zkSync Era

zkSync

Matter Labs' Type 4 zkEVM — compiles Solidity to a custom VM rather than emulating the EVM directly.

zkSync Era was one of the earliest zkEVM L2s in production. Recent ZK Stack thesis frames it as a meta-protocol for sovereign zk-chains (the "Elastic Chain" architecture). Stablecoin float meaningful but below the leading optimistic L2s.

Related terms

ZK rollup (zero-knowledge rollup)An L2 that posts validity proofs to L1, enabling near-instant withdrawals and stronger trust assumptions than optimistic rollups.
L2 (Layer-2)A scaling network that inherits security from an L1 by posting state roots back — rollups, validiums, plasma.