Introducing zkLink Nova — The Industry’s First Aggregated Layer 3 Rollup Network

TL;DR

• zkLink Nova’s mission is to aggregate the fragmented liquidity across Ethereum Layer 2 Rollups, fostering a unified and interoperable rollup ecosystem.
• Nova is stack agnostic, it can aggregate liquidity from any rollup using any Layer 2 tech stacks such as ZK Stack, Polygon CDK, and OP Stack, etc.
• Powered by zkLink Nexus technology, Nova inherits Ethereum security where the multi-chain state synchronization is achieved through Ethereum Mainnet.
• Powered by ZK Stack, Nova is EVM-compatible.

Evolution: Ethereum → Ethereum Layer 2s → Aggregated Rollup

The emergence of Layer 2 rollups striving to alleviate congestion and reduce transaction costs on Ethereum have been successful in providing fundamental scalability to the network. However, they have also introduced a set of new challenges, most notably, fragmented liquidity and diminished interoperability.

The rapid surfacing of liquidity silos across different rollups has resulted in fragmented markets, which has adversely affected the user experience. On top of this, to this day, limited interoperability among the ever-increasing Layer 2s continues to impede the seamless movement of assets and liquidity across networks. Cross-rollup transactions are either too costly (via Ethereum L1) or lack security (via trusted bridges).

To solve these challenges, zkLink Labs designed an Aggregated Layer 3 rollup built on top of Ethereum and its Layer 2s to aggregate and unify fragmented liquidity while simultaneously enhancing interoperability across the ecosystem.

What Is zkLink Nova?

zkLink Nova is an Aggregated Layer 3 ZK Rollup network. The EVM-compatible network is built on top of Ethereum, its Layer 2 Rollups, and consists of a modular architecture powered by ZK Stack and zkLink Nexus technology.

It utilizes ZK Proofs for native asset and liquidity aggregation across its connected networks. Additionally, as a Layer 3 ZK Rollup network, Nova offers further benefits on scalability and sovereignty white inheriting Ethereum’s security.

DApp developers can deploy Solidity smart contracts on Nova’s open platform and have immediate access to liquidity and native assets from all the integrated networks, such as Arbitrum, zkSync, Linea, Starknet, and many others. For both developers and users, interacting on Nova will feel like a single chain, with access to DApps and assets from multiple Ethereum Layer 2 networks.

For the full list of integrated networks and deeper technical explanations, refer to our documentation.

Aggregation: A New Value Proposition For Developers & Users

One of the most frustrating aspects for Web3 users when it comes to Ethereum and Layer 2 networks today is the lack of interoperability between different rollups, leading to an ecosystem of fragmented assets and liquidity. To get around this problem, users are forced to bridge their assets across networks using third-party protocols. This opens up the user to security risks during bridging and at the same time, exposes the fundamental capital inefficiencies and severe time-wasting of current systems.

This cumbersome and costly process is widely recognized as the primary hindrance toward greater blockchain adoption and DApp exploration on multiple chains.

Nova proposes a novel approach: leveraging zero-knowledge proofs to access aggregated liquidity from Ethereum and Ethereum Layer 2 networks without needing to bridge assets across chains.

Through Nova, developers no longer have to deploy 100 times on 100 different Layer 2s. Instead, they now have a cost-effective and capital-efficient choice of deploying just once on Nova and gaining the liquidity and native assets from 100 different Layer 2s. This vision simplifies the blockchain development experience by offering a single deployment point with access to a broad liquidity pool across numerous rollups.

Similarly for DApp users, they too benefit significantly because zkLink Nova brings a broader universe of assets and deeper liquidity to one place. Users now have a unified platform to trade or manage multi-chain assets seamlessly.

Our vision is to make zkLink Nova the ‘home-chain’ for developers and users alike.

How Is Native Liquidity Aggregation & Unification Achieved Across Ethereum & Its Layer 2s?

