Storj, a network for decentralized cloud storage, announced the inclusion in its protocol of zkSync, a layer 2 (L2) scaling solution for Ethereum based on zk-Rollups technology.

In a recent blog post, Storj Labs explained the details of this integration, explaining that with zk-Rollups they seek to lighten the weight and cost of transactions . The plan is that hosts (Storj network storage node operators) who wish to subscribe, will be able to take advantage of L2 payments on the Ethereum blockchain.

The idea is to take advantage of the properties of this cryptographic method to make payments consume less space in blocks . “We have created this option with the help of the Matter Labs team, focused on improving the user experience with ZK-Rollup,” they state.

They add that this integration was made due to the growth of the Storj network, which has 11,000 independent hosts spread over 84 countries. This has led them to process more than 160,000 transactions on Ethereum since its launch in 2020.

At that time, the Storj satellite (which connects to the Ethereum blockchain) has paid almost USD 40,000 in transaction fees to operate on Ethereum , an amount that has been increasing in recent months with the increase in transaction costs on this network. “Rates have already gone up to $ 44,” they recall, “and for hosts operating nodes this has become expensive.”

With zkSync, payments will consume less space because transactions are grouped and processed in batches. The system is capable of processing 2,000 transactions per second (…) It also drastically reduces network fees for hosts that share their hard drive space and bandwidth on Storj.

Storj Labs.

The company clarifies to users that accounts zkSync’s are already tied to existing Ethereum keys, and current transaction fees are as low as 0.000543 ether (ETH) to 210 Gwei (about $ 0.81). Additionally, since zkSync supports “metatransactions without gas” it is possible to pay commissions with STORJ tokens, without the need to own the Ethereum cryptocurrency.

How the zk-Rollups technology works

The idea of ​​implementing ZK -Rollup has been endorsed by Vitalik Buterin since 2018. Source: Romanpoet / Wikipedia.

ZkSync is a technology developed from the zk-Rollu proposal ps, made in 2018 by developer barryWhiteHat. The concept was endorsed by Vitalik Buterin that same year.

The method is based on the Zero Knowledge Proof ( Zero Knowledge Proof ), a concept applied to cryptocurrencies like Zcash. These tests allow to validate the veracity of information, without revealing sensitive data about it.

Following this same principle, ZK-Rollup allows you to “roll up” many transactions into one to facilitate its confirmation on the network. This fact makes it one of the layer 2 scalability solutions that have been implemented to avoid the high commissions of the network.

It is part of a list of scaling solutions among which are the sidechains, layer 2 payment channels, and first layer (L1) chains compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, such as Polkadot, Avalanche and Cosmos.

In general, a Rollup is defined as “An aggregation of off-chain transactions within a Ethereum smart contract , reducing fees and congestion by increasing blockchain performance.”

All funds are held by a smart contract on the main chain , while calculation and storage is performed off-chain. Validity in sidechains is guaranteed by zero knowledge tests.

As CriptoNoticias has published, many applications, networks and decentralized exchanges that operate on Ethereum are in search of scaling solutions, being ZK-Rollup one of those that has been gaining ground. Prior to Storj, it has been implemented in Golem and more recently in the decentralized exchange ZKSwap.

Last October, Vitalik Buterin commented that, if this mechanism is activated, Ethereum could reach 3,000 transactions per second, a significant figure considering that currently 13.9 transactions are processed per second. When Ethereum 2.0 is activated, this number could go up to 100,000, according to his calculations.

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