The company behind the Cronos blockchain, Cronos Labs, announced on Thursday the opening of a new layer-2 network, adding to the increasing number of secondary projects that have chosen to construct their own networks in addition to the main Ethereum ecosystem.
The new “Cronos zkEVM chain” is based on software tools from Matter Labs that can be used to spin up new layer 2 and layer 3 “hyperchains” on top of Ethereum. It is initially launching as a test network.
In addition to the Cronos PoS chain and Cronos EVM blockchain, the testnet will introduce a new chain to the Cronos ecosystem. It will be powered by zkSync’s ZK Stack software kit, which was primarily developed by Matter Labs. According to its website, the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com collaborates with Cronos Labs and contributes to the PoS chain’s source code.
According to a press release, it is also the first public testnet to use Matter Labs’ ZK Stack. The Cronos zkEVM mainnet will come next, with the goal of having the network operational by the second quarter of 2024.
“It is a great testament to the ZK Stack architecture to see a layer 1 like Cronos being the first to make the move to deploy as a hyperchain,” Matter Labs’ head of business development, Omar Azhar, said. “Cronos and Crypto.com have demonstrated their ability to create a remarkable community; as of right now, there are over 80 million cryptocurrency users.”
Even though it is a small compared to Ethereum, the leading smart-contract blockchain, Cronos is still ranked among the top 20 projects in a universe of primary blockchain networks that Messari estimates to be close to 200.
DeFiLlama claims that Cronos has about $354 million in total value locked, or TVL. TVL is a widely used metric, comparable to deposits, that analysts use to rank the relative importance of blockchains in decentralised finance. Even though it ranks No. 11 in the industry, that is still far less than Ethereum’s $28.2 billion.
The most recent blockchain project to join the Cronos ecosystem is a part of a larger movement in which projects are starting layer-2s. This movement is enabled by the readily available software stacks, which are also known as blockchain development kits.
According to a recent press release from Ken Timsit, managing director of Cronos Labs, “the Cronos zkEVM testnet represents an opportunity for Cronos Labs and our partners, including VVS, Fulcrom, and Veno to experiment with ZK layer 2 technology in order to prepare the next phase of growth starting in 2024.”