From SNARKs to STARKS. zkSync is a second-layer rollup solution developed by Matter Labs. Last March, the zkSync Era was deployed on the Ethereum mainnet.. Since then, it has experienced significant growth, bringing its TVL to $196 million. Now, the developers have introduced a major update, entitled Boojum.
Boojum: STARK proofs land on zkSync Era
As we have just seen, zkSync Era is a rollup Ethereum L2. More specifically, it uses a zkRollup that takes advantage of zero-knowledge proofs.
Until now, the zkSync Era used a proof systemor prover, SNARKs type. Using this proof system, the zkSync sequencer was able to process more than 100 transactions per second.
As a reminder, a prover is the module responsible for creating proofs of calculations. In practice, these proofs are then published on the Ethereum blockchain, where they can be verified by anyone. This mechanism was designed to shift some of the computation work away from Ethereum.
On July 17, the project teams announced a size update entitled Boojum. In practice, this implies a change in the type of proof used. With this update zkSync will now be able to use so-called STARKs proofs.
According to the announcement, these proofs will, among other things, improve network performance.
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Boojum update highlights
Until now, although STARK-type proofs were already well known, they had a major disadvantage. They require a great deal of computing power to create proofs.
However, the Boojum update partially solves this problem, by allowing the creation of more easily computable STARKs-type proofs. Indeed, it is possible to generate these proofs with consumer graphics cards (GPUs), requiring only 16 GB of GPU RAM.
« Our long-term goal is to enable users to generate decentralized proofs. Boojum represents a step in this direction, with the prover running on consumer GPUs requiring just 16 GB of RAM. »
This update has already been deployed on the zkSync Era mainnet. However, it is still in an experimental phase. As a result, the protocol will be able to generate and verify « phantom proofs » based on real data.
This process will enable developers to fine-tune the system and identify potential bugs ahead of a full system migration to STARKs proofs.
« We have intentionally designed zkSync Era so that cryptographic updates can be performed without regeneration, meaning that updating Boojum will cause no disruption to the user. »
The zkSync network isn’t the only second-layer solution in the news at the start of this week. The Mantle Network has announced its launch on the Ethereum mainnet.at the ETHCC Paris conference.
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