The development of the Layer 2 ecosystem is very fast, recently highlighted by the zkSync Era. The zkSync Era ecosystem is arguably the most successful zkEVM at the moment. However, it is still in the early stages, everything is still very primitive. This article will provide an overview of the zkSync Era ecosystem and information related to the ecosystem. Hope you get a lot of useful information after reading this article!
To better understand zkSync Era, people can refer to some of the articles below:
- What is Layer 2? Complete Guide to Layer 2 Solutions
- What is ZK Rollup? ZK Rollup Solution Overview
- What is ZkSync? ZkSync Cryptocurrency Overview
Overview of On-Chain Metrics on zkSync Era
Total Value Locked (TVL)
The ZkSync Era ecosystem is having a TVL of $120 million, ranking 18th on Defillama. ZkSync Era is the first and most successful zkEVM with the number of TVLs and dApps as well as existing users. The ZkSync Era also showed itself to be superior to the Polygon zkEVM that came out shortly after the zkSync Era came out.
ZkSync Era is more developed than Layer 2 using another zk technology, StarkNet. The biggest motivation is that zkSync Era is compatible with EVM while StarkNet is non-EVM so the development speed is somewhat slower. But the StarkNet ecosystem focuses on quality and native projects.
Although zkSync Era surpasses Polygon zkEVM or StarkNet, it is thanks to the motivation of Airdrop potential, EVM compatibility and early launch. But the zkSync Era ecosystem is also at a safe level, there are not many projects that really have new models and have the potential to lead the entire zkSync Era ecosystem to develop.
Bridge TVL
ZkSync Era is one of the 4 Layer 2s with the highest TVL, it ranks behind Arbitrum, Optimism and Base. ZkSync Era has more than 300 hundred million dollars of TVL locked in bridges such as Stargate, Orbiter, zkSync Bridge,… Among emerging Layer 2s, zkSync Era only loses to Base because Base is an ecosystem supported by Coinbase Exchange and it has a very good ecosystem building strategy with many new projects.
Volume
In terms of daily transaction volume on each Layer 2 platform or ecosystem, zkSync Era reached 84 million dollars. This figure exceeds Optimism with $13 million, Base with $26 million. And zkSync Era is just behind Layer 2 Layer 2 Arbitrum with more than $200 million in transactions per day.
Through this index we can see that users are using zkSync Era a lot. I think this comes from the motivation to plow Airdrop and users often use DEX and Swap exchanges many times.
DApps
The zkSync Era ecosystem has nearly 300 development projects, of which the DeFi, Infrastructure, and NFT segments have the most projects. With such a large ecosystem, zkSync Era has great potential for future development. But currently, zkSync Era is developing old models, many projects provide basic products and do not have many outstanding points to lead a new trend or a certain niche.
ZkSync Era has a large DeFi ecosystem with nearly 80 active projects. There are enough pieces and important products in the DeFi segment. Among them, SyncSwap is the project with the highest TVL and DEX is also the niche with the most development projects.
TPS
The recent ZkSync Era has transaction processing speeds as fast as Ethereum. This is a remarkable development, previously Layer 2 had a TPS that was lower than Ethereum’s while its purpose was to solve Ethereum’s speed problem.
zkSync Era’s transaction processing speed far exceeds Arbitrum or Optimism. But zkSync Era has a lower TPS than Base, while Base still uses Optimistic technology. However, this is only the beginning stage of technology, Layer 2 is continuing to build and develop technology to meet future market needs.
Fees
It is normal for ZkSync Era or StarkNet to have higher transaction fees than other Layer 2s because zk proof takes more implementation costs, but it has higher security. Specifically, transferring ETH on the zkSync Era network will cost about $0.07, while making a transaction will cost about $0.19.
Updates Around zkSync Era
zkSync Era has had many rapid changes in recent times, including:
- March 24, 2023: ZkSync officially launched the zkSync Era mainnet, a network with an EVM-compatible execution environment, also known as zkEVM.
- July 17, 2023: ZkSync introduces the Boojum upgrade, with this upgrade zkSync will use both SNARK and STARK proof technology to increase negotiation throughput and transaction speed, aiming for a decentralized Sequencer network .
