Can an underdog emerge from the ZK-Rollups camp?
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Can an underdog emerge from the ZK-Rollups camp?
In the zkRollups space, Matter Labs and StarkWare are competing with each other.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights
By CoinMix Global Research
Introduction:
After a surge in user activity, Ethereum has faced issues such as network congestion and high transaction fees. On its roadmap, the Ethereum team has chosen Rollup-based solutions for scalability.
However, not all Rollup solutions are the same. In early 2021, Polygon attracted significant attention but also caused some community members to leave due to its origins. Other major Rollup mechanisms include Optimistic Rollups and zkRollups (zero-knowledge proof-based). This article focuses primarily on zkRollups.
In the zkRollups space, Matter Labs and StarkWare are competing head-to-head. Matter Labs offers zkSync 1.0 and zkSync 2.0, while StarkWare provides StarkEx and StarkNet.
Before diving into these solutions, let's first understand how Rollups work:
As an Ethereum scalability solution, Rollups bundle and compress transactions off-chain before submitting them to Ethereum for verification. By verifying multiple transactions at once, Rollups improve network efficiency and significantly increase transaction throughput—scaling Ethereum’s capacity from around 15 TPS to over 3,000 TPS—while relying on Ethereum’s underlying security.
Compared to Layer 1 (L1), zkRollups benefit from stronger economies of scale. While Ethereum’s L1 struggles with rising costs and slower speeds under increased usage, zkRollups become more cost-efficient as more users join, aligning perfectly with their scalability goals.
One key advantage of zkRollups over Optimistic Rollups is privacy through zero-knowledge proofs—allowing one party to prove something to another without revealing any additional information. Not all zkRollups utilize this privacy feature, but the potential is there.
We now turn to an overview of the main players in the zk ecosystem
I. The StarkWare Ecosystem:
1) StarkEx
StarkWare launched StarkEx in June 2020, supporting general-purpose smart contracts. Developers can leverage the benefits of zkRollups to deploy applications, offering users an experience similar to native Ethereum.
To date, StarkEx has processed over 43 million transactions. With widespread adoption across dApps, StarkEx achieves transaction speeds exceeding 9,000 TPS, surpassing 18,000 TPS for simple transfers—nearly 600x more scalable than Ethereum. StarkEx also features SHARP (Shared Prover), which aggregates transaction batches from multiple apps into a single batch submitted to Ethereum, improving efficiency.
However, because Rollups ultimately post data to Ethereum, their gas costs remain subject to Ethereum’s fluctuations. To address this, StarkWare introduced Validium—a system that stores data availability off-chain, further reducing costs for apps and users.
Unlike zkRollups, where data is stored on-chain, Validium moves data off-chain, enabling higher throughput. Applications like dYdX, Immutable X, DeversiFi, and Sorare have adopted StarkEx. Notably, dYdX uses zkRollup (on-chain data availability), while DeversiFi, Immutable X, and Sorare opt for Validium (off-chain data availability).
Validium drastically reduces fees: Immutable X enables zero-gas NFT minting and trading, compared to $20–$50 on Ethereum. Similarly, DeversiFi built on Validium charges $0 per trade.
2) StarkNet
Beyond StarkEx, StarkWare developed StarkNet—an advanced zkRollup iteration now live in Alpha on mainnet. StarkNet’s standout feature is full composability: applications can interact and integrate seamlessly, unlike StarkEx, which lacks cross-app composability.
StarkNet’s testnet launched in June 2021 with support for general smart contracts, adding composability two months later. Deployment on StarkNet is permissionless—as long as developers use the compatible compiler (Cairo), anyone can launch apps.
Applications on StarkNet have expanded beyond DeFi into developer tools and infrastructure. As more dApps deploy, interconnectivity within the ecosystem is expected to grow rapidly.
II. The Matter Labs Ecosystem
1) zkSync 1.0
zkSync 1.0, Matter Labs’ first zkRollup scaling solution, shares the low-fee advantage of other zkRollups but stands out by allowing transaction fees to be paid in any token—not just a single native token. Fees can be as low as $0.20.
So far, zkSync 1.0 has processed around 6 million transactions with a TVL of approximately $26 million. Compared to StarkEx, it still has room to grow in TPS, transaction volume, and total value locked. In July last year, zkSync added NFT functionality, including minting and trading.
2) zkSync 2.0
Matter Labs’ next flagship product, zkSync 2.0, aims to achieve full composability of smart contracts—similar to StarkNet. Its testnet launched in October 2021. Notably, Curve Finance, an investor in zkSync, was among the first to deploy on the network. zkSync 2.0 also introduced zkEVM TestNet, designed to enable Ethereum-compatible smart contracts on zkRollups. UniSync has already completed deployment on this testnet, surpassing 600,000 transactions.
However, zkEVM remains in a closed test phase—only whitelisted developer teams can participate.
zkSync 2.0 will also introduce zkPorter, similar to StarkEx’s Validium. zkPorter allows users to store transaction data off Ethereum’s PoS chain, dramatically increasing throughput. Since zkPorter transactions bypass Ethereum gas fees, they are expected to offer a much cheaper alternative.
III. Conclusion
Regarding proof mechanisms, although zkRollups technically outperform Optimistic Rollups in verification speed, withdrawal times from zkRollups to L1 can be longer when transaction volumes are low—due to delays in filling blockchain blocks—potentially extending withdrawals to several hours.
Within the zkRollups landscape, both StarkWare and Matter Labs are deeply invested in advancing zero-knowledge proof-based scaling for Ethereum. While StarkNet may currently lag behind zkSync in certain aspects of security, zkSync still needs greater user adoption to match StarkWare’s progress in transaction volume and value locked.
Although StarkNet is still in testing, its application ecosystem shows early signs of vibrancy. Among existing zkRollup networks, StarkEx already hosts popular and efficient applications such as dYdX, DeversiFi, Immutable X, and Sorare.
On the front of general-purpose composable smart contracts, StarkNet appears to have taken an early lead. Meanwhile, zkSync has made strides with its zkEVM testnet, enabling compatibility with Ethereum smart contracts. Both ecosystems share a common strategy: splitting on-chain and off-chain data availability—StarkWare via Validium and Matter Labs via zkPorter—to reduce reliance on Ethereum’s expensive transaction fees.
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