The zkEVM testnet has been released. What is the experience like?

Author: Rhythm

Although many people believe that ZK Rollup is a key component in solving the scalability issues of the Ethereum mainnet and other Layer 1s, there is a general pessimism about the actual adoption timeline of this technology, with many thinking it will take at least 1 to 2 years. However, the leader in ZKR, zkSync, has shown great promise by launching the 2.0 EVM testnet last night, proving the rapid development of ZKR.

The zkEVM primarily meets the development needs of most Ethereum applications, providing developers with a testing space to design applications that cannot be implemented on the Ethereum mainnet. The most significant upgrade is the native support for ECDSA signatures, allowing users to use the same address on zkSync's Layer 2 network as on the Ethereum mainnet.

Support for programming languages, cryptographic primitives, and API protocols also saves developers a lot of time. The support for Solidity 0.8.x allows many applications to be deployed to zkSync without significant code changes; the API is fully compatible with Ethereum, allowing seamless integration with existing indexers and resource managers; and the addition of the safety helmet plugin ensures that developers can easily test and develop smart contracts on zkSync.

Additionally, zkSync 2.0 supports smart contract messaging between Layer 1 and Layer 2, enabling developers to transfer various data from the Ethereum mainnet to smart contracts on zkSync to provide the necessary information for their operation.

However, despite all these upgrades, it is still difficult for ordinary users to have a concrete understanding. Why not experience it ourselves?

First, we visit https://portal.zksync.io and connect our Metamask wallet.

If there are no Goerli testnet ETH tokens in the wallet, you can click on the "Faucet" option on the left to claim some. If you cannot claim due to too many requests, you can go to https://goerli-faucet.mudit.blog to receive ETH (Note: the ETH mentioned in this article refers to Goerli testnet ETH tokens).

After obtaining ETH, we can go to the "Deposit" option to transfer it to the zkSync testnet. This process takes about 1 to 2 minutes, and you can see that the gas fees are actually very cheap.

Once the ETH is transferred to zkSync, we can transfer assets on Layer 2. The page will prompt you to switch to the zkSync Testnet, and the new version of zkSync supports ECDSA signatures, so we can directly use the Ethereum mainnet wallet address. Click on the "Transfer" option, fill in the target account's Ethereum mainnet address, and the asset will be transferred with almost zero fees.

If you want to transfer ETH back to the Layer 1 testnet, you can choose the "Withdraw" option and complete the operation.

Finally, we can choose the "Tx Search" option, enter the transaction hash, and view our records on the zkSync testnet.

This is the basic functionality of the zkSync Portal. The steps for transferring assets are very simple, and the costs are extremely low. After transferring assets to Layer 2, we can significantly reduce the costs of our on-chain activities. However, this channel is merely a corridor into the world of ZKR. Can we further explore this new land?

Shortly after the launch of the zkSync EVM testnet, Mute.io also released a Beta version based on this testnet. Mute.io is an AMM, DeFi, and IDO platform based on ZK-Rollup Layer 2 technology, and we can use it as a window to see what the future ZKR world looks like.

First, we visit https://testnet.switch.mute.io/ and connect our wallet. On the "Wallet" page, we can see the assets we transferred to Layer 2 and the gas fees saved using ZKR.

On the "Swap" page, we can conduct transactions. Note that the prompt from Metamask is now "Sign" instead of "Confirm," meaning the transaction has not been sent to the Ethereum mainnet, so there is no gas fee; the only fee to pay is the platform's 0.0003 ETH fee.

On the "Pool" page, we can create or provide liquidity pools, and on the "Farming" page, we can stake LP Tokens to earn rewards, also without paying gas fees.

It can be seen that, although the same assets are used, applications built on ZKR are significantly more user-friendly for ordinary users. Once users become more adept at operations, gas fees will no longer be an obstacle to the development of Ethereum DeFi. Of course, the future Layer 2 world will not only have DeFi applications; Matter Labs, behind zkSync, has been collaborating with various projects to build a ZKR ecosystem centered around zkSync.

In the new Ecosystem Hub page released by the team, we can see many applications that are under construction or already online.

In addition to support from mainstream wallets like Metamask and 1inch Wallet, trading institutions like Banxa and MoonPay will also support users in purchasing crypto directly on zkSync, completely bypassing gas fees on Layer 1. Institutions like Crypto.com, Huobi, and OKEx are also working on building functionalities for direct deposits and withdrawals using zkSync.

In terms of cross-chain bridges, infrastructures like Celer, ZigZag, LayerZero, and PolyNetwork will support low-cost and fast asset transfers between zkSync 2.0 and other L1s and L2s. In the areas of oracles and indexing, Chainlink and Graph Protocol will respectively provide necessary services for zkSync.

In the future, zkSync will further upgrade, including support for more programming languages, efficiency in information transfer between L1 and L2, and zkPorter, which can further reduce network costs and improve security. It can be said that this ZKR world is indeed worth looking forward to.