zkSync 2.0 Adventure: Which Projects Are Worth Trying?
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
zkSync 2.0 Adventure: Which Projects Are Worth Trying?
zkSync 2.0 has launched its testnet—the first EVM-compatible ZK Rollup solution. How will it differ from Ethereum and other L2s? Join an exciting ecosystem adventure now.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsOriginal title: Rolling Up for ChainExploration
Author: Mycelia
Translation: iambabywhale.eth, Foresight News
If you've seriously used Ethereum's mainnet, you know gas fees are a bottleneck. Gas fees are payments to miners who provide computational power to execute transactions—every action in a smart contract, whether transferring funds, computing, or recording data on-chain, requires gas.
Mainstream protocols on Ethereum—from Uniswap to OpenSea—have driven explosive growth in on-chain activity over the past year, but this has worsened the user experience for average users. When I borrowed $300 on Aave-v1 to complete a Rabbithole quest, at certain times the gas fee alone could cost me $500.
Matter Labs, the team behind zkSync, offers a solution that’s equally secure but far cheaper
zkSync v2—zkSync 2.0—has launched on Ethereum’s Goerli testnet, open for exploration and stress testing. zkSync v1 went live on Ethereum mainnet in mid-2020, securely and nearly trustlessly processing millions of transactions at a fraction of the cost. The cryptographic breakthrough enabling this exciting innovation is called zero-knowledge proofs, which we’ll explore in part two. This scalability solution is known as Zero-Knowledge Rollups (ZKRs). Let’s see what ZKRs offer to those unwilling to spend $50 in gas to transfer $20 worth of ETH.
"The v2 Adventure"
Test on the Goerli testnet—switch to Goerli via advanced settings in MetaMask or within Rainbow Wallet’s settings.
How to get Goerli test tokens
You can ask around online, or connect to zkPortal (Wallet 2.0) to receive small amounts of test tokens. These tokens are worthless, and recently their faucet seems to have dried up. Alternatively, try Mudit's faucet—you’ll find many such options with a quick search.
A generous user on zkSync’s Discord sent me test tokens—but really, all they wanted was my wallet address.
Mute Switch
Mute Switch is a fully functional automated market maker (AMM), offering L2 asset overview and standard AMM features: token swapping, liquidity provision (LP), and fee mining—users can stake LP tokens to earn trading fee incentives. Mute Switch’s UX closely resembles Uniswap and SushiSwap. For yield opportunities, consider waiting until mainnet launch before engaging.
zkScan
Inspired by Etherscan, zkScan is not only clean and intuitive but adds practical enhancements: real-time block data, average block time, total transactions, total blocks, total wallet addresses, plus live ETH price, market cap, and historical price charts.
Onramps (Fiat Ingress)
Onramps remain the critical first step for entering crypto. Despite controversy, they empower people with choices in how they spend. Banxa, Ramp Network, UTORG, and MoonPay are listed by Matter Labs as compatible with zkSync. Soon, users will convert fiat directly into L2 tokens, saving L1 gas fees. Simply link your bank account and wait briefly to complete the onboarding.
zkEVM Protocol Development
An ecosystem’s health depends on nutrients and diversity. Blockchains thrive through protocols—numerous collaborations, experiments, and integrations spark beneficial reactions.
zkSync 2.0 is the first EVM-compatible ZKR, built atop zkEVM. Committed to Solidity-first principles, Matter Labs plans to later develop Zinc, a native framework for zkSync once Solidity support opens.
Developers interested in ecosystem exploration should consult the developer documentation.
Ethereum mainnet hosts dozens of core DeFi protocols, hundreds of NFT contracts, and thousands of test contracts—including Aave, Chainlink, ENS, The Graph, Lens, Mirror, Orca, Rabbithole, Tally, Uniswap, Yearn, Zora, and more. If you'd like to port any of these to zkEVM, contact existing teams or seek help in the zkSync Discord.
v1 HyperWay
zkSync has operated for over a year and a half, currently ranking third lowest in L2 transaction fees—transfers and trades cost 18x and 41x less than on mainnet, respectively.
Wallet v1, developed within Onramps, includes a native mainnet bridge allowing users to move funds from Ethereum L1 to zkSync L2. Future updates may include balance checking and wallet-to-wallet transfers.
Checkout
If you’ve donated during any of the past four Gitcoin Grants rounds, you likely transferred via zkSync—with 98% of those donations routed through zkSync’s rollup, a significant metric demonstrating its gas efficiency.
Checkout enables sending funds to 20 different recipients at once. Using the SDK, you can add up to 70 additional customizable transactions.
Grant programs worldwide can use Checkout to build near-zero-cost, instant, and secure payment channels, boosting efficiency and transparency.
Mint DNA
Wallet v1 allows minting your own Digital Native Asset (DNA) NFTs, provided you supply a unique content identifier hosted on IPFS.
Here, I’d like to highlight XEDRA’s guide—the most comprehensive one I’ve read—on creating music DNA on Polygon. The guide applies to any DNA and will ease concerns about your first mint. While security and ownership of funds on Polygon raise valid concerns, it remains one of the cheapest and most scalable options.
Admittedly, no technology is foolproof against ever-evolving piracy techniques—so don’t push your luck.
The DNA minting process can be improved—for instance, using Polygon-native NFT platforms like Showtime makes it seamless. Uploads to IPFS happen automatically, and you can set edition size, price, royalties, and more. Mirror offers similar functionality. Excited to see progress here.
ZigZag
ZigZag is zkSync’s version of dYdX, featuring price charts, order books, buy/sell orders, position creation/closure volumes, liquidation data—all executed with a single click.
Orbiter
Bridges are to liquidity what waterways are to commerce. Orbiter currently supports cross-chain transfers of ETH and USDC between Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and zkSync. Not much more to say—cross-chain interoperability is cool, but bridges carry risks. Do your own research.
Other Ways to Participate
zkDAO
On January 6, 2022, Matter Labs submitted a proposal to BitDAO proposing a $200 million investment into zkSync to “accelerate mass adoption of crypto and achieve financial sovereignty.” The proposal passed. The $200 million will be disbursed in five tranches of $40 million each, with subsequent releases contingent on milestones and governance votes.
Allocation details:
1) Grants: 7.5% — Funding public goods and infrastructure development
Additional tools for L1-to-L2 migration
(Retrospective) grant programs requiring proposals
zkSync-native tools supporting ZKR applications
2) Security/Audits: 7.5% — Supporting development of high-security instances and frameworks
Reducing complexity of L1-to-L2 migration
Establishing consensus and building universal security standards
Events, workshops, hackathons connecting security experts and community members
3) Strategic Investments: 70% — Deploying strategic investments using industry expertise
Supporting vertical projects through bootstrapping, nurturing, and community backing across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, payments, privacy, interoperability, oracles, data management, analytics, file storage, airdrops, DAOs, digital identity, and social
Once tool security matures, capital will be deployed for liquidity provision, staking, and reinvestment of returns
4) R&D: 5%
Research in zero-knowledge cryptography and related hardware fields
5) Education: 5%
Developer training on scalability: security, computation, data availability
Workshops and events advancing tech, plus educational outreach in broader business and community settings
6) Operations: 5%
Compliance, governance setup, salaries, and other operational costs
Additionally, minor allocations go to project steering committees and investment representatives. The DAO treasury will be managed via Gnosis Safe.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
