- what it is
- how zk-rollups compare with other rollup types
- the competitive landscape for zk-rollup creators
And who really was first 😉
2/ A Layer-2 rollup is a way to batch user transactions together for cheaper gas costs while preserving most of the security guarantees of Ethereum mainnet.
Two main types: optimistic rollups & zk rollups
3/ Optimistic rollups such as Optimism & Arbitrum publish periodic state roots to mainnet, and rely on fraud proofs to ensure state is honest
ZK rollups such as Loopring & Starkware publish state roots to mainnet, but also include cryptographic proofs of validity
4/ ZK rollups are generally preferred for their stronger guarantees, but they're technically challenging. Developers have to write custom "circuits" in esoteric programming languages. Even tiny changes to functionality can require massive changes to the underlying circuit.
5/ This is the problem that zk-rollups like Loopring and Starkware have run into. While theoretically powerful, they're so complex that few devs can build on top of them.
So the holy grail: what if you could run arbitrary Solidity code on a zk-rollup? This is called the zkEVM 🤯
6/ Let's walk through the competitive market landscape, and call out recent bizdev marketing shenanigans
10/ Loopring runs a zk-rollup, but it is not a zkEVM. It is purpose-built to handle a specific subset of activities such as token transfers and dex trades.
11/ Starkware runs a zk-rollup, but it is not a zkEVM. Developers must write custom logic using Cairo instead of Solidity.
12/ Setting aside who was "first", it's clear that the zkEVM holy grail is close! This is incredible news, the competition among multiple quality teams will only push innovation along faster.
13/ What does this mean for you, a nontechnical user?
Cheaper gas, more rollup options, and more apps on your favorite rollup.
Spot prices may have bull and bear markets, but technical innovation is up only 🔥
Hundreds of millions of dollars are now flowing out of FTX wallets, some speculate liquidators but it's late on a friday night, not typical times for such rapid heavy movements. Some withdrawals are being swapped from Tether to DAI. Hack or insider actions? $26 million here
After swapping USDT for DAI (more censorship-resistant?), they just swapped $44 million of stETH for ETH, eating huge slippage. This is super sketchy, no liquidator would be taking actions like this
somebody on BNB just got hacked for ~2 million BNB ($600 million USD)
the attacker is spewing funds across liquidity pools and utilizing every bridge they can to get to safer chains
complete chaos on the chain
is this diversification
Tether blacklisted the account, so hack confirmed. I'm sure Circle's intern will wake up tomorrow morning and get around to it after enjoying a relaxing breakfast spread