The Governance Team (ZKsync Association) hosted a ZKsync Delegate Meetup on Thursday, February 27th during the week of ETHDenver. There were around 30-35 different delegates attend throughout the day, and key representatives from Matter Labs and the ZKsync Foundation joined for a few of the sessions to provide some updates and shared the role they would like to play in ZKsync governance for 2025.
To ensure those who were unable to make it have access to the information and discussions, below is a summary of key takeaways from each of the sessions from the meetup! You can also find the full slide deck here.
Session 1: State of ZKsync Governance
Rafa and I provided an overview of the state of governance and highlighted a few takeaways from the first 6 months of ZKsync governance.
- Governance Validation Phase is complete:
- Six months after the launch of the ZKsync governance system, there have been 2 proposals on each of the 3 Governors (Protocol, Token & GovOps) successfully approved and executed end to end, showing that the system and its infra works the way it is meant to.
- The Governance Team (ZKsync Association) set up the foundational pieces of the governance system, including the bodies, legal system, onchain contracts, interfaces, and corresponding documentation. [See presentation for full list]
- The Gov Team is monitoring governance performance
- A new Dune dashboard is in development that includes metrics related to general performance, capture resistance, and delegate participation.
- The Gov Team is seeing 3 types of Token Program Proposals (TPPs) emerging:
- Ecosystem Growth Programs: Support 10x growth on ZKsync via ecosystem programs for ZK Chains, Apps, and common infrastructure.
- Support for Protocol Development: Support sustainable research, development, and implementation of ZKsync and supporting technologies.
- Governance Sustainability: Support governance bodies (SC, Guardians), ZKsync Association, and infrastructure (contracts, interfaces, tools).
- The next phase of governance is Sustainable Momentum
- Ensure governance bodies (SC, Guardians) & ZKsync Association are equipped to support ZKsync governance for next 2 years.
- Strengthen protocol upgrade coordination processes, including necessary tooling for calldata generation, verification, etc.
- Create deep and reliable alignment between Token Assembly, Matter Labs, and ZKsync Foundation, especially related to token programs to 10x ZKsync.
Session 2: Reflection on Governance Trends
The prompt for this breakout session was to have each table discuss governance trends they have noticed and which ones might be worth considering to include in ZKsync governance.
Trends identified during group breakout sessions (please remind us of ones we missed!):
- AI Agents & Tooling, to support new models of protocol governance and navigate the complexity of participating in governance as a Delegate.
- Increasing governance participation from protocol Labs & Foundation teams, in response to changing regulatory landscape and value of deep expertise in governance programs.
Session 3: Flash Presentations on Matter Labs Strategy, Elastic Brand, and Tech Roadmap 2025
There were three flash presentations shared from three Matter Labs representatives on key topics:
- Matter Labs Strategy for 2025: Presentation from Alex Gluchowski (founder of Matter Labs)
- ZKsync is top of mind when people think of ZK
- ZK Stack is the blockchain of choice for institutions
- Elastic Network is the rollup cluster category winner
- Elastic Brand: Presentation from Meghan Hughes (CMO of Matter Labs)
- ZK is the Endgame: The new Elastic Network brand shows that ZKsync is the pioneering, definitive, ZK scaling solution for Ethereum. ZKsync is an ever-expanding, interoperable network of ZK Chains.
- “Can’t be evil” > “Don’t be evil”: ZKsync is secured by math and is the center of the cypherpunk movement.
- The imagery is expanding, inflating, bending, flexible, and fun. The Elastic Network stretches yet doesn’t break.
- Engineering Roadmap 2025: Presentation from Anthony Rose (CTO of Matter Labs)
- Simplify developer experience: Bytecode equivalence, LLM tooking, VS code debugger
- Enable web2-like user experience:
- Performance: 10,000 TPS @ $0.0001
- Security: Stage 1 Decentralized sequencing & proving
- UI: Powerful smart wallet SDK for web & mobile
- Privacy: Private validium
- Connect public & private chains: Native interop with fast cross-chain transfers + method calls.
