A Comprehensive Overview of the Top 10 Best zkSync Projects

Introduction

zkSync is like a supercharger for Ethereum, speeding up transactions and making them cheaper while maintaining the same level of security. Think of it as a kind of "express lane" for Ethereum transactions, using something called zero-knowledge rollups to make everything faster and less expensive. The goal is to help more people adopt public blockchains without barriers like high costs or slow speeds.

It is designed to disrupt the Ethereum scaling sector by providing a more efficient and cost-effective way to use Ethereum. The platform has over $150 Million in TVL, that has been soaring, which means that enough liquidity has been entering into chains under the protocol. The platform is expected to have a large Total Addressable Market (TAM) due to the growing demand for decentralized applications and the need for more efficient and cost-effective ways to use Ethereum.Since the launch over 59,200 Ethereum tokens have been bridged and more than 254,500 wallets have been created. In addition, nearly 300,000 transactions have taken place, highlighting the expanding use of this platform.

In this comprehensive guide, we will dive into the world of DeFi on the zkSync network. We will cover the top ten projects operating in the zkSync ecosystem, exploring their unique offerings and value propositions. These projects range from decentralized exchanges (DEX) to lending platforms, each contributing to the growing potential and sophistication of the DeFi space. We'll examine platforms like SyncSwap, Mute.io, Velocore, and ZkFOX, among others, discussing their services, partnerships, innovations, and their respective positions in the market. Furthermore, we'll look at their tokens (where applicable), trading prices, and the total value locked (TVL) on each platform, which indicates the trust and popularity they have garnered. By the end of this guide, you will have a deep understanding of the major projects shaping the future of DeFi on the zkSync network.

The top 10 projects in zkSync Ecosystem

SyncSwap

SyncSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) that operates on zkSync era, Ethereum's layer-2 scaling solution, has been making waves in the world of DeFi or decentralized finance. Offering a secure, low-cost platform for users, it has become an integral part of the zkSync ecosystem.

This platform not only allows users to trade but also provides an opportunity to deposit liquidity into pools, thereby earning trading fees. All these transactions enjoy the same security level as the Ethereum mainnet. The platform has also locked in a value of more than $60 million within its network, testifying to its growing popularity and trust among users. Although SyncSwap has not yet introduced its token, it is speculated to be among the first protocols to debut on the zkSync Era Mainnet, given its successful launch on the zkSync Era Mainnet Alpha.

Celebrating its first year in the zkSync Era, SyncSwap announced an airdrop for its community members. Any member who connects to a zkSync compatible wallet can avail of this airdrop, adding another feather to its cap. The latest innovation from SyncSwap is SyncSwap Move. Powered by zkSync's Official Bridge and cutting-edge ZK technology, this feature offers secure and easy trading for users. At its core, SyncSwap is a project driven by a dedicated team of developers and a robust community, demonstrating its commitment to furthering the goals of decentralized finance.

Mute.io

Mute.io stands as a testament to the promise of zkRollup DeFi platforms. By harnessing the potential of ZK tech, it's bringing advanced capabilities to the world of decentralized finance. Mute.io provides an array of services such as a decentralized exchange (DEX), a farming platform, and a bond platform. This diverse set of offerings positions Mute.io as a comprehensive DeFi platform, appealing to a wide range of user needs. Central to its operation is a community-driven model, with a key objective being to incentivize liquidity for protocols constructed on zkSync.

When it comes to innovation, Mute.io doesn't hold back. Its implementation of the first zkDEX on zkSync underscores its commitment to trailblazing in the DeFi space. Moreover, it leverages the robust security of Ethereum while circumventing the burden of excessive gas fees, offering an attractive proposition for traders. The team behind Mute.io boasts an extensive background in zero-knowledge protocols within the crypto realm. Prior to Mute.io, they developed the first Zero-Knowledge Atomic Swap protocol between BTC and UTXO-based chains, coupled with impressive work on Zerocoin and Sigma addressing schemes and transactions.

Mute.io started off with a dual-token system - Mute and Voice. Mute has integrated VOICE into its total supply. As part of this arrangement, VOICE token holders were able to swap their tokens for Mute tokens at a rate of 1:197,55. Mute can now bed deposited into the DAO to get dMute (DAO Mute) which is a governance token and a token to utuilze for farming. The platform's security is based on Ethereum and zkSync, ensuring efficient transactions. Currently, all 40 million Mute tokens are in circulation and can be traded on various exchanges like Uniswap, MEXC and Bitget. Mute's price stands at $0.65 USD. The token reached its highest value of 2.72 USD in January, 2022. The platform recently reached a total value locked (TVL) of over 18 million, demonstrating its growing popularity in the DeFi sector.

