL
• Number of daily transactions
• Unique address number on zkSync
• Ending

During the downtrend period of 2022, Layer 1 blockchain projects such as NEAR Protocol , Solana , Avalanche have gradually lost their attraction, Layer 2 scaling solutions for Ethereum have received a lot of attention from investors. Among them is zkSync – a Layer 2 scaling solution of Ethereum using the Zk Rollups mechanism, which is one of the projects that receive the most attention from investors.

However, in terms of the extent of the ecosystem, zkSync seems to be far behind in terms of completeness compared to formidable competitors such as Arbitrum and Optimism – Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions using Optimistic mechanism. Rollup and EVM compatible. 

However, zkSync is still gradually developing and perfecting its ecosystem under the motto "slowly but surely". It is currently one of the two most promising protocols (along with StarkNet) among Layer 2 solutions using Zk Rollups technology.

In this article, let's take a look at what zkSync has achieved in 2022 with TraderH4.

General update about zkSync

What is zkSync?

zkSync is an Ethereum L2 scaling solution that uses ZK technology to provide lower gas fees and faster transactions than other L2s without compromising on security.

The zkSync blockchain was originally created by Matter Labs with the goal of combining ZK-Rollup technology with EVM compatibility. Its scaling solution uses assets held on the main chain, while computation and storage are done off-chain.

This makes zkSync superior to other L2 solutions in terms of security and ease of use, and makes authentication faster and cheaper.

Fundraising deals in 2022

200 million USD to support the ecosystem

BitDao announced a $200 million zkSync ecosystem support fund on January 27, 2022. BitDAO currently owns the second largest reserve fund in the cryptocurrency market, with more than 2 billion USD including assets such as ETH, USDC, USDT.

200 million USD in the C series round

Matter Labs announced that it has successfully raised another $200 million in a series C funding round led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly Capital taking place on November 16, 2022. This funding round brought Matter Labs' raised to $458 million, including $8 million in Series A and Seed Round, $50 million in Series B, and $200 million from BitDAO.

Technological changes

Public Testnet

ZkSync 2.0 was launched to the public Testnet on February 22, 2022, becoming the world's first zkEVM testnet. zkSync 2.0 is an upgrade of zkSync 1.0, which aims to make zkSync more like Ethereum with contracts written in Solidity or Vyper languages. Since the network's successful beta in February, zkSync 2.0 has also upgraded its zkEVM architecture, implemented dynamic fees, and integrated some hefty partner fees into the project's ecosystem. judgment.

Upgrade zkEVM Architecture

zkSync released an upgrade to zkEVM Architecture in May 2022. This is an upgrade that integrates the Account Abstraction feature – allowing user accounts to be easily converted into a smart contract, supporting gas fee payments with multiple tokens in addition to ETH, and is resilient. account by multisig in case of loss of private key. Around the same time, the zkSync team also confirmed the release of tokens.

Dynamic Fees

zkSync launched Dynamic Fees on August 17, 2022. This feature allows transactions to be charged based on the amount of resources consumed on the network, the charging unit will change from “gas” to “ERGs” (Energy). Also supports EIP-1559 upgrade.

Proof Merging

On September 21, 2022, zkSync announced the completion of Proof Merging – integrating the prover with a witness generator into the live block production system.

• Validity Proofs

On October 18, 2022, the Validity Proofs feature was successfully integrated into the public testnet of zkSync 2.0, becoming the final piece of zkEVM for zkSync 2.0 to enter the Baby Alpha mainnet. Validity Proofs is a technology that extends to zkSync, ensuring correct program execution, recording network status and history before transferring data to Ethereum.

• Mainnet Baby Alpha

Matter Labs launched the Baby Alpha mainnet version of zkSync 2.0 on October 29, 2022. This official network will stress test with real transactions, but does not yet allow projects and users to participate.

On-chain metrics of zkSync mainnet

Transaction fee

Currently users can only experience at mainnet zkSync 1.0. The transaction completion time shown to the user is about 3-5 seconds, blocks are rolled up and sent to Ethereum every 1 hour.

According to data from zkscan.io, at the time of writing on January 16, the current zkSync 1.0 mainnet fee is as follows:

• Account activation: 0.86 USD
• Token Transfer: 0.03 USD
• Mint/Swap: 0.09 USD
• Withdrawal: 3.11 USD

Transaction fees will vary depending on the current context of the cryptocurrency market. However, the fees on the zkSync 1.0 mainnet are generally cheaper than other popular Layer 2 scaling solutions, such as: Arbitrum and Optimism token transfer fees are around $0.03 – $0.05 and fees mint/swap is 0.01 USD. The fee on Starknet is even higher, from 0.1 USD to 0.24 USD.

A bright spot of zkSync compared to other Layer 2 is that the project has the feature to automatically convert any token into transaction fees if the user does not have ETH in the wallet.

TVL

According to the statistics compiled by L2BEAT, the total locked value of the zkSync 1.0 mainnet increased sharply from $55 million to over $170 million in the period from January to April 2022. In the downtrend of the market, zkSync's TVL could not avoid the influence and fell back to more than 50 million USD and then moved sideways in this area for the past 7 months.

Number of daily transactions

The daily transaction count on the zkSync 1.0 mainnet has increased from 20,000 transactions to over 150,000 transactions by the end of October 2022. This explosive growth was fueled by the upcoming Baby Alpha mainnet news, attracting many users to experience the ecosystem in hopes of receiving an airdrop in the future.

By mid-November 2022, Matter Labs' $ 200 million raising deal once again pushed the number of transactions up significantly. Currently the index is hovering around 15,000 transactions.

Unique address number on zkSync

The number of unique addresses on the zkSync 1.0 mainnet has steadily increased from the beginning of 2022 to the present. In the past two months, the index has had a strong rally from 400,000 to nearly 520,000 addresses. This metric shows that the attraction of zkSync is still growing over time at a breakneck speed.

Ending

Above is the first part of the article “Looking back to ZkSync 2022” with the main topic mentioned in the article being the achievements that ZkSync has achieved in 2022. TraderH4 team hopes that through the above article, you readers can understand its outstanding events and performance in 2022.

In the next section, we will continue to outline the development of the zkSync ecosystem in 2022. Also learn about zkSync's upcoming roadmap in 2023. Join the TraderH4 team for part two on the website. TraderH4.com.

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