Since the very beginning, the ultimate vision for Matter Labs has been to incubate and launch the zkSync protocol and ZK Stack. The next phase is to decentralize the open source protocol by enabling accomplished and talented core development teams to help build, maintain, and upgrade the network and ZK Stack.

To move toward this next phase of decentralization, close to a dozen outstanding development teams outside of Matter Labs will work towards achieving (1) subtraction — ensuring there are contributors to zkSync, and, in some cases, (2) onboarding elite teams capable of building valuable tools utilized by crypto projects and big brands building their web3 ambitions using the ZK Stack.

In some rare instances, as is the case with Slush, the talent, vision and mission of an outside project are so closely aligned, that we’ve decided to acquire and hire the Slush team. Moving forward, the Slush team, a pioneering protocol–focused company building infrastructure for scaling ZK ecosystems, will join Matter Labs and play a critical role in advancing the hyperchain and specifically hyperbridging innovations for the zkSync network.

For Ethereum to be accessible to everybody, blockchain technology needs to be fast, cheap, secure, user-friendly, customizable and interoperable. While the scaling landscape is vast, it is now clear that zero-knowledge proofs are the future, as they provide cryptographic security.

The DA layer and zk-rollups together will provide a secure and scalable ecosystem. But how will the rollups interoperate? Many of the building blocks are in place, but as we aim to onboard billions of users to Web3, interoperability and user experience have to be a priority.

Enter Slush, who has done remarkable work in the area of bridging and advancing the hyperchain vision in their whitepaper. The current state of bridging solutions is a mess. There are some good solutions, such as atomic swaps, which enable trustless asset swapping between different blockchains. Unfortunately, they are not suitable for general message passing. While the potential design space is vast, the Slush team has been focusing on the most concrete solution.

The name hyperbridge comes from the traditional web, where users can navigate websites using hyperlinks. Similarly, our rollups will be connected with hyperbridges, connecting the fractal tree of hyperchains.

Using rollups with a shared bridge contract on L1, and native bridges between the rollups can solve all of the existing problems.

For instance, hyperbridges will enable a wallet user experience on different chains, unified by cross-chain wallet management. The users’ wallets will show all of their assets, and relayers will handle bridging, burning, and minting assets to be used on the destination.

💡 Read the Slush Whitepaper

Slush joining forces with Matter Labs, while in tandem other core development teams also contribute to advance the frontiers of zkSync to scale Ethereum, will significantly accelerate the development of ZK Stack, a modular framework that makes it easy for you to customize & deploy your own interoperable ZK-powered blockchains.

Their expertise is now fully focused on hyperchains with access to core protocol engineers, developers, researchers, and various other resources.

Stay tuned for further updates as we work tirelessly to build Ethereum’s future.