Hyperlane is now live on ZKsync Era and the ZKSync VM, bringing permissionless interoperability to the growing ZKsync ecosystem. ZKSync Chains can now connect to 70+ chains with Hyperlane.

But what is ZKsync and why does it matter in the first place?

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What is ZKsync?

ZKsync Era is a Layer 2 ZK rollup built to scale Ethereum using validity proofs. Launched back in March 2023, ZK-Sync was one of the first dedicated efforts towards using zero-knowledge proofs to enhance Ethereum’s throughput. Users enjoy fast, low-cost transactions with the flexibility to pay gas fees in ERC20 tokens like USDC, made possible with ZKsync’s native account abstraction functionality.

ZKsync Era is built with the ZK Stack. Rollups built on the ZK Stack, known as ZK Chains, leverage the ZKsync VM, an EVM-compatible execution environment optimized for ZK. Importantly, it’s EVM-compatible, not EVM-equivalent, meaning there are some modifications needed for smart contracts to adapt to the different VM.

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What’s New

1. Hyperlane is live on ZKsync Era mainnet.
2. Hyperlane is now implemented for ZKsync VM.

This enables:

• Fast, permissionless token bridging to and from ZKsync Era with Warp Routes.
• Permissionless interoperability for any upcoming ZKsync Chains. Connecting to 70+ chains and 5+ other VMs with Hyperlane.
• Interchain applications that seamlessly extend across multiple chains and ecosystems.
• Asset issuers building on ZKsync can expand their assets across ZK Chains and beyond with Warp Tokens.

With Hyperlane’s modular security framework, ZKsync developers can choose a wide range of pre-built interchain security modules (ISMs) to deploy “off-the-shelf” and configure parameters tailored to their unique needs and preferences. For example:

• A ZK Chain deployer can specify which chains they want to be connected to, and the exact composition of the validator set securing their interchain messages.
• Security preferences can even be defined by message content. For instance, an asset issuer may specify a multisig ISM which optimizes for speed over security for smaller token transfers (i.e. under $1000), and a seperate aggregation ISM optimized for security over speed for larger transfers (i.e. over $1000).
• Hyperlane’s modular framework is future-proof, given developers can easily swap out existing ISMs as new security mechanisms emerge.

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Hyperlane: AnyVM Adaptability

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The rise of altVMs and altVM chains in recent years has demonstrated that cross-VM interoperability will become increasingly important for teams building. Hyperlane’s permissionless and open-source approach meets this growing demand and connects all of them.

With Hyperlane’s latest deployment to ZKsync and the ZKsync VM, ZKsync Era and other ZK Chains can now easily connect to one another and far beyond to other ecosystems. The ZKsync VM now joins the growing list of VMs supported by Hyperlane — including the EVM, CosmWasm, SVM, CairoVM, and Sway.

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Looking Ahead

Stay tuned for more ZKSync Chain integrations now that Hyperlane is available on ZKsync VM…

Check out the Hyperlane ZKsync repo: https://github.com/hyperlane-xyz/hyperlane-monorepo-zksync

More about Hyperlane

Hyperlane is the open interoperability framework. It empowers developers to connect anywhere onchain and build applications that can easily and securely communicate between multiple blockchains. Importantly, Hyperlane is fully open-source and always permissionless to build with.

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