zkSync L3 ‘Opportunity’ to Hit Testnet in Q1 2023

A path towards unlocking unlimited scalability and customization within an ecosystem of trustlessly linked HyperChains

With less than 18 days remaining until the first production-ready EVM-compatible Layer 2 ZK rollup launches to Mainnet, we are thrilled to announce another exciting milestone on the horizon: zkSync’s EVM-compatible Layer 3 ‘Opportunity’ prototype will be deployed to public testnet in the first quarter of 2023.

Layer 2 Sets The Stage

No one set the stage better than Vitalik Buterin, who said:

“I don’t think there is one vision for what Ethereum could do, I think there are many different visions. Once Ethereum manages to solve its scaling problems, it’s going to be in a much better place to help be the substrate that allows all of those visions to happen.” — Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum

“In the medium to long term ZK rollups will win out in all use cases.” — Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum

The launch of zkSync 2.0 later this month — a general purpose, EVM-compatible, ZK rollup for the Ethereum blockchain — will be a long-awaited and critical improvement for Ethereum. zkSync’s Layer 2 solution will have the five magic ingredients for scaling Ethereum:

1. General-Purpose ZK rollup — To support general-purpose applications
2. EVM-Compatible — To enable easy porting
3. Solidity Support — To support the most common language for smart contract developers
4. Open Source — To protect the freedoms to view, change, or fork the code
5. Ethereum Ethos Compatible — To represent the values of the ecosystem with a decentralization model

Our Layer 2 solution will provide the necessary foundation on top of which the ecosystem can scale Ethereum without degrading its security or decentralization. Beyond that, it is our vision that unlimited scalability, and consequently, mass adoption, will happen in Layer 3 and beyond.

zkSync’s Layer 3 is the Next Frontier

Our vision for Layer 3 is that it will be an ecosystem of customizable and trustlessly linked blockchains powered by zkEVM that we refer to as ‘HyperChains’. Layer 3 will enable limitless scaling with limitless customization resulting in a starfield of 10X moments. These moments cut across five vectors:

1. Security — We know that many hacks occur as a result of the inherent weakness in non-native bridges. In zkSync’s L3 all interaction between fractal HyperChains occurs via native bridges resulting in a 10X moment for security.
2. Performance — With Layer 2 we expect 10–100X performance increases, but in Layer 3 performance is limitless.
3. Cost — Data costs are reduced exponentially in Layer 3 given the choices around data availability solutions.
4. Ease of Use — We expect to see many improvements to SDKs, CLIs, and even low-code/no-code solutions for each type of use case in the ecosystem making app creation 10X easier.
5. Composability — With our LLVM compiler, we not only support the Solidity programming language, but also any modern language which creates a 10X increase in accessibility for developers specialized in Rust, C++, Swift, etc.

With zkSync’s Layer 3 solution, developers will be able to choose from 3 data availability options all using the same proving infrastructure for their project. Developers can choose their own trade-offs between price, performance, and security.

1. ZK rollup — Choose this if you want to have the full security of Ethereum (Good for DeFi).
2. zkPorter — Choose this if you want a mixture of your data to be made on-chain and off-chain to optimize for cheap, fast, and secure (good for gaming).
3. Validium — Choose this if you want ultimate performance with slightly less security than Ethereum (Limitless Use Cases).

In addition to the 3 data availability options, developers can further customize their fractal HyperChain for the following:

1. Privacy will be entirely customizable — We will enable ecosystem partners to make their data private (by storing data off-chain).
2. Tokenomics, aligning incentives — We will enable ecosystem partners to have their own token to secure Sequencers, Provers, DA providers.
3. HyperBridges — Our Layer 3 solution will replace non-native bridges with native bridges (or “HyperBridges”). This will create a 10X impact on security and have the potential to increase trust in crypto for the masses.

By solving scaling for Ethereum, zkSync unlocks infinite futures for our ecosystem.

What is Opportunity?

In Q1 of 2023 we will ship our Layer 3 Opportunity, zkSync’s first L3 prototype to be launched on testnet. Details on the Opportunity launch:

1. Opportunity will be released in Q1 2023.
2. Opportunity will be a prototype demonstrating a ZK rollup as a fractal Hyperchain in Layer 3.
3. The solution will be deployed on a testnet.
4. The testnet will be public.
5. It will serve as a foundation for public experimentation, research, and development of Layer 3.

We have no doubt Opportunity is a tool to better perform this research in a substantive way. Over the next couple of months, this tool will allow us to aggressively experiment so that we can continue building the future of this ecosystem.

Looking Ahead

We are extremely proud of our engineering team who have been working relentlessly on bringing zkSync’s Layer 2 solution to Mainnet, while already looking beyond by setting the building blocks for the next frontier of the Ethereum ecosystem in Layer 3 and above.

As we approach Q1 of 2023, we will be sharing more technical details on our progress and the direction our L3 solution is taking.

This is an exciting time for the zkSync team and the Ethereum ecosystem at large. If you are a researcher or a developer, reach out to us if you’re interested in partnering with us or joining the team.