ZK projects collectively failed

If you are an investor, you would have invested in a zk Layer2 project in the Ethereum ecosystem a few years ago.

Because zk (zero-knowledge proof) is known as the pearl of the encryption industry, and Layer2, as one of the few application scenarios of zk, is also regarded as an important encryption infrastructure.

Look at the brilliant financing records of the year, if you don’t raise 30 million US dollars in a single transaction, you don’t have the nerve to mix in this circle.

This year, many zk projects have launched tokens on the main network, and many ugly daughters-in-law have finally met their parents-in-law.

From the performance of Layer2 of each Ethereum, we can roughly understand how each project is doing.

Market value management is flat

First, the FDV (full circulation market value) of all projects is falling, and only the investors of zk projects are bleeding.

Arbi and OP both have a market value of about 6 billion, but their post-investment valuations were only a few billion:

Arbi's private placement valuation is 1.2 billion US dollars; OP issued a coin in May 2022, and its pre-coin valuation was 1.65 billion US dollars.

Investors have earned several times so far, and the multiples would be higher if they cashed out earlier.

Let's take a look at our zk project:

Stark's private equity valuation is as high as 8 billion, and now the market valuation is cut in half, and it is about to be cut at the ankle~

zksync claims to have raised 458 million US dollars, but now the circulating market value is only 400 million, most of which have not been unlocked, and the FDV is only 2.4 billion US dollars.

Moreover, the token trend has been declining, and there is no sign of a support.

Operation flat

After entering the second half of the year, the operations of major Layer2s have basically flattened, and the corresponding data is a decline in active users on the chain.

Except for the Base chain, which is still growing by relying on the Coinbase ecosystem, other chains have experienced a cliff-like decline in August.

The number of users of zk chains represented by Stark/Zksync is even more crazy. The data in August was halved compared with that in July.

The number of monthly active users of the Base chain reached 12 million, almost twice that of the Ethereum main chain and three times that of the second-ranked Arb.

Maybe Ethereum really doesn't need so many Layer2s, and all users have gone to Base. Unfortunately, the Base chain does not issue coins, so you can only buy coinbase stocks~

Development is flat

Judging from the number of code comments, among the projects in the zk ecosystem, only zkSync is still struggling. It may be because domestic development is cheaper~

Stark had only 33 comments in the whole of August. No wonder the ecological project is running away and construction has basically stopped.

What's even more exaggerated is Scroll, which has only 1 comment, and not many in other months. This project is a star project invested by Sequoia, but it hasn't issued any coins yet. Does it mean that it doesn't need to be developed anymore?

Aleo miners are in disarray in the wind?

One ​​zk project after another is so cold, what can another zk star project Aleo do?

Aleo once raised more than 200 million US dollars in a single transaction, and it is said that it has finally been launched on the mainnet recently.

Maybe many miners have been hoarding Aleo mining machines for a year?

It was originally planned to be launched on the mainnet at the beginning of the year, but it has been delayed until now.

Seeing that investors in other zk projects have lost a lot of money, miners who invest in aleo should still be mentally prepared early~

Is Vitalik panicking?

V God used to support zk frequently, and recently he also stated that he would no longer invest in L2~

With the collapse of the L2 project, the price of Ethereum is now in jeopardy.

V God called for Ethereum 18 times in August, more than in the whole year of 2023.

At this time last year, the Ethereum ecosystem had a large number of star projects in the two major tracks of re-staking and zk second layer, preparing to make a big profit this year.

Now I have to admit that I am no longer excited about technology, and I am more optimistic about its application...