Aleph Zero Launches Its EVM-Layer on Mainnet

[PRESS RELEASE – Zug, Switzerland, August 12th, 2024]

Aleph Zero launches its ultra-fast Ethereum-compatible layer-2, expanding its privacy tools and new apps compatible with the world’s biggest web3 ecosystem.

Aleph Zero — a blockchain ecosystem engineered for speed, data confidentiality, and ease of development — today announced the mainnet launch of its new EVM-compatible Layer-2 solution. This significant milestone marks Aleph Zero’s expansion into the Ethereum ecosystem, which will expedite the development and broaden the reach of its zkOS privacy-enhancing solutions.

The Aleph Zero EVM Layer-2 is built in partnership with Gelato, a leading Rollup-as-a-Service provider, and leverages Arbitrum Orbit technology. This combination results in an exceptionally fast and efficient blockchain, boasting a block time of up to 250 milliseconds with near-instant transaction finality. The network is capable of processing thousands of transactions per second, positioning it as one of the fastest EVM-compatible chains available.

“Aleph Zero EVM uses Arbitrum Orbits’ advanced web3 scaling stack–with the most performant developer tooling–to create the most advanced privacy-enhancing blockchain infrastructure on the market. Privacy will become a major narrative in 2024 and beyond, as more mainstream use cases emerge.” — Luis Schliesske, Founder of Gelato

The Layer-2 solution will utilize Aleph Zero’s existing Substrate-based WASM Layer-1 blockchain as its Data Availability layer. This architecture ensures a robust and decentralized foundation for the new EVM environment, benefiting from Aleph Zero’s established network of over 190 validator nodes.

AZERO, the ecosystem token, will be used on the Layer-2 to power all gas transactions similarly to how it’s being used now on the Layer-1.

zkOS Features Coming to Aleph Zero’s EVM-Layer in Q4

zkOS is Aleph Zero’s new comprehensive privacy framework designed to make integrating confidentiality features into blockchain applications more accessible and user-friendly. This aligns with Aleph Zero’s vision of making privacy-enhancing technologies easier to use, with the optimization benchmarks showing the system’s ability of proving ZK proofs in less than a second on consumer devices.

zkOS consolidates Aleph Zero’s privacy products into a single, developer-friendly toolkit that doesn’t require deep cryptographic knowledge to implement. zkOS aims to solve existing challenges in on-chain privacy, such as poor user experience, long proving times, and limited multisig capabilities. By optimizing zero-knowledge proof generation to under a second on consumer devices, zkOS strives to make privacy features more practical and economically beneficial for both new and existing applications across multiple blockchain ecosystems.

“EVM, with its user base and well-developed tooling, allows us to expedite the development of zkOS privacy framework and bring it to the second-largest market in crypto beyond Bitcoin. This is a perfect addition to our Layer-1 and adds optionality for developers and users alike.” – said Adam Gagol, Co-founder of Aleph Zero.

The first use cases already building on Aleph Zero EVM include:

• pieces.market – a luxury Real-World Asset (RWA) marketplace.
• Syncra – a DAO-as-a-Service platform with private voting features.
• Upcade – an web3 gaming hub.
• Rarible – the NFT marketplace.
• DRKVRS – a web3 multiplayer RPG game.
• idOS – a privacy-enhanced decentralized identity operating system.
• Tubbly – a walk-to-earn game.

Introducing vib3s

vib3s, another use case on the Aleph Zero EVM, is set to enable the sports and entertainment industries to deepen their customer and fanbase relationships with the power of Web3.

This whitelabel service allows organizations to quickly introduce innovative apps that boost retention and loyalty within their user base, with an easy-to-deploy product that can be customized towards the needs of any organization.

Among the key features, users will find the newsfeed, an embedded crypto wallet, on-chain loyalty points system, thematic games for fan engagement, branded card payments, loyalty points cashback, among others. An important part of the app is its privacy-respecting nature that makes it compliant with the GDPR laws.

vib3s is powered by the Aleph Zero blockchain and the Upcade gaming hub, as well as solutions from Holyheld, Thirdweb, idOS, and others.

The project will launch its first implementation this month, targeting a large-scale entertainment use case in Europe.

For more information about Aleph Zero, users can visit https://alephzero.org.

About Aleph Zero

Aleph Zero is an ecosystem of blockchain solutions that are engineered for speed, data confidentiality, and ease of development. It achieves efficiencies akin to conventional web2 systems, upholds rigorous standards for data protection via highly optimized Zero Knowledge Proofs, and offers a comprehensive toolset for development across web3 that range from WASM to EVM environments. Aleph Zero’s versatility is highlighted by over 40 use cases being actively developed, showcasing its adaptability across various sectors and applications. These use cases are part of an engaged community and growing ecosystem of web3 applications that are supported by Aleph Zero programs.

For any enquiries about this release, users can contact josh@serotonin.co or ana@serotonin.co