veDAO Research Institute: Inventory of 12 popular ZK track Alphas that have not issued coins

特邀专栏作者

2023-03-31 07:00

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Due to the experience of the two major infrastructure airdrops of OP and ARB, many people believe that zkSync has reserved a one-year "airdrop" window period for the industry. Therefore, the veDAO Research Institute has compiled 12 projects tha

Recently, Arbitrum once again ignited the Layer 2 narrative due to the release of airdrops. On the OP Rollup, the two major tracks, optimism and Arbitrum, landed one after another, and brought a huge wealth effect. ZK track, another main force of L2 narrative, has become one of the most concerned objects in the current industry. In fact, from the perspective of landing prospects, although ZK Rollup is much more difficult than OP Rollup, its development prospects will be broader than OP Rollup.

After all, the development of OP Rollup is only aimed at the ERC category, and there is a limitation of being a dojo in a screw shell. However, ZK Rollup can provide assistance to fields outside the scope of ERC, and even the realization of zero-knowledge proof can help the trust proof of the entire real society, which is more practical.

On March 24, Matter Labs CEO Gluchowski said in an interview with The Block that zkSync will realize the decentralization of the sequencer (release Token) in about a year.

Due to the experience of the two major infrastructure airdrops of OP and ARB, many people believe that zkSync has reserved a one-year "airdrop" window for the industry. Therefore, the veDAO Research Institute has compiled 12 projects that have not yet issued Tokens in the current ZK track in the industry, which may provide some foresight for the 2024 halving cycle and the wealth expectations under the outbreak of the ZK ecosystem.

ZK is the endgame?

First, we need to have a simple understanding of zk:

Zero-knowledge proof (English: zero-knowledge proof) or zero-knowledge protocol (zero-knowledge protocol) is a method for one party (prover) to prove a proposition to the other party (verifier), which is characterized in that "the proposition is true" Except for the matter, no information will be disclosed. Therefore, it can be understood as "proof of zero disclosure". For example, if you want to prove to others that you have certain information, you can directly disclose the information, but in this way, the details will also be leaked; the essence of zero-knowledge proof lies in how to prove that you have the information without revealing the content of the information. This is also the difficulty of zero-knowledge proofs.

for example:

A house, doors and windows are all locked with a code. At the gate, Alice wants to enter the room but does not know the password;
After seeing it, Bob tells Alice that he knows the password of the gate and window, and if Alice needs it, he can sell it to her for $100;
Alice doubts the authenticity of Bob's password, unless Bob informs Alice of the password in advance and is verified by Alice. After the verification is successful, Alice will pay Bob $100;
Bob is worried that after the password is shared, his information will no longer be unique and will lose value, so he makes a suggestion;
Alice stands 20 meters away from the door, Bob opens the door first, enters the room and opens the window;
As long as Alice sees the window open, it proves that the password Bob has is real and valid;
And Bob doesn't have to worry about the password losing value because of sharing in advance.

During the whole process, neither Bob's verification behavior nor Alice's confirmation behavior caused the password to be leaked.

This logic is the foundation of zero-knowledge proofs. Zero-knowledge proofs have gained traction in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space because of the growing need for privacy and security in digital transactions. With the rise of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, people increasingly need a way to verify transactions without revealing sensitive information, and ZKP can meet this demand.

The technology is increasingly important for improving the privacy and security of blockchain, cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi). Many DeFi projects have applied ZKP to services such as lending and trading to provide users with better privacy and security. Many Layer 1 blockchains are adding ZKP-based rollups or the Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM). As the adoption rate of zero-knowledge proof applications increases, it is expected to play an increasingly important role in the blockchain and Web3 fields. At the 2022 Developer Conference (DevCon), more than 20% of the discussions revolved around zero-knowledge proof technology, indicating that the technology is very popular.

ZK Prospects:

In fact, with the popularity of the concept of zero-knowledge proof, more and more DeFi products have begun to accept and use this new technology. In particular, zk Rollup, together with OP Rollup, has become the preferred layer-2 network solution for Ethereum expansion. By using Rollup, users can reduce gas bills by up to 100x compared to a layer-1 network.

