zkSync Era Surpasses $500 Million in TVL

Matter Labs’ zkSync Era, a zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup solution designed to enhance Ethereum’s scalability, continues to attract significant capital. The platform recently reached a major milestone, with its total value locked (TVL) surpassing $500 million.

This achievement reflects a remarkable 12% increase in just one week, according to data from L2Beat, a leading source of information on layer 2 scaling solutions.

As zkSync Era gains momentum, it solidifies its position as the third-largest rollup platform, trailing only Arbitrum and Optimism in terms of total value locked.

Rapid Growth of zkSync Era

With Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility and native account abstraction, zkSync Era offers an effective scaling solution while retaining compatibility with the Ethereum network.

Currently, over 220,000 ETH (equivalent to approximately $378.3 million), around 121 million USDC, and 14.43 million MUTE (worth $7.53 million) are locked on zkSync.

Notably, MUTE serves as the native cryptocurrency of Mute, a zkRollup-based decentralized exchange. The rising number of daily active addresses, averaging 175,000 over the past four weeks, further demonstrates the growing adoption of zkSync Era, which was launched in March 2023.

Liquid Staking and Ethereum Improvement Proposal

Recently, the integration of liquid staking solution Rocketpool on zkSync Era highlighted the increasing number of decentralized applications (dApps) transitioning to layer 2 platforms.

This trend is driven in part by Ethereum core developers’ focus on implementing Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4844. EIP 4844 introduces a new transaction type that accepts data “blobs,” effectively reducing transaction fees on rollups.

The prioritization of EIP 4844 in Ethereum’s upcoming Cancun/Deneb upgrade emphasizes the long-term scalability of Ethereum and the need for dApps to migrate their operations to cost-effective rollups.

ZK Rollups on the Rise

In addition to zkSync Era’s success, other ZK rollups such as Starknet and Polygon zkEVM are also experiencing substantial activity.

Observers are speculating about an upcoming “Zk season,” a term in crypto market slang indicating a period when ZK rollups outperform other sectors by a significant margin.