Assets from Ethereum and its Layer 2s are first deposited to Nova’s Layer 3 network via the canonical rollup bridges. Assets that interact with the bridge contract are locked inside the contract and remain on the hosted chain.

When funds from multiple origins are bridged into the Layer 3, Nova’s architecture employs a ZK-proof verifier contract across all connected networks to synchronize states.

To illustrate liquidity aggregation in this case, ETH tokens from the Layer 2s which use ETH as gas token will be automatically merged into a single ETH token through ZK proofs on Nova.

The re-balancing of ETH liquidity among the L2s is a unique feature of Nova and will be achieved automatically via the aforementioned multi-chain state synchronization process. Through this design, there will be no liquidity constraint for users to withdraw ETH to a specific base chain.

Furthermore, tokens issued on Ethereum and Ethereum Layer 2 Rollups of the same value — for instance, USDT ERC20 and USDT ARB — can be merged into a single USDT token on zkLink Nova through a governance process.

Native Layer 2 tokens that previously only existed on separate networks — e.g., ARB and MNT — can now be deposited to Nova and traded with each other. The interoperability of the native tokens from separated rollups will significantly improve the capital utilization rate for certain DeFi applications and unlock new use cases.

This is poetry in motion, or as we would like to phrase it, aggregation in motion.

Aggregation and unification are two spectacular features users and developers will enjoy when interacting with the network and building applications. The days of network liquidity shortages and complex bridge hopping for users to access their favorite DApps are over.

Nova’s Vision: A Unified & Stack-Agnostic Ethereum Rollup Ecosystem

Several proposals on the market seek to unify liquidity on Ethereum’s Layer 2 sub-ecosystems such as by providing a unified bridge or a shared sequencer. Examples of these approaches include OP’s Superchain, Polygon’s AggLayer, and zkSync’s Hyperbridge, among others. While these approaches propose and enable atomic cross-rollup transactions, they’re only applicable to the project’s specific underlying technology stack. Consequently, the multiple stack choices provided in these scenarios can exacerbate the liquidity divisions within the Ethereum ecosystem.

In contrast, zkLink Nova is stack agnostic, meaning it can connect to heterogeneous rollups of different stack choices, including ZK Rollups as well as Optimistic Rollups, and any additional stacks they’re built upon. Our approach sacrifices the atomic interoperability of cross-rollup transactions but offers the broadest liquidity that’s aggregated from the entire Ethereum ecosystem.

Uncompromised Ethereum-Grade Security

Ethereum, as the largest smart contract platform in the industry, and second largest blockchain by market cap, has a proven track record in terms of security and network stability. Layer 2s inherit Ethereum’s security through fraud proofs or validity proofs. zkLink Nova, as a Layer 3 rollup network built upon Ethereum and multiple Layer 2s, also inherits Ethereum security.

Every transaction on Nova undergoes verification via zero-knowledge proof. To prevent the security risk that a malicious node operator may falsely submit fake on-chain transactions, multi-chain state synchronization is achieved via an Ethereum contract, which forwards on-chain transaction sync hashes through the canonical rollup bridges, and checks if the data commitment for ZKP is consistent with all on-chain transactions.

What’s Next?

zkLink Nova represents an innovative solution in blockchain technology by addressing critical issues related to liquidity fragmentation and multi-rollup DApp deployment. In particular, zkLink Nova improves capital efficiency through liquidity aggregation, enhances DApp functionality, and simplifies DApp development through an EVM-compatible network.

The zkLink Nova Mainnet Alpha is scheduled to launch in early March, representing the dawn of a new future in blockchain — an aggregated Layer 3 zkEVM built upon Ethereum and its Layer 2 Rollups.

zkLink Nova will become a fully decentralized network as zkLink Nova’s modular architecture continues to evolve, and users will find notable improvements in their day-to-day interactions within the zkLink Nova ecosystem.

Read more in the documentation for zkLink Nova’s future journey of building the ultimate Aggregated Layer3 Rollup to unify Ethereum’s fragmented liquidity, with uncompromised security, scalability, and EVM compatibility.