ZK rollup (zero-knowledge rollup)
ZK rollupzk-rollupvalidity rollup
An L2 that posts validity proofs to L1, enabling near-instant withdrawals and stronger trust assumptions than optimistic rollups.
ZK rollups (zkSync, Starknet, Linea, Scroll, Polygon zkEVM) trade prover complexity for faster finality on L1. Withdrawal times are minutes-to-hours rather than the 7-day fraud-proof window. Stablecoin yield surface is smaller than on optimistic rollups today, but growing fast.
Related terms
- Optimistic rollupAn L2 that posts state roots to L1 and assumes them valid unless a fraud proof is submitted within a challenge window.
- L2 (Layer-2)A scaling network that inherits security from an L1 by posting state roots back — rollups, validiums, plasma.
- RollupAn L2 architecture that batches transactions off-chain and posts compressed state + proofs back to L1 for settlement.