Formerly ZKSwap, the team rebranded to ZKSpace to be more all encompassing as they shifted their focus from solely acting as an Automated Market Maker on Layer 2 to a full suite Layer 2 protocol that is comprised of three main parts: ZKSwap (the upgraded AMM), ZKSquare (a payment processing platform), and ZKSea (an NFT marketplace), with an all-new-look user interface, NFT support, unlimited token listing, smoother withdrawal, optimized efficiency, and multi-chain support.
As of writing on August 2, 2022, zkSpace has a TVL of $46.76 M, placing it at #9 in terms of economic size, placing it right on par with other, more popular Layer 2 Solutions. Immutable X, at the time of writing, has a market cap of $250,458,575, Boba Network, at the time of writing, has a market cap of $95,029,766, and zkSpace, at the time of writing, has a market cap $11,508,962. Additionally, IMX and BOBA each have approximately 64% of their total TVL in their native token, where ZKSpace sits at approximately 20%.
ZKSwap
ZKSwap, the original portion of the protocol that was live before the shift to a full layer 2 solution, is a decentralized exchange protocol (DEX) based on the Automated Market Maker (AMM) model by ZKSpace. The DEX allows users to list and swap any ERC20 token trading pairs while reducing gas fees to as little as a tenth of a percent while ensuring the same security as the underlying Ethereum Layer 1. Moreover, users of ZKSwap experience trade settlements in real-time as and users do not need to wait for the confirmation time of a block. Unlike other DEX’s, ZKSwap allows its users to pay the gas fee in any of the four following tokens - ETH, ZKS, WBTC, and USDT. Users can also create unlimited token pairs in liquidity pools to enable swaps.
Moving forward, the formula underpinning the innovative Layer 2 AMM DEX utilizing ZK-Rollups technology will feature an important change that enables more flexibility for users. When trading with stablecoins, the newest version of ZKSwap v3.0 resembles the current model based on Curve 1.0, but when trading between non-stablecoins, ZKSwap v3.0 will allow for adjustable-price ranges.
This means users will be able to choose at which price range to lock in LPs, and in turn, avoid excess slippage for trades that drain liquidity from those ranges. Building from the Uniswap v3.0 model, ZKSwap v3.0 does this by using ERC721 LP tokens and an ‘internal oracle re-pegging mechanism’.
ZKSea
ZKSea, ZKSpace’s native NFT marketplace, supports all ERC721 standard NFTs to be freely deposited and withdrawn between the Ethereum Layer 1 and ZKSpace’s Layer 2 directly. This allows blockchain gaming and metaverses projects to truly leverage the security and prestige of being deployed on the Ethereum Layer 1 while enjoying the low transaction costs of the Layer 2 platform.
ZKSquare & Going Mobile
As of April 2022, ZKSpace released its Android Mobile App, giving users access to its platform on the go. As the demand for simplicity and proficiency in the digital ecosystem grows, ZKSpace contributed to bringing the Layer2 DEX, payment system, and NFT management across the mobile application.
The mobile application presented a Layer 2 protocol that can instantly cover all transactions with no waiting time for block confirmations, with a straightforward system of shifting the balances of ERC20 tokens in wallets from Layer 1 to Layer 2. Coupled with low gas fees that come from zk-rollup technology and the efforts to scale Ethereum, such as Sharding, this can be a way to onboard millions of users as a peer2peer payment solution. We have all seen how quickly applications like Venmo, Paypal, Zelle, Cashapp, ApplePay, and more have popped up and grabbed marketshare and significance in our everyday lives. ZKSpace, through the payment system ZKSquare aims to do this with the Ethereum ecosystem.
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