What We've Done in 2023: Building Our Legacy
2023 has been a busy and exciting year for zkLink, so we decided to put together a list of our achievements and what we did during the year. 2024 will be even better, so stay tuned for our next article on our 2024 roadmap. But for now, our 2023 highlights include:
Strategic partnership: 90+
Integrated networks: 16
Alpha transactions on the main network: 2 million+
Unique addresses of main network wallets: 220 thousand.
Unique Testnet wallet addresses: 500 thousand+
Blocks created: 52 thousand+
Ecosystem decentralized applications: 3
Twitter Followers: 310k+
Discord Followers: 240k+
1st quarter 2023: January/February/March
The start of 2023 for zkLink was initiated by a protocol upgrade from Alpha 2.0 to Alpha 4.0, thanks to which users could now post a virtually unlimited number of transactions on the platform. This progress and development was one of the first steps of the year towards achieving our vision and goal of becoming the ideal infrastructure solution for building a âdecentralized Binance.â Thus, the first quarter of 2023 became the first mile in the annual marathon of the main network launch. Additionally, ZKEX, our first decentralized application in the ecosystem, launched testnet 2.0, paving the way for future development and deployment of decentralized applications on zkLink.
Despite the slowdown of the bear market and global economy, the first quarter was for zkLink to continue developing our protocol and providing it with the technical capabilities to realize our goal of implementing zero-knowledge proofs across a range of cross-chain products. Our grand vision is to build a multi-chain trading infrastructure, a multi-chain unified network layer 2.5 and a multi-chain unified infrastructure (layer 3) - with zero-knowledge technology as the building block, enabling a more connected, interoperable, and accessible DeFi ecosystem for everyone.
The launch of ZKEX, our cross-chain DEX, was motivated by our larger vision to become a unified layer 2.5 multi-chain network and layer 3 multi-chain federated infrastructure upon which many more projects will launch in 2024 and beyond.
Q2 2023: April/May/June.
The highlight of our second quarter was securing $10 million in additional funding from a group of prominent investors including Coinbase Ventures, Ascensive Assets, SIG DTI, BigBrain Holdings and Efficient Frontier, among others. This brings our total funding to $18.5 million, allowing us to continue work on key product developments such as Dunkirk Simulation and LayerZero integration, as well as increase our presence in the community to over 190,000 Twitter followers.
May Highlights - zkLink Receives Expansion Support
May 5: Additional funding received of US$10 million.
May 8: Completed/passed the second ABDK Consulting smart contract and security audit.
May 11: Dunkirk Recovery Simulation/Asset Recovery Test begins.
May 15: Twitter number exceeds 190,000.
May 23: Collaboration with Aegis Web3 announced.
June Highlights - Key Network Integration with LayerZero
June 28: Integration with LayerZero Labs.
Third quarter 2023: July/August/September.
The third quarter was very interesting as the global cryptocurrency market began to recover. Additionally, with the official launch of our Alpha Mainnet, our development has moved at an even faster pace. Since launch, we have worked tirelessly on a series of testnet connections and Layer 1 and Layer 2 integrations with platforms such as Ethereum, Linea, BNB Chain, Optimism, Base, Mantle, Manta, Taiko, Polygon PoS, Avalanche, zkSync and Arbitrum. . Additionally, we continued to expand our global brand by attending events such as ETHCC Paris, Coinfest Asia, Korea Blockchain Week, Messari Mainnet NYC and TOKEN2049.
July Highlights - zkLink Alpha Mainnet Official Launch
July 18: Official zkLink Alpha mainnet launched.
July 27: Attended ETHCC in Paris.
July 28: Participation in the âNew Project Launch Showâ of the BNB network.
July 28: TokenInsight report âIs a decentralized Binance on the horizon?â
August Highlights - Surge in zkLink Alpha integration with mainnet
August 1: Ethereum network launches on zkLink Alpha mainnet
August 3: Linea launches on zkLink mainnet
August 7: BNB network launches on zkLink Alpha mainnet
August 8: Connect to Optimism, Base, Mantle, Manta Network and Taiko test networks.