- August 1, 2023: zkSync launches toolkit ZK Stack for Layer 2 or Layer 3 development using zkRollup technology. In addition, these Layer 2 and Layer 3 are called Hyperchain and they have the ability to connect to each other via Hyperbridge.
- August 11, 2023: Bybit Announcement of ETH deposit and withdrawal support on zkSync Era network.
- September 7, 2023: Binance Announcement of ETH deposit and withdrawal support on zkSync Era network.
Updates Around the zkSync Era Ecosystem
SyncSwap
In April 2023, SyncSwap officially launched its loyalty program,The loyalty program aims to encourage trading and help maximize profits for traders.
Traders will be rewarded with ySYNC non-transferable SyncSwap Loyalty Tokens. Based on volume, the more transaction fees generated, the more rewards. Earned YSYNC can be converted into veSYNC tokens periodically. You will automatically receive 1 ySYNC for every 1 USD in transaction fees generated.
Besides, SyncSwap also launches products Aqua Pool on the testnet network. This product takes advantage of multi-pool technology, tCentralized liquidity (CL) for super efficiency, auto-rebalancing for great user experience, dynamic fees with less IL and higher APR.
Maverick Protocol
Maverick announces a $9 million strategic funding round to expand its ecosystem and realize its vision of improving efficiency across the industry. This round has the participation of Coinbase, Founder Fund, Binance Labs, Pentera Capital,… Besides, Maverick also launched the Maverick ecosystem incentive program. The project also announced MAV’s Token allocation and Airdrop program for the community.
Mavrick also announced a partnership with LayerZero, specifically the MAV Token uses LayerZero’s Omnichain OFT Token standard to be able to put the MAV Token on chains that Maverick Protocol supports such as Ethereum, Base, zkSync Era, BNB Chain. It can be seen that Mavrick also aims to become an Omnichain Token and it is clear that the development team’s Maverick Wars ambition is to take place on many different Blockchains.
The MAV Staking page officially operates, allowing users to Stake MAV Tokens to receive veMAV which can be used for administration, participating in the bribery market, and distributing MAV Tokens. This is one of the factors driving the explosion of Maverick Wars.
Currently, the Maverick Wars has begun but it doesn’t seem to be as exciting as initially imagined. A name that often loses in battles is currently leading the way, Stake DAO, holding nearly 30% of the total MAV supply floating in the market. Selling closely behind is the Spiral platform with a holding of 27.8% and finally Unlock with a holding of less than 10%.
zkSync Era Ecosystem Projection
ZkSync Era is the most successful zkEVM ecosystem at the moment. It has many projects under construction and development in many different areas. Therefore, the potential of zkSync Era will become one of the most prominent Layer 2 on Ethereum.
The technological potential of zkSync is undeniable. As Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, once said zkRollup technology will be the future of Layer 2. Because it is more secure and will be much faster. Although it is not simple or offers cheap transaction fees or low EVM compatibility.
Another potential that zkSync Era has is the ability to issue Tokens and Airdrops to the community. This is also a huge attraction to the community compared to Polygon zkEVM. Although receiving Airdrop is not guaranteed, users still voluntarily use the network. Actually, in the uptrend, the Airdrop strategy for the community will not be effective, but when the market is difficult like now, Airdrop is very attractive and brings a good source of income for players.
zkSync Era’s ecosystem lacks projects with new models, capable of leading a trend or a certain segment. As in previous articles, I mentioned this issue quite a lot. An ecosystem in this season does not simply need enough pieces or infrastructure to attract users, but also needs to have products that meet real needs or the best products on the market to attract new users. use.
It looks like zkSync Era is focusing on support for Maverick, a new AMM that has good support for LST assets. But haven’t seen other projects related to LSDfi developing around. zkSync’s technology is not really mature yet and the ecosystem does not have outstanding products.
With ZK Stack, zkSync’s Hyperchain development kit that supports Layer 2 and Layer 3 development will be the choice for many large development projects. When there are large projects and good products, the zkSync Era ecosystem is easier to reach users.
Summary
The zkSync Era ecosystem is one of the potential Layer 2 ecosystems with a technology platform and scalability with Hyperchain as well as the potential to launch Tokens in the near future. However, the ecosystem does not have projects that will be a breakthrough or difference compared to other ecosystems.
