How will zkSync respond to the fierce competition in Layer2?

Haotian

23-12-13 15:30

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Original author: Haotian

Before Blast launched a vampire-style "attack", and after Starknet launched the Tokenomics strategy to stimulate, although zkSync officials still appear calm, from the overall environment of technology progress, competitive environment, market situation, and community expectations, zkSync has to make some "changes" passively. Next, I will share my personal judgment:

Short-term speaking, Blast, this "pseudo Layer2", has indeed brought vitality to the entire Layer2 market. From the TVL data, zkSync has bid farewell to the downward trend and steadily increased to nearly 600 million US dollars. Other Layer2 platforms, such as Linea, Mantle, Scroll, Aevo, etc., have also seen an overall increase in data.

This indicates that Blast is not a vampire but more like a catfish, giving a large number of Layer2 newcomers, especially zkSync, the power of "awakening"; after all, with a halo on their heads, the longer they do nothing, the more they will be subject to corresponding backlash.

2) Originally, it was expected that the technology of zkSync would gradually open up key components such as the Sequencer, Prover, Validator, etc. As originally planned, this would be a necessary condition for zkSync to issue tokens.

Now, looking at it, the technological progress of ZK-Rollup no longer has the "Drive" force on the market. It is highly likely that zkSync will no longer promote technological breakthroughs as its core selling point, but will instead focus on tackling the "ecosystem" challenge.

The market has become desensitized to the technical narrative of ZK-Rollup and OP-Rollup, and few people care whether OP-Rollup has truly faced Battle-tested challenges or whether Sequencer is decentralized. Correspondingly, the advantages that ZK-Rollup is proud of, such as the precision of its Prover system and the equivalence of EVM, can only be silenced in the face of a bleak market and ecosystem.

3) In terms of ecology, the subdivision ecology of zkSync is far more urgent than the official one. As mentioned before, zkSync will and must do its best to support the emergence of a king-level Derivative platform. Now, it seems that the Derivatives track is gradually becoming lively.

After a month, Holdstation couldn't resist and launched a Token incentive program. As a result, its Derivatives daily trading volume has increased to over 20M, with the highest APY reaching 69%, and 30-day fees reaching $200,000. Its Tokenomics is forming a Gas subsidy for users, attracting users to trade, accumulating more fees, and subsidizing more users in a Flywheel model.

Personally, I am impressed that Holdstation relies on AA account abstract wallet and uses the core Paymaster+Batch transaction function to provide gas subsidies to platform users. This idea is similar to the token rebate strategy that Starknet, which is about to issue tokens, will implement.

In fact, the Paymaster function in the account abstraction feature is naturally advantageous for implementing a series of operational incentive strategies, which seems to be very beneficial for addressing the problem of insufficient activity in the ZK-Rollup ecosystem.

Anyway, when the entire zkSync ecosystem was dominated by DEX and the ecosystem was lifeless, the Holdstation team tried to revitalize the situation through self-reliance, which was quite ambitious. Coincidentally, this may be the beginning of the zkSync ecosystem's "rising up", as Binance-supported Derivio+zkSync's layer3 application chain GRVT may be brewing a good show?

4) As analyzed earlier, both Starknet and zkSync belong to the category of comprehensive ZK-Rollups aimed at scaling. Starknet is facing a dilemma, and zkSync is no exception. Therefore, the airdrop market effect of Starknet will directly determine the standards and timing of zkSync's airdrop.

zkSync's various data indicators seem to be quite "successful", but Alex didn't appear very confident when he said this in the podcast. This is because he is well aware that at least half of zkSync's current data is due to the efforts of "miners", and people's willingness to pay gas fees is also based on the expectation of airdrops.

And zkSync has only given the controversial market a "magic lamp". In my opinion, zkSync's airdrop standards will definitely not be limited to just the magic lamp. In its multiple interviews and tweets, it seems to imply the value trend of zkSync: whether it is increasing layer2 users?

zkSync uses transparent account abstraction to reduce user barriers, and uses NFT gameplay to expand the community, such as Pudgy Penguins. Recently, members of Matter Labs have frequently spoken out about AA account abstraction, all seemingly pointing to a possibility: Could the wallet usage of AA account abstraction be a possible airdrop criteria?

Because the fundamental value of layer2 compared to layer1 is expansion, if layer2 is only a place for layer1 players to come and play with Lego, the sense of existence of such layer2 will be weak. If Starknet's airdrop can activate the market with sustained user rebates, I guess zkSync will probably follow this Tokenomics strategy.

5) Recently, zkSync completed the Boojum upgrade quietly, while integrating STARK and SNARK proofs (consistent with my earliest analysis). The direct result is that in the past 30 days, zkSync's gas fees have significantly decreased by about 30%, already reaching the same level as Arbitrum. zkSync originally had an advantage in user experience, and the recent decrease in gas fees will further allow it to gain a wider range of users and traffic.

In fact, according to Dune data, the recent active addresses and TXS of zkSync have significantly increased. For users, the decrease in gas fees will indeed affect the interaction power, but some official series of activities related to potential and airdrop expectations may be more directly effective, right?

Believe it or not, zkSync will have a certain layout in community activities.

Above.

Overall, zkSync has been stable on the throne of ZK-Rollup for more than half a year since its mainnet launch, and even its market expectations are higher than Starknet. However, being in the spotlight for a long time has also brought huge public opinion burdens and pressures. Faced with the rapidly changing layer2 market, zkSync must continue to evolve and adapt in order to keep up.

Note*: The projects mentioned in the article are not investment advice. Please exercise caution and careful analysis when making investment decisions.