Velocore

Velocore is a key DeFi component of the zkSync era ecosystem. Built upon Solidly and Velodrome Finance's established foundations, Velocore's primary aim is to reward those who provide liquidity to its platform. Functioning as a low-slippage decentralized exchange (DEX) on zkSync Era, Velocore offers several services including swapping, farming, lending, launching pads, and vaults. This wide array of services is designed to meet the diverse needs of users in the ecosystem.

Furthermore, Velocore has plans to expand its capabilities, specifically by launching a lending market and by providing support to other builders within the ecosystem. In terms of innovation, Velocore stands out with a unique approach to voting and an incentivization system, which encourages newly launched tokens to reward veVELO holders. As it approaches launch, the team is focused on ensuring the dApp works best in desktop environments.

The Velocore team is also collaborating with ReactorFusion to create its first-ever launchpad, a platform designed to support leading builders within the zkSync era ecosystem. As it stands, Velocore is well on its way to becoming a significant player in the zkSync era ecosystem. It's also preparing to embark on a journey with Linea, which will be based on the upcoming Velocore V2 system, independent of the current Velocore operating in zkSync Era.Lastly, the current price of the Velocore ($VC) token is cu

ReactorFusion

ReactorFusion is a decentralized lending protocol that operates on zkSync Era, a secure layer known for its instant and highly affordable transactions. Think of it as a version of Compound Finance, but with a twist: it includes a mechanism for "bribe rewards" based on a principle known as ve(3,3). This allows the borrow collateral ratio to range anywhere between 0% and 90%.

What makes ReactorFusion exciting is that users who supply or borrow tokens (ETH, USDC, for example) are rewarded with RF tokens. What's more, staking these RF tokens gives you a claim on 90% of the protocol's revenue, which can be converted into VC through farming on Velocore.

Back in April 2023, ReactorFusion conducted a token presale on Velocore that spanned two days. This was immediately followed by a liquidity launch on Velocore DEX, during which RF, the ReactorFusion token, was listed and paired with ETH. The initial supply of RF tokens was set at 100 million. Currently, the price of RF is $0.03324309. This new lending protocol has managed to amass over $4 million in Total Value Locked (TVL), marking a promising start.

veSync

VeSync is a community-focused decentralized exchange (DEX) operating on the zkSync network. This platform is part of the promising zkSync ecosystem, known for its potential airdrop. It presents a robust and efficient arena for decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity, allowing users to contribute, vote, and earn rewards.

VeSync is designed to incentivize users within its ecosystem. It achieves this through an array of rewards that include token emissions, transaction fees, strategic incentives (bribes), and adjustments to supply (rebases). Token holders can boost their rewards by participating in strategic voting, which encourages early engagement with the protocol and contributes to the healthy growth of the VeSync ecosystem.

VeSync's token, referred to as VS, currently stands at a price of $0.01. The platform has been successful in attracting users, boasting a Total Value Locked (TVL) of over $4 million. Overall, VeSync and its parent zkSync ecosystem show significant promise, offering an innovative platform for DeFi liquidity as they continue to grow and evolve.

EraLend

EraLend, a decentralized lending protocol, uses cutting-edge zkSync technology to make lending and borrowing of crypto assets more efficient than ever. It maximizes your capital's effectiveness while reducing risks tied to external liquidity and oracles. EraLend is the first lending protocol on this platform, offering instant transactions, impressive scalability, and zero gas fees.

Recently rebranded from Nexon Protocol, EraLend has partnered with SyncSwap, a decentralized exchange on zkSync. This partnership enhances secure trading and supports the growth of new projects. EraLend's integration with the broader zkSync ecosystem, including Balancer, SynFutures, and ReactorFusion, strengthens its position in the market.

EraLend has rapidly grown its user base and continues to develop its protocol to improve capital efficiency and reduce risk. While it doesn't have its own token, EraLend has already locked over $4 million in total value, signifying its potential in the rapidly evolving DeFi landscape.

Onchain Trade

Onchain Trade is a multifaceted DeFi protocol offering spot exchange, lending/borrowing, and zero-slippage perpetual trading. It leverages zkSync and Aptos technology to provide seamless liquidity provision, swap, borrow, and perpetual trading. Its unique feature is its single-side AMM pools that optimize liquidity for swaps and loans, resulting in higher capital efficiency and reduced impermanent loss for liquidity providers.

