One of them is zkSync, one more weapon in Ethereum's arsenal against competing smart contract platforms such as Solana or Avalanche. So, what is zkSync, and how does it help to reduce Ethereum gas fees?

Layer 2 Solutions to the Rescue

As Ethereum continues its transition to ETH 2.0, it needs help in retaining customers. Thus far, they have been repelled by exorbitant ETH gas fees. To give you an idea, more complex interactions with Ethereum, such as staking and token swapping, cost an arm and a leg.

For simple transactions, such as transferring a token from wallet A to wallet B, fees are much smaller, but they are still way above any traditional non-blockchain service like Western Union. Suffice to say, this is quite the opposite of the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) spirit, which was supposed to unbank the world.

This year, Ethereum is on its way to dock its old proof-of-work network with a proof-of-stake Beacon Chain. Next year, Ethereum should integrate sharding. Both are major upgrades that are poised to lower its transaction fees significantly.

In the meantime, Ethereum must plug into a number of roads to redirect traffic from its main highway. This is why Ethereum's main chain is called layer 1, while additional roads that take the traffic load are called layer 2 scaling solutions.

What Is zkSync and How Does It Help Ethereum Transactions?

As you can see from the chart above, zkSync is powered by ZK Rollup technology, which is a good place to start unraveling its features. Just like for zkSync, ZK stands for Zero-Knowledge, while Rollups represent smart contracts.

ZK-Rollups are smart contracts that have a singular purpose. They roll up hundreds of transactions off the main layer 1 chain and fuse them into a single transaction. Then, they post this transaction back to the main chain. The zero-knowledge part is a highly complicated cryptographic solution.

Suffice to say, ZK means that party A can prove to party B that value X is true, but without disclosing to party B any other info other than the fact that value X is true. The following video is a useful explanation as to how zero-knowledge proofs work in regard to blockchain technology.

What is important to keep in mind is that both roll-up and zero-knowledge transactions spare the network much data bandwidth. Furthermore, ZK rollups don't compromise blockchain's security because proof-of-transactions still happen on layer 1. Therefore, by bundling up transactions, zkSync ensures:

• Much lower gas fee: Up to 1/100 of Ethereum's main chain fee.

• Higher throughput speed: Up to 2,000 transactions per second (tps) vs. Ethereum's current 13–17 tps. This is on par with the Visa payment network, which is quite impressive.

• Security: zkSync inherits Ethereum's security, which has never gone offline, unlike Solana and other competitors.

• Token transfer: Near-instant transfer of tokens between zkSync's layer 2 and Ethereum's layer 1 DApps.

  Can You Use zkSync Right Now?

  Just like with Arbitrum or Loopring, these are networks attached to Ethereum as layer 2. They have their own versions of DApps, imported from Ethereum's main chain into their ecosystems. zkSync is still onboarding those DApps, but pretty much all major ones are set to appear in zkSync's offering. You can check the complete list here. Presently, you can use zkSync via the Argent wallet.

• Likewise, the ZigZag decentralized exchange uses zkSync to enable cheap token swaps, something that is sorely missed on the likes of Uniswap. Case in point, you can already connect your MetaMask wallet to zkSync wallet. From there, you avoid ETH gas fees using the available zkSync-powered DApps like ZigZag.

但是，在使用传统方法对技术类无形资产进行评估时，由于理论研究的局限或者评估过程中各种条件的限制，使得区块链技术类无形资产的价值不能够被准确评估，从而对企业管理者对该项资产的价值失去准确判断。

目前大部分交易案例都采用收益法评估技术类无形资产。此时，被评估的技术类无形资产需要满足三个基本条件：

(1)能够合理预测评估技术类无形资产的未来预期收益，且能够用货币计量该项收益。

(2)获得预期收益所需要承担的风险是可以预测，并且对企业的影响是能够用货币计量的。

(3)被评估资产预期使用年限、预计获利年限能够有准确的预测，这要求被评估资产与企业经营状态、与经营收益之间存在着稳定关系。

收益法在评估区块链技术资产时能否适用，首先要考虑以上三个基本条件，但也存着以下几点局限性：

(1)区块链技术资产的服务期限无法确定。我们无法预判区块链技术资产的有效服务期限，专利证书的生效和价值实现存在滞后性。这就导致我们对区块链技术相关专利权的服务期限无法准确估计，由此带来收益能力也无法合理估测。

(2)不同企业对于区块链技术的使用途径不同会导致获得的收益不同，交易区块链技术相关专利权的的风险也无法量化，由于用途偏离或者无法适配，使得评估过程中的需要考虑风险的折现率无法准确测量。

(3)技术的更新换代带来的影响是整体而重大的，因此，我们在评估过程中很难划分出来哪些收益是区块链技术更新带来的。

国内外学者对使用收益法评估资产时的不足之处进行了很多研究和改进，有一部分学者采用了层次分析法来解决技术变更对企业超额收贡献程度这一难题，同时还有采用更加细化的技术分成率等方法解决风险无法量化等难题。

因此，在评估案例公司区块链技术资产时可以采用收益法的相关思路，加之以辅助方法弥补局限性，可得到较为准确的价值。

总之，通过上述比较研究，本文认为在可预见的未来，有关区块链技术的研究也将会越来越多，区块链技术也将会越来越成熟，适用于更多的业务和场景，将会有越来越多的人注意到区块链技术资产的商业价值。对区块链技术资产进行评估的方法和思路也将会有更多的学者研究探讨，使其作用的发挥更加科学合理。

以区块链技术为代表的一系列新基建技术将会进一步改变我们的生活，数字化也将更好的为经济社会做更大贡献。而收益法将是较为合适的区块链无形资产评估方式。