The post Cronos broadens scaling roadmap from Cosmos to Ethereum appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

The network of Ethereum layer-2 rollups using zkSync’s ZK Stack got a new addition Thursday, with the launch of the Cronos zkEVM testnet. Blockchain developer Cronos Labs is developing its third blockchain, which is the first to use ZK Stack hyperchain to reach a live testnet. The first chain in the Cronos ecosystem was a Cosmos appchain developed in partnership with the Crypto.com exchange and launched in 2021. Cronos then followed up with an EVM-compatible chain, also built using the Cosmos SDK in 2022. This new effort augments, but does not replace, the prior two chains. Cronos’ zkEVM is the result of a collaborative effort involving Cronos Labs, Matter Labs (the team behind zkSync), and several engineering teams from stakeholders Crypto.com and dapp developers on the existing chains. The zkEVM testnet is built on top of the Ethereum Sepolia testnet and leverages zkSync’s new open-source prover, Boojum, a STARK-based zero-knowledge proof system, notable for its low hardware requirements and low fees in the layer-2 rollup space. Read more: Polygon Zero and Matter Labs square off over open-source norms Launching a native Ethereum chain was motivated by frustrations with bridging across EVM chains and between Cosmos and Ethereum, according to Ken Timsit, managing director at Cronos. “When we started building Cronos as an EVM chain, we were, of course, already convinced that the Ethereum developer ecosystem has richness and robustness that has no comparison when it comes to building DeFi and NFT applications,” Timsit told Blockworks. Good relations with Matter Labs and a desire to contribute to the open source development of the ZK Stack led them to take the next step. Hyperchains share components of the ZK Stack, including a shared native bridge to the Ethereum mainnet and zkSync’s trustless bridging mechanism, in which assets remain secured by Ethereum.  It…

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Filed under: News - @ December 14, 2023 6:14 pm