On September 9th, 2021, ZKSwap Lead Developer Alex showed up in an AMA session in the BNB Chain community, introducing the latest developments and future plans of ZKSwap to over 10,000 online users.
ZKSwap is the first-ever layer 2 DEX deployed on the BNB Chain mainnet. During the AMA, Alex shared the current features of ZKSwap V2, such as unlimited token listing, faster withdrawal speed, and personalized fee token settings, and elaborated on the partnership with L2 Labs-backed NFT protocol ZKBox, through which users may have great chances to win limited edition NFTs.
For more details, please read the following recap of the AMA.
Introduction to ZKSwap
February 14, 2021, witnessed the birth of ZKSwap V1, a ZK-Rollups-based, Automatic Market Making (AMM) featured Layer2 DEX that offers swap infrastructure and transactions with ultra-high throughput and zero gas fees to liquidity providers and traders. The project is backed by Bixin Capital, SNZ Capital, FBG Capital, and Longling Capital, and fully audited by ABDK, CertiK, and SlowMist.
On July 28, we unveiled ZKSwap V2. The v2 launch of ZKSwap comes as the exchange attracts new DeFi users looking for a more cost-efficient way to swap between a wide variety of tokens amid the recent DeFi boom. With ZKSwap V2, users can try unlimited token listing, faster withdrawal speed, personalized fee token settings.
Just two weeks ago, ZKSwap became the first-ever DEX based on Layer 2 solutions to go live on BNB Smart Chain (formerly known as Binance Smart Chain). We also plan to deploy ZKSwap on HECO and OEC, bringing layer 2 solutions to all users. NFT and EVM features on ZKSwap are also around the corner.
Q1: First and foremost, what makes ZKSwap so different from other DEXs?
A1: That’s a good question. I believe there are several things that make ZKSwap special.
To begin with, among all Ethereum scaling solutions, we use ZK-Rollups, which can achieve almost the same level of security as the Ethereum Layer 1 network based on the zero-knowledge proof technology. Besides, unlike Optimistic Rollups, which generally takes at least one week in transaction finalization, ZK-Rollups can finalize transactions within minutes and supports rapid funds withdrawals at the same time. While achieving a good balance between scalability, security, usability, and performance, ZK-Rollups is currently the most suitable and promising layer2 solution for building DEXs.
Users may also be interested in our 0-fee swapping system. ZKSwap allows all transactions and swaps to execute on Layer 2 in real-time with zero gas fees and unlimited scalability, removing the constraints from Ethereum’s TPS. We currently support a series of wallets, such as MetaMask, imToken, TokenPocket, Bitpie, MathWallet, TrustWallet, etc.
With ZKSwap V2 online, users are able to explore unlimited token listing, faster withdrawal speed, personalized fee token settings, and ongoing mining events. While heading toward V3, we’ve been working hard to bring users more exciting features, such as NFTs, EVM, cross-chain deployments, and so on and so forth.
In a word, ZKSwap enables a DEX to provide the smooth user experience of a centralized exchange (CEX) while allowing the users to have full custody over their funds. We believe that ZKSwap is the future form of a token trading platform.
Q2: That’s so cool! Among several new features on ZKSwap V2, can you talk about unlimited token listing in detail? I guess everyone dreams to list their own tokens someday.
A2: You said it. ZKSwap V2 allows anyone to add any ERC-20 token or create a token pair, and all ERC-20 token and stablecoin transactions on ZKSwap are free and settled in real-time. In the future, we’ll support tokens of any standards to further expand our asset ecosystem.
Q3: How about a faster withdrawal speed? How fast can it be?
A3: Our tech team dynamically modified ZKSwap’s circuit system, improving the speed of transaction aggregation packaged on the chain according to the actual situation. After this modification, the user’s transfer and exchange experience on Layer2 will be silkier and smoother, and the withdrawal time from Layer2 to Layer1 processed by the smart contract will be directly shortened from 40 minutes to 20 minutes.
Besides ZK-Rollups, there are also other layer 2 solutions, such as Plasma, Optimistic Rollups, and Sidechain. However, it may take a week to withdraw your assets if using Plasma or Optimistic Rollups. The withdrawal speed for projects using the sidechain technology depends on the actual block time.
Q4: That’s 50% faster than before! Let’s move on to the next question. I know that ZKSwap always wants to bring layer 2 to all, and the BSC deployment is certainly your first step. Why BSC? What does this mean for the BSC community?
A4: As on Ethereum, BNB Chain transactions are aggregated and packaged to reduce the volume of data submitted on-chain. The increased demand for BNB Chain block space appears to be the culprit with daily transactions hitting all-time highs. The increased demand led to BNB Chain’s Layer1 protocols to suggest that users use more gas and increase their gas submissions to above 5 gwei, which has been the standard for the chain’s users.