The Onchain Trade token, OT, is currently priced at $0.177981, with over $1 million in total value locked (TVL) on the platform. Onchain Trade has been expanding its reach by deploying its beta version on additional networks such as Arbitrum and zkSync. Onchain Trade is a versatile DeFi protocol built on zkSync and Aptos. Its key feature is zero-slippage trading, and it is making headway in decentralized finance.

Holdstation DeFutures

Holdstation DeFutures is a unique decentralized exchange (DEX) that operates within the zkSync ecosystem, a highly efficient Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It takes a leap forward in the world of DeFi by offering users the ability to trade derivatives with massive leverage of up to 500x, covering a wide range of assets including cryptocurrencies, commodities, forex, and stocks.

One of the platform's notable innovations is its Dynamic Price Feed (DPF) which enhances the trading experience. Alongside DPF, the Flexible Market Making feature allows for high-leverage trades, making it a suitable platform for risk-tolerant traders. All these services come with user-friendly tools and low fees, enhancing the overall user experience.

The team behind Holdstation DeFutures is comprised of skilled professionals passionate about driving innovation in the DeFi space. They've shown their capability with recent improvements like the integration of zkSync technology for faster and cheaper transactions, and the addition of new Forex trading pairs.

The platform has already made significant strides in attracting users, as evidenced by its rapid growth and a successful trading contest held in May 2023. Although Holdstation DeFutures currently does not have its own token, it boasts over half a million dollars in TVL, showing a promising start for this emerging DeFi platform.

Rollup Finance

Rollup Finance is a decentralized platform for perpetual trading that utilizes the cutting-edge zkSync Era technology. To put it simply, Rollup Finance allows more transactions to happen at a much quicker pace than on the traditional Ethereum network. This is because it uses a faster 'layer 2' blockchain to process transactions, and then safely brings the data back to the original Ethereum blockchain. This way, lots of transactions can be bundled up into one, which is cheaper and faster.

Rollup Finance forms part of the growing ecosystem of DeFi focusing on derivative trading. The strength of the platform is its focus on maintaining the security and decentralization aspects of Ethereum, while scaling up its speed and lowering costs. Currently, Rollup Finance does not have its own token. However, it has shown impressive growth, with its total value locked (TVL) - an important measure of the assets managed by the platform - exceeding 250k in just two months.

zkFox

zkFox is a platform built on the zkSync network that focuses on leveraging the potential of DeFi, or decentralized finance. The main aim of ZkFOX is to simplify and improve the process of leveraging, which is a strategy used in finance to potentially increase investment returns. In the context of zkFox, users can participate in something called liquidity farming. This strategy, when combined with leveraging, can potentially boost their revenue.

zkFox is the first of its kind to offer these services on the zkSync network. Also, they have recently partnered with SyncSwap, a decentralized exchange on the same network. This collaboration promises to bring more innovation and progress to the DeFi scene on zkSync.

Although zkFox doesn't have its own token right now, it has shown impressive growth in a short period of time, with a TVL of over $250k. TVL is a measure of how much capital is being managed by the platform, indicating its popularity and trustworthiness in the market.

Final Thoughts

The DeFi projects thriving in the zkSync ecosystem exemplify the evolution of blockchain technology and its immense potential to revolutionize financial systems. Each project, in its unique way, is making strides in the space by leveraging the zkSync network's capabilities, bringing faster, cheaper, and secure financial services to the fore.

Common trends among these projects underscore the focus on decentralized exchanges, lending platforms, and novel implementations like high-leverage trading and dynamic price feeds. All of them leverage the power of zkSync's Layer 2 scaling solution to offer innovative services that are efficient, secure, and user-friendly. The shared ambition across these projects is evident in their rapid growth, underscored by the rising TVL figures, growing user base, and token prices. Their collective success indicates a burgeoning demand for decentralized solutions in the finance sector.

As these projects continue to evolve, they are likely to catalyze broader adoption of public blockchains by breaking down barriers such as high costs and slow speeds. By leveraging the capabilities of zkSync, they are not only making DeFi more accessible but also shaping its future. zkSync and its flourishing ecosystem of projects demonstrate that the future of DeFi is here and is continually advancing.The development of this ecosystem is a compelling testament to the transformative power of blockchain technology, heralding a new era in DeFi.