In 2024, “ZK” and “Layer 2” are poised to be the hottest buzzwords in the cryptocurrency space. Imagine if one of the world’s top 15 exchanges also started building a ZK ecosystem — could this be the next big Alpha signal? Absolutely! Let’s extend our congratulations to Cronos for the official launch of its zkEVM. Backed by Crypto.com and buoyed by the recovering market, the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem is thriving.
Curious about the Cronos zkEVM Chain? Dive into our comprehensive guide to learn all about it!
What is Cronos zkEVM?
Cronos zkEVM is a Layer 2 blockchain scaling solution built on Ethereum, leveraging zkSync’s advanced ZK Stack technology. It’s a result of a strategic partnership between Cronos Labs and Matter Labs, the team behind zkSync. Cronos zkEVM is directly connected to the Ethereum Mainnet via a shared bridge, ensuring enhanced security and efficiency.
Cronos zkEVM is specifically designed to support the growth of the Cronos ecosystem as the Ethereum Layer 2 market expands. With the capability to process over 100 transactions per second at some of the lowest fees among Layer 2 solutions, Cronos zkEVM is poised to become a significant player in the DeFi space.
To explore major dApps on Cronos zkEVM, you can check out this XY Blog!
🔗 Top 12 dApps You Need to Know on Cronos zkEVM Ecosystem
Pain Point and Cronos zkEVM Solutions
Cronos zkEVM directly addresses key pain points in DeFi, such as liquidity fragmentation, the complexity of yield generation, and poor user experience.
To solve these issues, Cronos zkEVM offers shared liquidity through trustless bridges, makes yield generation easier with native yield-bearing assets, and improves usability with account abstraction. These solutions create a future where liquidity is unified, earning yields is simple, and managing wallets is intuitive.
(Souce: Cronos zkEVM Litepaper)
How does Cronos zkEVM work?
What is ZK Stack?
ZK Stack is a zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) construction tool that allows protocol developers to build ZK Rollups more quickly and efficiently. The Layer 2 networks constructed with its toolkit can possess unique zkSync network features, including native account abstraction and communication between hyperchains within the ecosystem.
Features of Cronos zkEVM
#CROFam
#CROFam is a community that has demonstrated passion and resilience throughout the bear market, which leverages Cronos’ vibrant ecosystem of end-users and developers.
Partners such as VVS Finance, Veno Finance, and Fulcrom Finance have developed high-quality apps that deserve greater recognition and have the potential to scale in the next market cycle. The Cronos zkEVM chain will enable these participating apps to reach the next level of scalability.
ZKP system
Cronos zkEVM uses the latest Boojum STARK-based zero-knowledge proof system, which can run on GPUs with as little as 16 GB of RAM. This system boasts some of the lowest fees among all Layer 2 solutions. Moreover, Internal performance benchmarks show that hyperchain technology can already deliver over 100 transactions per second.
ZK chain
Cronos zkEVM is the first ZK chain to go live on mainnet besides ZKsync Era. It leverages the concept of an Elastic chain, an ever-expanding network of ZK rollups. The recent ZKsync 3.0 upgrade addresses this issue by enabling native, trustless, low-cost interoperability between chains powered by ZK Stack, Ethereum’s most performant ZK rollup framework.
Cronos zkEVM is connected to Ethereum via a Layer 1 <> Layer 2 bridge secured by Ethereum, which is shared with ZKsync Era and other ZK chains.
Triple yield
Cronos zkEVM is partnering with Veno Finance to allow users to hold yield-bearing tokens when they hold crypto assets on the Cronos zkEVM blockchain.
Users may earn rewards in 3 ways:
- Staking rewards: Earn yields simply by holding yield-bearing tokens such as zkCRO, vETH, or vUSD, powered by Veno Finance.
- DeFi yields: Put crypto-assets to work by deploying them into various DeFi protocols hosted on the Cronos zkEVM blockchain.
- Pioneer Program rewards: The Cronos zKEVM Pioneer Program enables users to earn points by completing quests. In the future, users will be able to claim these points from participating dApps to earn extra yield when they use the Cronos zkEVM network and participating dApps. Join us now👇
Native Account Abstraction Enabling Gasless Transactions
Cronos zkEVM, like other ZK chains, offers native account abstraction (AA) implemented at the protocol level. While AA has been possible on EVM-compatible chains for some time, migrating existing liquidity to AA-enabled wallets has been challenging for legacy chains.
With AA, users can deposit funds and transact with dApps without needing to switch networks. They can emit off-chain signatures from any EVM home chain or even from mobile apps or games with usual login credentials.
dApps on Cronos zkEVM are expected to support AA by default, handling transaction relays to Cronos zkEVM and even covering gas fees. This functionality will unleash the full potential of AA, supporting mainstream adoption.