State of Scaling Issue 9: Summary of zkSync 2.0

In this issue of State of Scaling (SoS), we will cover some of the notable improvements made by zkSync 2.0 and the corresponding implications. zkSync 2.0 has been in development for over two years, first introduced in August 2020. Over the course of the past two years, Matter Labs went through various pivots, which delayed the development of zkSync 2.0. There was initially a great deal of focus on the development of zkPorter, a data availability framework, and Zinc, a validity proof generation-optimized language initially, but that quickly changed to building a zkEVM solution.

While zkSync 2.0 may have been slow to ship, building a zkEVM also introduces significant technical challenges, which have been covered in an earlier research piece. As such, it is to be expected that zkSync 2.0’s zkEVM solution will take some time. Comparatively, the closest competitor on the market, Polygon zkEVM (prev. Hermez), is also currently in its testnet phase. Practically speaking, given current market conditions, there could be an argument to be made that zkSync is now better positioned to capture the hype and attention in the next bull market instead.