zksync

According to the official Lido blog, Lido DAO has revoked the "official" bridge endpoints for wstETH on nine networks: zkSync Era, Mode, Scroll, Mantle, Swell, Zircuit, Soneium, Polygon PoS, and Lisk, through a Snapshot vote.This move is a resource adjustment at the governance level and does not affect the technical operation of the related bridges and contracts. Users can still hold, transfer, or bridge back wstETH on the aforementioned networks to Ethereum. Lido will stop security monitoring, ecosystem, and market support for these networks, but no migration deadline will be set.

The development company behind zkSync, Matter Labs, announced layoffs on Tuesday and is fully transitioning the entire organization to the institutional-grade on-chain privacy infrastructure platform Prividium. CEO Alex Gluchowski defined this move on X as a skills restructuring rather than a cost-cutting measure, stating that the products built for regulated financial institutions since 2024 have evolved into Prividium, aiming to provide on-chain infrastructure that combines transaction confidentiality with compliance auditing capabilities for regulated entities such as banks and asset management companies.Gluchowski mentioned that this transformation is based on specific product feedback from institutional clients, but did not disclose the number of layoffs. According to CoinGecko data, the market capitalization of the zkSync token is approximately $115 million, having risen 4.3% in the past 24 hours. This transformation reflects a broader trend in the Layer 2 market, as ZK and L2 projects like Hyli and Botanix have shut down, and general-purpose horizontal platforms are facing pressure to find defenses in vertical fields. As of the time of publication, Matter Labs has not made any statements regarding the future of the zkSync network and ZK tokens.

ZKsync's official announcement stated that following several ZK token governance proposals, the governance service provider ScopeLift has now launched the "ZK Fee Flow System" proposal on the forum. This system is a set of smart contract mechanisms that allow ZKsync Governance to route and allocate protocol revenue and fees through its controllable on-chain mechanisms. ZKsync indicated that the relevant forum post has detailed the contract architecture, operational mechanisms, security measures, and deployment addresses of the system.

BitGo announced a partnership with ZKsync to launch a production-ready tokenized deposit solution, providing secure custody, privacy, and compliant blockchain settlement designed specifically for banks.Tokenized deposits will enable always-online settlement and programmable cash flow while keeping funds within the banking system and complying with existing regulatory frameworks.

ZKsync announced a collaboration with five regional banks in the United States to develop a tokenized deposit network called Cari Network. This network is built on Matter Labs' Prividium platform, utilizing privacy-preserving permissioned blockchain infrastructure. The partner banks include Huntington Bank, First Horizon, M&T Bank, KeyBank, and Old National.Cari Network is positioned as a secure, private, and regulatory-compliant infrastructure, with tokenized deposits existing directly as bank liabilities and qualifying for FDIC insurance. It aims to connect the $8.3 trillion in assets held by regional banks to the blockchain, providing around-the-clock programmable digital currency services.

Lido officially stated that there is a potential vulnerability in the ZKsync wstETH bridging endpoint contract. There are currently no signs that this vulnerability has been exploited, and wstETH holders on ZKsync are not affected. Other bridging contracts are not impacted.As a precaution, Lido has paused new deposits to the ZKsync bridging contract, while withdrawals from zkSync and token transfers are unaffected. Lido has prepared a fix that will be audited and deployed during the next scheduled on-chain Lido governance comprehensive vote (late March/early April), after which the deposit functionality will be restored. Further updates will be released as necessary.

According to The Block, the Ethereum Layer 2 project ZKsync has announced that it will officially discontinue ZKsync Lite (formerly ZKsync 1) on May 4, 2026. At that time, the network will stop producing blocks and permanently freeze the final state to ensure that balances cannot be changed after the shutdown. The team stated that this move is a "orderly planned exit" and will not affect ZKsync Era or other chains built on the ZK Stack.After Lite is shut down, the official will maintain a read-only API for at least one year to support historical data queries. Users are advised to proactively withdraw assets before the deadline for convenience, but unwithdrawn funds can still be claimed later. Data shows that there are currently about $33.9 million in assets bridged on ZKsync Lite, including approximately $24.9 million in stablecoins, $8.4 million in ETH and its derivatives, $313,000 in BTC and its derivatives, and about $231,000 in other assets.ZKsync Lite was launched in June 2020 and is regarded as the first zero-knowledge Rollup on Ethereum, supporting token transfers, atomic swaps, and NFT minting, but lacking smart contract functionality. In March 2023, the developer Matter Labs stopped development on Lite after launching Era, shifting focus to support the zkEVM system for general smart contracts.

The Aave governance delegation platform Aave Chan Initiative (ACI) proposed a governance proposal on January 29, suggesting to pause deployments on the three Layer 2 networks of zkSync Era, Metis, and Soneium, citing that these networks contribute very little user activity, TVL, and revenue.ACI pointed out in the proposal, "Over time, it has become clear that only a small number of instances contribute very little user activity, TVL, and revenue, yet service providers and governance participants still need to invest a lot of effort." Currently, zkSync's TVL is approximately $26 million, Soneium around $17 million, and Metis about $9 million.According to DefiLlama data, Aave generated only $714 in revenue on zkSync over the past 30 days, $679 on Metis, and just $150 on Soneium. In contrast, during the same period, it generated over $7.7 million in revenue on the Ethereum mainnet and nearly $300,000 on Base.ACI also proposed that any future new chain deployments must guarantee Aave at least $2 million in annual revenue, arguing that protocol liquidity is often underestimated relative to upfront and ongoing costs. Snapshot voting was launched on the same day.

