zkLink Announces Nova, Aiming to Solve Ethereum Layer 2 Scaling Woes

zkLink, a company building infrastructure for the blockchain network Ethereum, has announced the launch of the first aggregated Layer 3 zkEVM rollup network, based on zkSync's ZK Stack and zkLink Nexus.

Named zkLink Nova, the interoperable platform brings together liquidity and assets from Ethereum and layer 2 rollups. Nova offers developers an EVM-compatible decentralized application (dApp) deployment environment.

Layer 2s have "failed to scale the Ethereum blockchain as originally intended," zkLink said in an announcement. Nova addresses liquidity fragmentation, multi-chain dApp development complexities, and poor user experience.

Ethereum is a popular platform for building dApps, but it has struggled to keep up with demand. As more users join the network, transactions become slow and expensive. To alleviate this issue, developers created Layer 2 solutions, which act like side roads to handle some of the traffic on the main Ethereum highway.

However, layer 2 solutions have introduced a new problem: fragmented liquidity. This means that crypto tokens are locked in individual layer 2s, making it difficult to use them across different applications. Imagine having money in different bank accounts that you cannot easily transfer between.

Nova aims to solve this problem by acting as a bridge between different layer 2s. It uses a cryptographic technique called zero-knowledge proofs to combine the liquidity from different layer 2s without actually moving the assets themselves. This creates a unified pool of assets, making them more easily accessible for developers and users.

Developers will not need to deploy their applications across multiple layer 2 platforms and can instead deploy once on Nova by utilizing the combined liquidity pool.

Nova also simplifies asset transfers across Ethereum and Layer 2s via direct deposits to Nova contracts.

"For too long, the lack of interoperability between chains has stunted innovation and adoption," Vince Yang, Founder and CEO of zkLink explained. "With Nova, we are pioneering the concept of an Aggregated Layer 3 that unifies liquidity and development across Ethereum and Layer 2 blockchains."

"We are proud to advance the Ethereum ecosystem forward for all Ethereum users who stand to benefit from the accelerated growth of a more open and connected network of chains."

zkLink Nova will launch on 8 March 8 2024 and will initially integrate with leading Ethereum layer 2s, including zkSync, Linea, Arbitrum, Manta, Mantle and others.