Ethereum: ConsenSys launches long anticipated zkEVM testnet

• ConsenSys said developers test their smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) while bridging assets between the Goerli testnet and the zkEVM.
• The developers get the same “experience, security, and decentralization of Ethereum” along with low transaction costs.

On Tuesday, December 13, blockchain engineering firm and Web3 ecosystem developer ConsenSys unveiled its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) network. The zkEVM network from ConsenSys is currently available only for beta testing.

Designed and developed entirely by ConsenSys, developers can deploy and test their decentralized applications (DApps) using different tools such as Truffle, MetaMask, and Infura. ConsenSys announced that users can now test their smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) while bridging assets between the Goerli testnet and the zkEVM.

The developers get the same “experience, security, and decentralization of Ethereum” along with low transaction costs. The official announcement from ConsenSys notes:

Developers will be able to deploy and test smart contracts, and migrate dapps from existing networks. Testnet participants can also bridge tokens, transfer tokens, and interact with deployed dapps listed on our upcoming ecosystem portal page.

We intend to learn whether the developer experience of the zkEVM has the potential to accelerate innovation in Web3 and will be evaluating feedback from the community to inform our next step.

Besides, ConsenSys also provided the timeline saying that they would start testing zkEVM next week. In January next month, the blockchain firm will “allow list” and onboard external users who have signed up to the network. In order to ensure the stability and security of the system, ConsenSys will onboard users in batches.

ConsenSys’ Work on zkEVM

ConsenSys said that its team has been working for years to wrap in the EVM computations in zero-knowledge proofs and create a zkEVM. They believe that this is better than creating zk-Rollups on networks that are separate from EVMs.

The zero-knowledge technology verifies transactions on a separate layer and would send the computation back to the Ethereum mainnet without sending back the entire data. Ahead of the onboarding in January 2023, users can start signing up on the ConsenSys zkEVM network. ConsenSys said that they have already received 150,000 signups and expect this number to grow further.

To increase participation in zk-EVM, ConsenSys is speaking to some of the top protocols across all Web3 segments such as NFT marketplace, DeFi, stablecoins, social, and gaming. ConsenSys also said that they plan to keep the code for zkEVM open-source.

This development from ConsenSys is a major one in the Ethereum ecosystem Last week, ConsenSys also announced that they are planning for an update to the Metamask wallet to offer greater user-data privacy.

In the last 24 hours, Ethereum saw a 4% jump moving past $1,300 levels. Besides, the Ethereum blockchain is also experiencing the highest week of address activity since May 2021. This could be enough to drive the ETH price even higher, and potentially up to $2,000.

📈 Utility for #Ethereum has risen to its highest level since May, 2021 this week. $ETH has jumped back over $1,335 for the first time in 5 weeks. It’s a good sign that this spike in address activity is not coinciding with a normal profit take opportunity. https://t.co/3uPtQLLviF pic.twitter.com/qX8OTRcytN

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 13, 2022