Compared with OP Rollup, its advantages are: higher security, more time-sensitive transaction confirmation, TPS and transaction cost are significantly better than OP Rollup; but its disadvantage is that it is not easy to be compatible with EVM.

Currently, zero-knowledge proofs are widely used in the following tracks:

Authentication: Zero-knowledge proofs can be used to authenticate users without revealing any sensitive personal information.
Credit records: Users can selectively present their own credit records to the other party. On the one hand, they can selectively present the record scores that meet the requirements of the other party, and at the same time prove the authenticity of the credit records.
Decentralized storage: Servers can prove to users that their data is being kept safe without revealing any specifics of the data.
Anonymous governance: voters are allowed to vote and can be verified, but the identity of the voter will not be revealed.
Transaction confidentiality: By using the encrypted currency of ZK technology, the sender and receiver addresses and transaction amount can be shielded from the public blockchain, which improves the privacy of user transactions.
Compliance: Some countries have strict regulations on collecting and sharing financial information, and decentralized platforms may find it difficult to comply with these regulations. Zero-knowledge proofs can be used to share required information with regulators while keeping it secret from other parties.

For a long time, the ZK track has been given a very high expected return on wealth by the market. This is not only because the realization of the second-tier network of Ethereum will greatly help the industry, but also because the global supervision is becoming increasingly stringent, and because of various black swans such as the financial crisis and bank thunderstorms, users are increasingly concerned about the centralized financial world. deepening mistrust. A sound and reliable identity and information verification concept based on a decentralized network has been paid more and more attention. So that the important products of the ZK track, such as zkSnyc, StarkNet, LayerZero, Arbitrum, and SuiNetwork, are called the most popular empty bids in 2023/24.

More information:

project

zkSync

Official website:https://zksync.io/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/zksync

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

zkSync is a 2-chain that uses ZK rollup technology to solve Ethereum's current scalability issues. Developed by Matter Labs since 2019, the chain is currently in Baby alpha stage, undergoing internal mainnet testing.

zkSync stands out by several features including low transaction costs (few cents per transaction) using ZK SNARK technology, security benefiting from Ethereum’s security, and decentralization. zkSync also offers interoperability thanks to its V2 launch in February 2022, making it the first EVM-compatible ZK-Rollup, an achievement that should have taken years.

zkSync focuses on 5 main Ethereum-related properties:

as a general agreement;
EVM compatibility;
Gas fees paid in ETH;
More information:

Aleo

Official website:https://www.aleo.org/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/AleoHQ

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

Aleo is the first decentralized open source platform to support private and programmable applications. By opting out of privacy by default, Aleo enables a sustainable and fair Web3 world that meets the needs of developers, consumers and enterprises.

More information:

StarkWare

Official website:https://starkware.co/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/StarkWareLtd

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

StarkWare protects blockchain privacy data by utilizing concise zero-knowledge proof technology, which can be used for applications ranging from verifiable computing to privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies. The purpose of StarkWare is to bring transparent privacy and scalability to the blockchain. StarkWare is working to leverage STARK technology to improve two factors that are critical in the blockchain world: scalability and privacy. Its role is not only to promote the use of STARK technology, but also to provide "zero-knowledge, concise, transparent, obvious, and secure" cryptographic proofs.

StarkWare will develop a complete verification stack: software and hardware to support the fast and reliable generation and verification of computational integrity proofs for general computing. It reports the first implementation of a transparent ZK system (ZK-STARK), where verification scales much faster than the database scale.

More information:

Aztec Network

Official website:https://aztec.network/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/aztecnetwork

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

Aztec Network is positioned as a private ZK Rollup based on Ethereum, aiming to help users access Dapps in the Ethereum ecosystem privately and efficiently. The project has currently launched two main products, one is zk.money, a privacy transfer protocol based on Aztec Rollup, and the other is Aztec Connect, a privacy bridge linking Ethereum Dapps and Aztec Rollup.

Relying on zk.money and Aztec Connect, users can freely transfer funds without revealing their own information (address, funds, etc.), and securely access multiple mainstream DeFi protocols such as Lido, Element, Aave, Compound, and Uniswap.

