zkSync is a trustless protocol for scalable low-cost transactions on Ethereum. It's also the only zkRollup protocol which supports EVM smart contracts.

Alex Gluchowski is co-founder of Matter Labs, and co-creator of zkSync. We spoke with Alex in depth about how the protocol works and the potential for a highly scalable transaction and application layer on Ethereum.

Topics covered in this episode:

Alex's background and how he got into the crypto space
An overview of existing Ethereum scaling solutions
Difference between Optimistic Rollup and zkRollup
Transferring funds to the zkSync Layer 2 and gas fees involved
How the zkSync transaction sequencer works
Withdrawing funds to Layer 1 and timescales involved
How the procol deals with reorgs
How block formation works on zkSync
The function of the zkSync token

Episode links:

Sponsors:

Solana: Solana is the high performance blockchain supporting over 50k transactions per second to power the next generation of decentralized applications. - https://solana.com/epicenter
Exodus: Exodus the easy-to-use crypto wallet available on all platforms and supporting over 100 different assets. - https://exodus.com/epicenter
ParaSwap: ParaSwap’s state-of-the-art algorithm beats the market price across all major DEXs and brings you the most optimized swaps with the best prices, and lowest slippage - http://paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/396

Alex Gluchowski: zkSync – The First EVM-Compatible zkRollup Protocol