ZKsync will gradually phase out the early zero-knowledge Rollup network ZKsync Lite; ZKsync Era and ZK Stack are not affected.

ZKsync development team Matter Labs has announced that they will gradually phase out the earliest zero-knowledge Rollup network, ZKsync Lite, in 2025. Since its launch in June 2020, the network has served as an early Ethereum scaling solution, providing zero-knowledge payments, NFT minting, and basic transaction functions. The team emphasized in the announcement that this will be an “orderly and controlled shutdown” and will not affect the widely used ZKsync Era or ZK Stack systems.

ZKsync Lite was initially launched as a Proof of Concept to test the core concepts of zero-knowledge technology and pave the way for future zkEVM systems. Matter Labs stated that Lite has fulfilled its historical mission and played a key role in technological iteration, ultimately leading to the birth of ZKsync Era and the subsequent ZK Stack.

This transition dates back to as early as February 2023. At that time, ZKsync 1.0 was officially renamed to ZKsync Lite, and active engineering development ceased a month later, with the team shifting major resources to the newer ZKsync Era. Era officially launched in 2023, achieved full EVM compatibility, and attracted large-scale migration of developers and liquidity. Since then, wallets and various dApps have gradually removed support related to Lite.

Anthony Rose, Head of Engineering at ZKsync Era, once stated that Era was still in the “alpha stage” at launch and would require another two to three years of continued development to build out the core framework of a complete zkEVM ecosystem. In contrast, ZKsync Lite does not support smart contracts, and as general-purpose zkEVM matures, its application value has significantly declined. According to L2Beat data, Lite’s daily active users have dropped to fewer than 200.

Despite the gradual shutdown, ZKsync Lite still holds approximately $49 million in cross-chain assets, which can still be securely withdrawn via Ethereum L1 contracts. ZKsync officials confirm that the withdrawal function will remain available throughout the deprecation process, and a detailed timeline and migration guide will be released in the coming year.

It is worth noting that Matter Labs conducted layoffs in September 2023, affecting 24 employees. CEO Alex Gluchowski stated at the time that the layoffs were in response to resource pressures caused by the rapid growth in demand for ZK Chain.

With ZKsync Lite set to retire, ZKsync Era and ZK Stack will continue to be the core of Matter Labs’ future development, further advancing the Ethereum zero-knowledge scaling ecosystem toward higher performance and broader adoption. (Decrypt)