It is worth noting: On March 13 this year, Aztec Network announced that it will gradually shut down its DeFi privacy bridge project Aztec Connect, and will disable depositing funds into Aztec from zk.money and other front-ends (such as zkpay.finance) a week later. Connect contract.

In the future, the team will focus on two new major products:

Noir, a general-purpose development language that supports zero-knowledge proofs;
More information:

Scroll

Official website:https://scroll.io/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/Scroll_ZKP

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

More information:

zkLend

Official website:https://zklend.com/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/zkLend

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

zkLend is a money market protocol that combines zk-rollup scalability, superior transaction speed, and cost savings with the security of Ethereum. zkLend is an L2 money market protocol built on StarkNet that combines the scalability of zk-rollup with the security of Ethereum, enabling participants to efficiently earn interest on deposits and seamlessly borrow assets. The zend token issued by Zklend will have three major functions: 1. Preferential borrowing rate; 2. Improving borrowing capacity; and 3. Governance participation.

More information:

Mint Square

Official website:https://mintsquare.io/starknet

Twitter:https://twitter.com/MintSquareNFT

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

Mint Square is an NFT platform on ETH Layer 2 ZK Rollup. Mint Square is an NFT platform on ETH Layer 2 ZK Rollup, aiming to build the best multi-chain ZK Rollup NFT market, integrating the two major platforms of StarkNet and zkSync Era.

ZKEX

More information:ttps://zkex.com/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/ZKEX_Offical

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

More information:

Iron Fish

Official website:https://ironfish.network/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/ironfishcrypto

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

Iron Fish is a brand new cryptocurrency that uses zk-SNARKs and Sapling protocols to secure every transaction. Anyone can run a node and contribute to its codebase.

Twitter:

YellowSubmarine

Official website:https://ys.finance/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/Yellow_Subm

Yellow Submarine is the first and only dApp to offer private transactions for all EVM-compatible chains. It creates a privacy layer capable of spanning any Ethereum ecosystem.

Through the intuitive interface of YS, users can use MetaMask wallet to deposit a stable coin, such as USDC, in any EVM compatible chain, and withdraw it in the form of BUSD or USDT from another EVM compatible chain without any public traceable link . Future versions of YS will allow users to keep the privacy tokens they hold - users do not need to disclose the type of tokens they hold, and they can spend it at will.

More information:

Nulink

Official website:https://www.nulink.org/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/NuLink_

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

Nulink is a privacy-preserving technology platform for distributed applications that allows users to remain anonymous (Daaps). The project will bring enterprise-grade security solutions to developers, startups, small businesses, and enterprises to make this happen. As its technical foundation, the Nulink technology platform includes blockchain, access control (proxy re-encryption, attribute-based encryption) and secure computing (zero-knowledge proof, secure multi-party computing, fully homomorphic encryption) technologies. It provides data exchange and processing capabilities across the enterprise.

More information:

Starkswap

Official website:https://www.starkswap.co/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/starkswap

More information:https://app.vedao.com/projects/

Starkswap is the first AMM DeFi product built on public ZK-Rollup's StarkNet; Starkswap is built on top of the underlying infrastructure, users will enjoy lightning-fast transactions at a cheaper cost (initially gas-free) while still benefiting Security on Layer 1 Ethereum.

Starkswap is a serious contender for the main AMM on Starknet. The team launched the testnet in March and announced that V1 was rebuilt from the ground up to support custom curves.

Summarize

Purely from the perspective of airdrops, whether it is the previous OP, the current ARB, or the upcoming Aptos, Sui, and next year's zkSync, the infrastructure has always been "big hair", which is an important manifestation of the wealth effect.

The communication of the wealth effect often starts with infrastructure such as public chains and middleware, then reaches the basic applications of the ecology, such as stable coins, lending, exchanges, etc., and finally reaches non-basic applications (social, games).

References:

Inventory of Layer 2 Potential Unissued Coin Projects in 2023 | ODAILY

veDAO is an investment and financing community dedicated to discovering early potential projects. By gathering public wisdom and professional opinions, community participants, investors, and project parties are provided with a fair, transparent, and democratic project evaluation and investment and financing process, so that all participants can share the project development dividend.