Ethereum scaling protocol called zkSync will soon come with its own native token in the first week of November, CEO Steve Newcomb of Matter labs, the development firm of the layer 2 solution told in a Twitter Spaces discussion.
“In the first week of November, and I don’t wanna cause too much of a flurry here, look for us to make a statement that many people are waiting for relating to tokenomics,” and added that there would be no airdrop or any free giveaway.
The announcement precedes zkSync’s anticipated Oct. 28 main network launch, which has been in development since early last year. The new scaling strategy for Ethereum will undergo its first live stress test at this point.
The way Ethereum plans to scale is through a system of many layers, each of which builds on Ethereum and takes security cues from it. In contrast to the current Layer 2 options, such as Arbitrum and Optimism, zkSync aims to offer an alternative.
When it is released, transactions will be up to 10–20 times faster and less expensive than when using the primary Ethereum blockchain. This will give cryptocurrency users an alternative way to access the blockchain, especially once more apps are made available on zkSync, Newcomb claimed.
As Polygon announced its EVM-equivalent effort that went live on Oct 11, the race to build a functioning Ethereum virtual machine on a zero-knowledge proof-based rollup is intensifying.
Competition For Ethereum Scaling Solutions Heats Up
The introduction of zkEVMs is considered to be the “End Game” of Ethereum scaling. ZK-rollups have the potential to increase capital efficiency because they don’t require the lengthy withdrawal periods associated with optimistic rollups’ fraud proofs.
Both Polygon and zkSync have an advantage for developers over non-EMV compatible ZK-rollup technology from Starkware and Loopring in that existing solidity code written for Ethereum can be used on the roll-up without having to be rewritten in another programming language.
Previously, ZK-Rollup StarkNet processed transactions between a whopping 3-6 million/week, toppling the world’s most dominant blockchain Bitcoin on certain weeks, TronWeekly reported. And they won’t be the only players on the field.
Matt Fiebach of Blockworks Research sees a pattern emerging and forecasts the emergence of more ZK rollups that are EVM equivalent. “Oh man there are gonna be 50 EVM equivalent ZK rollups next year,” he said.