Session 4: Panel - Elastic Network Growth via Governance with ML & Foundation
This panel session included participants from Matter Labs, the ZKsync Foundation, inlcuding Alex Gluchowski (Founder @ Matter Labs), Marco Cova (Director @ ZKsync Foundation), Omar (VP, Head of Business Development @ Matter Labs), and Karthik (Head of Era @ Matter Labs, Ignite Steering Committee Member). Below are some of the key takeaways from the panel discussion with Matter Labs and the ZKsync Foundation.
- Token Programs should also be seen as creating products that can be used:
- To secure & sustain protocol development: Creating programs that reimburse audit costs of teams successfully executing ZIPs creates an incentive for qualified teams to submit quality protocol upgrade proposals.
- As a business development tool to attract builders to the ecosystem: The successful deployment of Token Programs that reward builders of ZK chains and apps can be referred to when trying to bring more builders to ZKsync.
- For governance sustainability: Support governance bodies (SC, Guardians), ZKsync Association, and infrastructure (contracts, interfaces, tools)
- ZKsync ecosystem expertise will be critical to ensure quality and impact of Token Programs, especially at this early stage in decentralization. Matter Labs and the ZKsync Foundation are currently the two entities that hold the most context and expertise. The Ignite program is a great example of how deep collaboration is necessary for success.
- Matter Labs’ first focus and mandate is to develop the protocol via designing and coordinating protocol upgrades. They will continue to create and submit critical protocol upgrades (ZIPs) upgrades, and are keen to explore ways to empower other qualified teams & ZK Chains to be able to submit protocol upgrades.
- The Foundation will manage a pipeline of ecosystem programs, minimize fragmentation, and push for management efficiency. They will plan to begin sharing a vision and plan this week.
- The Foundation will work with service providers who have the expertise necessary to make each program a success. Matter Labs will be a key partner and advisor on all flagship proposals that the Foundation is designing, and provide technical, security, marketing, business development expertise as needed.
- Impact on governance:
- There are no changes to the underlying governance contracts; the ZKsync Governance system continues to be permissionless. Anyone with 21M ZK can submit a proposal onchain, and the Token Assembly Priorities solidified in GAP-1 are still the north star for 2025 proposal development.
- The Foundation and Matter Labs will continue ask Delegates for feedback on ecosystem and protocol upgrade proposals as they are posted on the forum. Each will also leverage their internal expertise to provide direct feedback on open questions.
Session 5: Token Mechanics Review
Rafa and I provided a brief overview of the fundamentals of token mechanics and Token Program, but we primarily focused on the “why” & “how” of token mechanics during this session.
Why use token mechanics?
The Gov Team gets the sense that while people understand the concept of token mechanics, the underlying “why” is still unclear. We discussed the key arguments below:
- Efficiency —> Minimize steerco and engineering resources needed for program execution (mechanics > multisigs)
- Security —> Decrease multisig trx and Bybit-style hack risk via automation
- Accountability —> Tokens can be publicly traced to their final intended destination (build product > build process)
How can token mechanics be used?
The Gov Team recognizes that we should be doing better job of showing examples of what token mechanics could look like and what tools could be used to create them. We started the TPP Builder category on the forum to start showcasing some of the technical tools & partners that could be used to build token mechanics. We will ask these folks to start presenting during Delegate calls over the coming weeks.
Rafa and I went over a few examples of mechanic tooling use-cases during the meetup:
We also highlighted that the examples of Token Programs we are seeing today are a long way from the “TPP vision” this is outlined in the docs and in the TPP FAQ, and the Gov Team wants to work towards programs more aligned with the Token Program/token mechanic vision:
Other Resources
- ZKsync Community & Ecosystem Sentiment Survey: One of the community mods is conducting a survey to better understand community & ecosystem sentiments to identify pain points and see where more resources may need to be spent. Please fill out the survey by Friday, March 8th.