zkSync Era
Matter Labs' zkEVM rollup with the Elastic Chain framework for onboarding sovereign ZK chains.
ZKsync Era is a zero-knowledge rollup built by Matter Labs, running an LLVM-compiled EVM-compatible VM. It uses ZK validity proofs for sub-hour finality and pioneered account abstraction natively at the protocol level. In 2025 it became the coordinator of the Elastic Chain (formerly ZK Stack), a family of sovereign ZK chains that share liquidity and messaging via the Interop Layer.
- TVL around $4.1B in April–May 2026 per DeFiLlama/L2BEAT, one of the largest ZK rollups.
- Custom EVM-compatible VM compiled from Solidity/Vyper via an LLVM pipeline, not strict bytecode equivalence.
- Native protocol-level account abstraction, allowing paymasters and sponsored transactions without smart-wallet middleware.
- Elastic Chain framework lets third parties launch sovereign ZK chains that inherit ZKsync Era's proving system and share the Interop Layer.
- Currently Stage 0 by L2BEAT criteria: permissioned sequencer and prover, upgrade authority held by Matter Labs and a security council.
Frequently asked questions
How is ZKsync Era different from a standard zkEVM?
ZKsync Era uses a custom EVM-compatible VM compiled through an LLVM pipeline, rather than executing Ethereum bytecode directly like Scroll or Linea (both Type-2). This gives it more flexibility for optimizations (like native account abstraction) but means some contracts have to be recompiled and audited for the ZKsync compiler's edge cases.
What is the Elastic Chain?
The Elastic Chain is Matter Labs' framework for a family of sovereign ZK chains that all use ZKsync Era's proving system and share cross-chain messaging via the Interop Layer. Similar in spirit to the OP Superchain or Polygon AggLayer, but built entirely on ZK validity proofs.
Is ZKsync Era safe for large deposits?
ZKsync Era is Stage 0, meaning users trust Matter Labs' security council not to push malicious upgrades. The ZK proof system itself has been running in production since 2023 without a proof failure. For large positions, users should size relative to that centralization risk and monitor the L2BEAT decentralization status page.