August 10: Polygon PoS launches on zkLink Alpha mainnet
August 11: Avalanche launches on zkLink Alpha mainnet
August 14: zkLink launches on the BNB network
August 14: zkSync (Era) launches on zkLink Alpha mainnet
August 15: Strategic partnership with zkJump announced.
August 17: "Optimism" appears on the zkLink Alpha mainnet
August 18: Arbitrum launches on zkLink Alpha mainnet
August 20: zkLink loyalty points system announced.
August 23: Summer tour campaign launched.
August 24: Attended Coinfest Asia 2023.
September Highlights - Expanding zkLink's Global Presence
September 2: Started trading RWA using our OpenWorld DApp ecosystem.
September 4: attended blockchain week in Korea (Epic ETH Infra Day).
September 8: Integration with Manta Pacific Rollup (Manta Network)
September 12: Official partner and sponsor of Meta Era Summit.
September 14: âZkLink Mainnet Launch and DeFi Developers Meetingâ was held at Token2049.
September 19: partnership with dappOS
September 27: Speaking at the Messari Mainnet panel, New York.
September 29: Formation of a strategic alliance/partnership with Radiant Capital.
Fourth quarter 2023: October/November/December
The fourth quarter was our busiest period at zkLink as we ran the final quarter of a year-long marathon to bring to life zkLink Nexus, our newest product infrastructure solution, a Layer 3 trading layer with multiple ZK-Rollups focused on aggregating liquidity between L2 zkEVM and zkVM for DApps that require a custom trading execution environment on Ethereum. In addition, we held the world's first "L3 Summit" at Devconnect Istanbul, where we brought together the best minds and protocols to discuss the future of building DApp infrastructure for Ethereum.
We've also continued to integrate with external partners like Bitget Wallet and USDV, and integrated Scroll, Polygon zkEVM, OKX X1 testnet, Linea, and zkSync into our Level 3 alpha testnet. Finally, and most importantly, we've launched Playground zkLink Nexus Alpha mainnet, where users can finally log into our Multi-Rollup Layer 3 environment and directly interact with the zkLink protocol using our non-custodial Layer 3 account, connecting funds with your favorite L2 Rollups and interacting with our diverse ecosystem of DApps . The Alpha Mainnet Level 3 platform allows users to use their favorite L2 ZK-Rollup and experience the Nexus L3 environment with gasless transactions, aggregated assets and bridgeless commissions.
October Highlights - zkLink Pioneer Program
October 9: Base launches on zkLink Alpha mainnet
October 12: Added byte implementation ("alexandria_bytes") to Starknet.
October 13: zkLink Alpha Main Network Reaches 1.25+ Million Transactions
October 17: Listed as one of the â5 Most Used Tools and Utilitiesâ on the BNB Network.
October 23: Official Innovation Partner of ETH Hong Kong 2023.
October 23: Panelist at ETH Hong Kong - "Unlocking the Potential of Ethereum."
October 27: zkLink Pioneer software introduced.
November Highlights - World's first L3 summit held
November 7: Presentation in issue No. 5 of ZK Academy The Rollup
November 14: Integration with USDV.Money
November 15: Bitget wallet integration.
November 15: Epic ETH Infra Day at Devconnect Istanbul and Keynote
November 16: The world's first L3 summit took place at Devconnect in Istanbul.
November 16: zkLink Nexus announced launch.
November 17: Metaverse Post Exclusive Interview
November 17: Twitter reaches 300,000+ followers.
November 27: Integrated scrolling into the zkLink Level 3 alpha test network.
November 28: Integration of Polygon zkEVM into the zkLink layer 3 alpha test network
Main events of December: main network playground zkLink Nexus Alpha appeared
December 11: Integration of the X1 OKX test network into zkLink Layer 3.
December 13: zkLink Liquidity Alliance program begins.
December 15: Integration of the OKX wallet into the zkLink ecosystem
December 16: Featured in Blockster article about zkLink and OKX wallet integration
December 20: Forming an ecosystem partnership with Dechat
December 26: zkLink Nexus Alpha mainnet playground launched.