- Vitalik Buterin praised ZKsync’s Atlas upgrade for turning Ethereum into a live liquidity hub with near-zero fees.
- Atlas connects Ethereum and Layer 2 chains in real time, ending fragmented liquidity and enabling faster capital movement.
- Matter Labs will launch a ZK governance token to decentralize ZKsync and empower long-term community users.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has praised ZKsync’s latest “Atlas” upgrade. He called the team’s work “underrated and valuable,” signaling growing recognition of ZKsync’s role in reshaping Ethereum’s ecosystem.
The Atlas upgrade, launched by Matter Labs, introduces a massive leap in blockchain performance—offering over 15,000 transactions per second, one-second zero-knowledge finality, and near-zero fees. However, beyond raw numbers, the update promises a deeper transformation for Ethereum’s liquidity structure.
Atlas Unlocks Real-Time Ethereum Liquidity
According to ZKsync’s team, Atlas is the first upgrade that allows Layer 2 chains to rely directly on Ethereum as a real-time liquidity hub. Before Atlas, every Layer 2 ecosystem—such as ZKsync Era, Base, or Arbitrum—was forced to build its own liquidity pool. This approach fragmented capital and limited smooth interaction between networks. Consequently, transactions between Ethereum’s main layer (L1) and its scaling layers (L2s) often took days to finalize, especially for optimistic rollups.
With Atlas, this separation ends. ZKsync chains can now access Ethereum’s liquidity directly within seconds. Hence, institutional and real-world asset (RWA) flows no longer need separate hubs. “ZKsync has been doing a lot of underrated and valuable work in the ethereum ecosystem,” Buterin said. “Excited to see this come from them!”
Building a True Extension of Ethereum
Moreover, Atlas transforms Ethereum from a passive settlement network into an active capital hub. Every token and market anchored to Ethereum now becomes instantly available to ZKsync-based chains. Instead of separate blockchains, this change transforms Ethereum’s ecosystem into a single liquidity network. Additionally, Matter Labs intends to introduce a governance token called ZK in order to decentralize the ZKsync network.
The ZK token will give users control over the protocol’s evolution. Matter Labs will distribute the token through an airdrop to long-term users of ZKsync Era and ZKsync Lite. About 33% of the token supply will go to the Matter Labs team and investors.
