Written by: Frank, PANews
If the Web3 world has a concrete scene, then there must be people who build tall buildings and cities, just like what Ethereum, Solana and other L2 sidechains do, building better buildings to attract more users. There are also some people who build bridges and roads to open up the flow of assets and data between cities. zkLink obviously chooses the idea of building bridges and roads.
In order to solve problems such as asset fragmentation and complex multi-chain DApp development, zkLink relies on zero-knowledge proof technology to build an application-specific expansion engine infrastructure and an aggregated third-layer Rollup network zkLink Nova, trying to break the problem of existing liquidity islands on each chain. According to L2BEAT data, zkLink Nova is currently the third-layer network (L3) with the largest TVL.
On July 22, zkLink, which has attracted much attention in the field of multi-chain aggregated DeFi (Aggregated DeFi), completed its TGE. Its token ZKL was launched on many mainstream exchanges such as Bybit, HASHKEY, Bitget, Coinlist, Kucoin, Bitmart, Mexc, etc. The price exceeded US$1 in a short period of time, and the circulating market value once reached US$130 million.
Token Economics: Total 1 billion tokens, initial release of approximately 13.63%
ZKL is the native governance and utility token of the zkLink protocol, issued on the Ethereum mainnet. The total supply of ZKL is capped at 1 billion, with no inflation design.
In terms of token distribution, ZKL is distributed as follows: community treasury (29.875%), liquidity reserve (4%), ecosystem development (22.5%), founding team and advisors (20%), early private buyers (20.5%), and CoinList sales (3.125%).
Among them, the unlocked portions of this TGE are as follows: 5% for community rewards, 1.2% for community development incentives and bug bounties, 2% for liquidity reserves provided by CEX and DEX liquidity, 4.5% for ecological development funds, 0.9375% for CoinList sales, and 13.6375% for initial unlocking. The team and other early investors will have to wait for several months before unlocking.
On July 22, many exchanges including Bybit, HASHKEY, Bitget, Coinlist, Kucoin, Bitmart, and Mexc have launched ZKL transactions.
Governance and payment functions
According to zkLink official introduction, users who hold ZKL tokens on the zkLink Nova network are considered stakers. ZKL stakers have the right to participate in the governance of the zkLink protocol.
ZKL has two functions, one is governance function, and the other is practical function. Among them, the governance function is mainly reflected in voting and other links, but zkLink also stated that in the initial stage, in order to prevent witches, only administrators, hosts, authors, etc. can create proposals. According to the official introduction, three governance proposals will be opened after the token is launched, and the specific contents are: 1. Determine the minimum number of ZKL to create a governance proposal; 2. Establish a zkLink ecological fund; 3. Plan the next chain to be added to the aggregation network zkLink Nova.
In terms of practical functions, the native Gas token of zkLink Nova is ETH, and ZKL can offset part of the Gas fee in the form of discount payment during transactions. According to official information, ZKL will have the right to participate in Nova's decentralized sorting network in the future. In addition, ZKL is the payment token for the zero-knowledge proof generation service provided by the verifier. The verifier can bid in the proof auction market of zkLink and complete the proof task to earn ZKL tokens.
In addition, ZKL tokens can also be used by developers to access zkLink X’s App Rollup infrastructure services.
The airdrop amount is about 21.5 million US dollars and 30 million tokens will still be airdropped
In June of this year, zkLink released the airdrop claiming rules for ZKL - NovaDrop Round 1: Genesis. Three types of users are eligible for this airdrop, namely NovaPoints holders, Nova Lynks NFT holders, and zkLink loyalty points holders.
Judging from the number of tokens unlocked in this TGE, a total of 50 million tokens are allocated for airdrops. If the price remains at around $0.43, the amount of airdrops for this part is about $21.5 million. The circulating market value of ZKL is about $58 million, and the fully circulating market value is about $430 million.
On May 12, zkLink launched the Aggregation Parade Season II event with a total reward of 30 million ZKL. Aggregation Parade Season II will start on May 31, 2024, with at least 3 cycles, each lasting 6 weeks. Users can obtain Nova Points by participating in the interaction of the zkLink Nova ecosystem, such as holding assets (including token mergers, roulettes, and recommendations), spot and perpetual contract decentralized exchanges, lending, GameFi, etc. At the end of each cycle, Nova Points can be converted into ZKL tokens and collected.
However, it is worth noting that the official threshold for this event is set at 0.1ETH or equivalent funds. Those who fail to reach the entry threshold will not be able to participate in the event.
New investment from OKX Ventures
Previously, zkLink raised $4.68 million through CoinList community sales and completed two rounds of financing of $18.5 million. Investors included Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, SIG DTI, Arrington Capital, etc., with a total fundraising amount of $23.18 million.
On July 18, zkLink announced the progress of a new round of financing and received strategic investment from OKX Ventures. When talking about the reason for the investment, Dora Yue, founder of OKX Ventures, said: "With the upgrade of Ethereum 2.0, ZK Rollups and Optimistic Rollups have become more prosperous as mainstream expansion solutions. For example, the most representative Arbitrum One ranks first with a TVL of 16 billion US dollars, accounting for 41%; at the same time, the flourishing of the second-layer network has brought challenges of liquidity fragmentation and interoperability; zkLink's multi-chain aggregation layer solution has improved capital efficiency and utilization. zkLink Nova, launched in March, provides possibilities for new DeFi products such as one-stop aggregated lending markets, aggregated AMMs, multi-chain derivatives, and NFT trading markets; we are very happy to see that the zkLink Nova ecosystem has grown rapidly into the largest third-layer network in the current Ethereum ecosystem, and has cooperated with 8 L2s and liquidity centers. OKX Ventures continues to be optimistic about the liquidity aggregation layer protocol represented by zkLink, and continues to improve the Web3 infrastructure to prepare for carrying millions of users."
In addition, zkLink's performance in many data is also quite impressive. As of July 21, the number of unique addresses of zkLink has exceeded 1 million, the TVL in June once exceeded 1 billion US dollars, and the TVL of zkLink Nova network has reached 750 million US dollars. In addition, the prosperity of the ecosystem is also crucial to the development of the project. As of now, zkLink has more than 100 ecological partners.
In the current rapidly developing field of blockchain technology, cross-chain interoperability has become an important track. With the continuous emergence of various public chains and side chains, the problem of asset and data liquidity between different chains has become increasingly prominent. As an important player in this field, zkLink has obviously taken its place at the table. It is still worth looking forward to whether the market performance of its tokens and subsequent activities can continue to help the ecosystem.
