Thanks to the team at Messari for digging into ZKsync’s fourth quarter. It’s a funny thing, this whole Layer-2 scaling business. Ethereum’s great, but sometimes it feels like trying to run a marathon in concrete boots. ZKsync, and others like it, are trying to give your wallet a little spring in its step.
- ZKsync’s market cap and token price saw significant growth in Q4 2024, driven by factors like no token unlocks and the implementation of EIP-4844, which reduced transaction fees. However, despite these positive developments, daily transactions and active addresses decreased after the initial airdrop.
- The Elastic Network aims to create a network of interconnected blockchains, offering increased flexibility but also potential challenges. Several new ZK Chains were expected to launch, with projects like ZTX joining the ecosystem and the ZKsync Core team actively releasing updates.
- DeFi TVL on ZKsync experienced growth, with SyncSwap leading the pack, and gaming is also gaining traction, exemplified by Treasure DAO’s migration. Governance is evolving with proposals aimed at boosting DeFi liquidity, improving code quality, and enhancing gas efficiency, ultimately giving the community more control.
Deutsche Bank is building on ZKsync. That’s… something. Banks and crypto usually mix like oil and water, but here we are. Project Dama 2, they’re calling it. It’s all about tokenizing stuff and making finance a little less, well, *financey*. They want privacy, speed, and a way to keep regulators happy. Isn’t that wild? A bank actually wanting to work *with* regulators.
The numbers tell a story, of course. ZKsync’s market cap grew 35% in the last quarter of 2024, hitting $676 million. The price of the ZK token did the same, climbing from $0.14 to $0.18. No token unlocks helped with that, which is always nice. But here’s the kicker: transaction fees actually *decreased*. A lot. EIP-4844, a little Ethereum upgrade, made things cheaper. It’s like suddenly finding a twenty-dollar bill in your old jeans.
But cheaper isn’t always better, is it? Daily transactions and active addresses both dropped. People used the network less after the initial airdrop. It’s a bit like a party that’s fun while the free drinks are flowing, then… quieter. Still, new addresses are still showing up, which is a good sign. People are still curious, still poking around.
They’re building stuff, too. BoojumVM is on the way, promising 10,000 transactions per second for pennies. That’s fast. They’re also messing with AI, letting bots trade on the network. And gasless transactions? Yes, please. Nobody likes paying fees. It’s like an invisible tax on doing things.
The Elastic Network: More Chains, More Problems?
ZKsync isn’t just trying to speed up Ethereum; they want to build a whole network of interconnected blockchains. They call it the Elastic Network. Think of it like a bunch of Lego blocks that can snap together. More chains mean more flexibility, but also more potential for things to go wrong. It’s a bit like adding extra rooms to your house – exciting, but also potentially messy.
More than 20 new ZK Chains were expected to go live by the end of Q3. Projects like ZTX are jumping on board, hoping to connect with a massive user base. The ZKsync Core team released 15 updates between July and August, tweaking and polishing things. They’re clearly busy. It’s a good thing, too, because building a whole new network isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
Cronos zkEVM launched its alpha mainnet in August, showing off the Elastic Chain concept. zkCRO is the gas token, and they’ve got native account abstraction for flexible fees. It’s all sounding very… technical. But the idea is simple: make things faster, cheaper, and easier to use.
DeFi and Gaming: Beyond the Hype
DeFi (decentralized finance) TVL (total value locked) on ZKsync increased by 9% in Q4, reaching $97.1 million. SyncSwap is leading the pack, with $23.7 million locked up. Venus and Aave are also gaining traction. It’s a small slice of the overall DeFi pie, but it’s growing. And it’s not just about swapping tokens anymore. Gaming is getting involved. Treasure DAO moved its entire operation to ZKsync, bringing over $200 million in assets. That’s a lot of digital treasure.
Avara, a social media project, secured $31 million in funding. They’re building on Lens V3, a Layer-2 blockchain for SocialFi. NFTs are also making an appearance, with the Syncmas campaign giving away free digital collectibles. It’s a sign that ZKsync is trying to appeal to a wider audience, not just hardcore crypto enthusiasts.
Stablecoins are still dominated by USDC, with USDT slowly gaining ground. It’s a familiar story. People like what they know, even if it’s not always the best option. But competition is good, and it’s nice to see more stablecoins available on the network.
Governance is also evolving. The ZKsync Ignite proposal aims to allocate 325 million ZK tokens to boost DeFi liquidity. Proposals ZIP-001 and ZIP-003 focused on code quality and gas efficiency. And ZIP-002 reduced the execution delay on ZK Chains. It’s all a bit complicated, but the goal is clear: give the community more control.