For DEX users, ZKSwap may be an ideal option in solving congestion in transactions and high gas fees due to ZKSwap’s 0 cost in transaction and trading. As on Ethereum, all interactions between L1 and L2 infrastructures on BNB Chain - transactions, deposits/withdrawals, liquidity adding/removal - are feeless and take between 5 and 20 minutes.
Last but not least, ZKSwap can bring BNB Chain users more exciting features, allowing users to list unlimited tokens against BNB, USDT, and BUSD and swapping any BNB Chain-based tokens. Also, we guarantee the stability of the single token prices and trading when there is low liquidity or high transaction slippage.
Following ZKSwap’s deployment on BNB Chain, Cross-chain support for OEC and HECO will be added within the next couple of weeks.
Q5: I see. Sounds promising. How about the NFT feature in V3? There are definitely increasing demands for NFTs.
A5: You are right. The market for NFTs surged to new highs in the second quarter. People who use, mint and trade NFTs on the layer-two Ethereum network can understand how challenging it is when it comes to the expensive costs and illiquidity of NFTs due to their uniqueness and desirability on a blockchain with a limited capacity.
Limited by the high transaction costs on layer-two networks such as Ethereum, it seems difficult for ordinary players to take part in the popular NFT marketplace, and even studios can be discouraged by the high costs required to publish their NFT works. This status quo will undoubtedly hinder the further development of the NFT industry.
These are the problems we want to solve with ZKSwap V3.
Previously, we announced a strategic partnership with ZKBox, a layer 2 NFT protocol backed by the L2 Labs Foundation. Through the incorporation with ZKBox, ZKSwap users can directly purchase, create and trade NFTs on the ZKBox protocol and withdraw NFTs to the Ethereum layer-one network with its layer-two assets instantly, and most importantly, with zero gas fees.
This can ensure the liquidity of NFT assets and preservation. Interesting games such as blind boxes and auctions will also be added in subsequent updates.
Q6: I see. There were great mining events on V1. What mining activities can users participate in now?
A6: Good question. Proof of Gas and Proof of Staking mining are ongoing activities for all users.
PoG is a long-term campaign with a daily release of 20,000 to 30,000 ZKS. As the token price gradually stabilizes, the ETH stored across the network remains in the thousands, and the yield is maintained at 30–50%, which retains a higher level of return in ETH finance. The PoG campaign is essentially an opportunity for the community to buy ZKS at a 20% discount, with annualized returns stabilized up to 50%.
The PoS campaign allows the user to stake ZKS for a reward. Now, ZKSwap is open to community users in 4 different time periods of staking: 30 days, 90 days, 180 days, and 360 days. Users who participate in 360-day staking will also get gZKS which is the governance token on ZKSwap. With gZKS, users will be able to propose and vote, greatly involved in the community and future of ZKSwap. Moreover, gZKS holders will be given priority in airdrops of limited edition NFTs from L2 Lab’s NFT protocol ZKBox after a Q3 launch.
Q7: That’s worth a try! What are your future plans?
A7: We aim to jointly expand the Layer2 ecosystem with business partners by supporting all token standards as well as NFT token transfer and exchange. After becoming the first Layer 2 DEX to be deployed on BNB Chain, we will move on with HECO and OEC, launch Layer2 payment SDK, and facilitate seamless access to wallets exchanges and payment service providers.
Furthermore, we plan to make continuous breakthroughs by launching Layer2 lending and stable currency exchange service; developing a general EVM model based on ZK-Rollups to realize the programmability of Layer2 by constructing a circuit on the EVM instruction set and connecting with more partners to promote the property of the Layer2 DeFi ecosystem.
Many ZKSwap users have been contributing to the project by offering valuable suggestions on our products and services. Many thanks to their continuous support. In the future, we will hold more reward-giving community activities. Please stay tuned!
Q8: Here is the last question - Can you give three reasons why should users choose ZKSwap instead of other platforms?
A8: 0 gas fee, high TPS, and real-time transaction. Why not ZKSwap?
Compared to dozens of dollars worth of Gas Fees resulting from transactions on traditional DEXs (Gas Fee will continue to increase as the price of Ethereum increases), users pay zero gas fees for transactions on Layer-2 with ZKSwap.
Hindered by TPS limitations on Ethereum, traditional DEXs such as Uniswap have an obvious bottleneck in transaction numbers and capacity per second. By optimizing the GPU, ZKSwap can conduct hundreds and thousands of TPS with the trustless method. In the case of having enough machines to support scalability, ZKSwap’s TPS can theoretically reach 6,000.
All transactions on ZKSwap are sent to Layer 2 and are validated in real-time. Users DO NOT need to wait for the one-block confirmation time.