ZKsync releases the 2026 roadmap, focusing on three core directions:Prividium will expand the privacy engine into a "bank-grade stack," providing enterprises with a cryptographic infrastructure that has built-in privacy by default;ZK Stack will shift from a single-chain architecture to a "coordinated system," enabling application chains to operate seamlessly within this stack and natively integrate liquidity and shared infrastructure;Airbender will evolve from the "fastest zkVM" to a "universal standard," prioritizing security, formal rigor, and developer experience, with its service scope extending beyond ZKsync and the Ethereum ecosystem to a wider range of use case scenarios.

UPBIT will launch trading support for ZKsync (ZK) on January 6, 2025, at 18:30, supporting KRW, BTC, and USDT trading pairs. Users can make deposits within 1 hour and 30 minutes after the announcement is released, and must ensure the network is ZK-ZKsync Era.

ZKsync officially announced that Etherscan will stop indexing and supporting ZKsync Era starting from January 7, 2026.Users will need to switch to the ZKsync native block explorer to view block, transaction, and contract data. Developers relying on the Etherscan API must complete the migration before the deadline.

According to Cointelegraph, on-chain activity across several major networks has sharply declined, with the number of active addresses on 11 blockchains decreasing over the past year. Among them, Ronin saw the largest drop at 70%, while Bitcoin fell by 7.2%, and several Ethereum Layer 2 networks also made the list.The report also stated that the number of active addresses on Ethereum's base layer increased by 25%, with trading volume rising by over 20%. However, as activities related to airdrops have cooled down, the usage of several Ethereum Layer 2 networks has declined, with ZKsync experiencing the most significant drop in trading volume at 90%.

According to official news, ZKsync announced plans to stop supporting ZKsync Lite (i.e., ZKsync 1.0) in 2026 ------ the first ZK-rollup launched on Ethereum. Everything is normal for now, and no immediate action is required; ZKsync Lite will continue to operate as usual. Funds remain secure, and withdrawals to L1 will continue to be supported throughout the deprecation process.ZKsync will announce a detailed deprecation plan within the next year and will soon provide specific details, timelines, and migration guidance.

According to The Block, the Aave governance forum is discussing a strategy adjustment proposal put forward by ACI, which aims to close low-revenue deployments on chains such as zkSync, Metis, and Soneium, and set a $2 million annual revenue threshold for future deployments.ACI states that these instances cannot cover operational costs and increase the engineering burden. Currently, the "temperature check" snapshot vote has received 100% support, and if passed, it will enter the formal governance process. Last night, it was reported that a new proposal from the Aave community aims to adjust the V3 multi-chain deployment strategy, including increasing the reserve ratio for underperforming networks.

According to Cointelegraph, recently, Matter Labs CEO and ZKsync founder Alex Gluchowski stated that privacy tools are becoming a key factor in driving institutional adoption of blockchain technology.With over 140 companies holding approximately $137 billion in crypto assets, financial institutions must rely on a reliable privacy layer as they move to the next stage of development in transferring payments and settlements to public blockchains.Gluchowski pointed out, "Institutions need to have complete control over their transaction processes while maintaining data privacy from other parties." He described this need as "system-level privacy," distinguishing it from individual users' "account-level privacy."

ZKsync founder Alex (@thealexgluchowski) released the "ZK Token Proposal Part I," proposing a significant update to the ZK token economic model, with the core mechanism being that all revenue generated by the network will be used to buy back and burn ZK tokens.Alex stated that in the future, ZK tokens will no longer be limited to governance purposes but will have actual value capture functionality. The sources of network value include: all of this revenue will flow into a governance-controlled mechanism for ZK buybacks and burns, staking rewards, and ecosystem development funds. Alex emphasized that this move aims to directly link the value of ZK tokens to network usage, promoting ZKsync to form a self-reinforcing sustainable economic system.

ZKsync co-founder Alex published an article on social media titled "Ethereum is now the main capital hub of ZKsync," stating that the ZKsync Atlas upgrade will bring over 15,000 TPS, a 1-second zero-knowledge proof final confirmation time, and near-zero transaction fees. Alex mentioned that these numbers are just a small part of the story, and what Atlas truly unlocks is the ability for layer two networks to achieve more functionality for the first time.Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin retweeted the article and expressed that ZKsync has done a lot of undervalued but valuable work in the Ethereum ecosystem and looks forward to its upcoming new features.

ChainCatcher news, ZKsync announced the launch of the upgraded version of ZK Stack, called Atlas, aimed at providing faster and more flexible infrastructure for businesses and institutions looking to move their operations on-chain.This version introduces a high-performance sequencer capable of processing 25,000 to 30,000 transactions per second, fully compatible with Ethereum-based applications, and also integrates Airbender, a brand new proof system designed to offer sub-second confirmations and faster cross-chain settlements.