Layer 2 Weekly Roundup #8

Welcome to the latest edition of the Layer 2 Weekly Roundup. Every week, this newsletter covers the latest and most important updates from across Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem.

Catch up on the previous edition HERE

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Ecosystem Highlights

• @Meta - Announce that users will soon be able to create, buy, and sell digital collectibles (NFTs) on Instagram using the Polygon network.

• @swipelux - Are currently hosting a grant contest for all Arbitrum One, and Arbitrum Nova based projects.

• @aztecnetwork - DeFi aggregator zk.money has added support for three new bridges over the course of Q3.

• @magpieprotocol - Have announced that their cross-chain liquidity protocol will soon be deploying on zkSync 2.0.

• @SocketDotTech - Introducing Socketscan: A multi-chain explorer that allows users to track the status of their bridging transaction across supported chains and bridges (now live on Optimism).

• @Immutable - Within the first week of launching the GameStop NFT Marketpace, Immutable have officially crossed the $5,000,000 volume mark traded on IMX.

L2 Protocol Highlights

• @optimismFND - Introduce “Pragmatism”, a new design system created by and used for the Optimism Collective.

• @taikoxyz - Presents a Taiko zkEVM overview, and highlighting a new mechanism that allows for faster bridging transactions.

• @MihailoBjelic - Hints at the possibility of transforming the Polygon PoS chain into a zk-Rollup.

Media - Twitter Spaces and Podcasts

• ZK Whiteboard Sessions #14 - Justin Drake from the EF and Brendan from Polygon Zero explore “Nova” - a new pre-processing step for SNARKs.

• @argentHQ - Introducing “Meet the Dapp” - an educational YouTube series that introduces you to a variety of applications across the StarkNet ecosystem.

• @Scroll_ZKP - Scroll co-founders Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen are joined by Austin Griffith to discuss building out decentralized applications on zkEVMs.

• @DelendumV - Hosts a Twitter Space with core team members from Polygon to discuss Polygon’s suite of zk-based scaling solutions.

• @0xPolgon - Join Jordi Baylina and Kelvin Fichter as they explore Polygon’s suite of zk-based scaling solutions, and take a deep dive into the zkEVM codebase.

Events

• @Scroll_ZKP - Hosting an online tech-focused workshop primarily focused on scaling Ethereum with Rollups & ZKPs.

• @StarkNetCC - Introducing the StarkNetCC India Hackahon! (Nov 30- Dec 1).

• @myBraavos - Announce a new Hackathon based in London that will be held in collaboration with @encodeclub and @Starknet_Intern (12-13 Nov).

• @fuellabs - Announce the winner of the Fuel Bounty prize.

Interesting Articles

• @VitalikButerin - Proposed milestones for rollups taking off training wheels.

• @apolynya - Expands on “Rollup Minimum Viable Decentralization, aka Stage 1.”

Interesting Tweets

Ryan Berckmans - ryanb.eth🦇🔊🌊 @ryanberckmans

Many huge centralized entities, such as Google Cloud, are going to be rocket fuel for L2s and ETH in the coming years 🧵

Toghrul Maharramov📜 🇺🇦 @toghrulmaharram

We don't strive to be Type 1 zkEVM for one particular reason. Type 1 zkEVM requires gas metering equivalence (i.e. Type 2), which means that you either have to: - expose your protocol to potential DDoS attacks, or - impose artificial costs on computationally cheap /1

vitalik.eth @VitalikButerin

Withdrawals from ZK-EVMs can sometimes be done with lower latency than proof generation, because you can prove specific claims: * past state X is valid * no txs from account A after X, therefore * you can still withdraw coins you had in state X Fascinating work by @taikoxyz!

Matt Finestone | 3body.eth @finestonematt

At @taikoxyz, it is our view that proof generation time is not the most important thing to currently optimize for, and we trade off faster proof gen. in favour of a maximally Ethereum-equivalent ZK-Rollup. There's a recent idea that may make this belief hold even stronger 🧵

Robbie Ferguson 🅧 - Hiring! @0xferg

In March, when @Immutable raised $200m Series C from @Temasek and Tencent, we had roughly ~10 games, ~2 marketplaces and a bold product vision: to unite NFT liquidity everywhere on Ethereum. In the 8 months since then, we've accomplished more than the previous 4 yrs. 1/n

Toghrul Maharramov📜 🇺🇦 @toghrulmaharram

A few people asked for my opinion on @VitalikButerin's latest post on the classification of rollups with regards to the use of the training wheels. While I wholeheartedly appreciate the attempt to "codify" the classification, I disagree with the /1

ethereum-magicians.orgProposed milestones for rollups taking off training wheelsThere are currently a large number of (optimistic and ZK) rollup projects, at various stages of development. One pattern that is common to almost all of them is the use of temporary training wheels: while a project’s tech is still immature, the project launches early anyway to allow the ecosystem to…

Orbiter Finance 🛸 @Orbiter_Finance

🛸 #L2Data #RollupData 🚩The TOP 5 rollups with the most active accounts in 7 days: 1. @arbitrum 250,910 2. @optimismFND 116,999 3. @zksync 58,025 4. @StarkWareLtd 44,521 5. #arbitrumnova 25,732 The Data Source: orbiter.finance/data Try to bridge👉orbiter.finance

StarkWare @StarkWareLtd

With the Ethereum L2 StarkEx, STARKs have been in production since 2020. 265M transactions have been settled, and 80M NFTs have been minted. Battle-tested scaling.

Messari @MessariCrypto

Is 2023 the year of ZK-solutions? @Scroll_ZKP - enabled smart contracts @0xPolygonHermez - deployed its public testnet @zksync - aims to launch their EVM-compatible L3 in Q1 2023 @StarkWareLtd's #StarkNet - deployed @Uniswap V3

Thought Leaders (Who to Follow)

• Swagtimus.eth (Ecosystem/Technical)

• Nurstar.eth (StarkNet/Ecosystem/News)

• pseudotheos (Technical Research)

• Robbie Ferguson (Co-Founder @immutable)

• Ryan Berckmans (Ethereum Researcher & Educator)

• polynya (Technical Research)

• Crypto-Gucci.eth (Ecosystem/News)

• Toghrul Maharramov (Technical Research)

• Sassal.eth (Ethereum Research & Educator)

• Luozhu (Technical Research)

• Haym (Education/Research/History)

This newsletter is for educational purposes only, and should never in any way be considered as financial or investment advice.

Thanks for reading!

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