Week 2 — Layer-2 scaling ecosystem newsletter
The past week (Dec 4th to Dec 10th) has been full of exciting updates in the layer-2 zk-rollup space. We’ll first look at some of the key highlights of the week.
⭐️ Key highlights
- Argent released their wallet (Argent X) with support for StarkNet. This wallet is available as a Chrome browser extension now.
- Polygon invested 400M USD in the ETH layer-2 scaling project — MIR Protocol
- zkSync partnered with Ramp network to enable fiat onramp to layer-2 zkSync network
- Immutable X (IMX) got listed on Coinbase. IMX uses StarkEx — a layer-2 scaling solution based on zero-knowledge proofs developed by StarkWare
⭐️ Layer-2 wallets
When it comes to layer-2 wallets with support for zk-rollup based scaling solutions, Argent has become the leader in this space by being the first wallet to add support for zkSync and StarkNet.
Argent L2 wallet has support for zkSync
Argent X wallet, which is available right now as a Chrome browser extension has support for StarkNet. They even developed a test decentralised application (Dapp) which is available for users to test the StarkNet.
Support for StarkNet on other wallets has not yet happened, and this is primarily because StarkNet is developing an RPC which will be used by other wallets. Interestingly, StarkNet uses cryptographic signatures for accounts which are different from Ethereum, due to which there is no direct compatibility.
⭐️ Decentralised exchanges
ZigZag DEX has quickly become the leading platform which has added support for layer-2 scaling solutions such as zkSync 1.0 and integration with StarkNet.
This past week, there were below few key developments on ZigZag DEX:
- Addition of more token trading pairs such as ETH/DAI, DAI/USDC, DAI/USDT and so on
- Limit orders have been disabled for now and only market orders are available. Once ZigZag DEX integrates with zkSync 2.0, limit orders will be possible.
- ZigZag DEX has developed a bridge which will allows users to deposit ETH and ERC-20 tokens to L2 zkSync.
⭐️ Major investments in layer-2
The biggest event in the investments space is the 400 million USD investment by Polygon in MIR protocol ETH L2 scaling solution. MIR protocol has developed a zero-knowledge proof system called plonky2 (which an improvement over PLONK) which allows faster proof generation time.
With this investment, there are now multiple zero-knowledge based scaling solutions being developed in Polygon:
Polygon Miden VM: led by Bobbin Threadbare
Polygon Zero: developed by MIR protocol.
Polygon Hermez: a decentralised Zk rollup scaling solution.
There will be cross-collaboration between the above teams to improve existing zk-rollup solutions from all aspects — scalability, performance and EVM compatibility.
⭐️ Fiat onramp
There were 2 major fiat onramp integrations in the layer-2 space
Immutable X partnered with Moonpay to bring fiat onramp and offramp to Immutable ecosystem.
zkSync partnered with RAMP network to bring fiat onramp and offramp to zkSync. You can now use the RAMP network to directly purchase crypto on the layer-2.
⭐️ TVL stats
There was a significant drop in the total value locked on layer-2 in the past week, and this was primarily due to the overall drop in crypto market price.
The TVL dropped by 9.79% in past 7 days and its currently at 5.5 billion USD
Overall, this week was busy and very active in the layer-2 space with so many new partnerships, developments and investments.
