Recently, I closely examined the new roadmap released by zkLink, and I had a very intuitive feeling:

They are not doing an "upgrade"; they are trying to break through the stagnation of cross-chain transactions.

The direction proposed this time is very clear —

It’s not about "building a faster bridge" but rather "creating an AI-driven trading network".

You don't have to choose chains, compare prices, or switch back and forth. The AI agent will directly help you decide how to proceed, where to exchange, and where to sign. From the user's perspective, it means: I only care about the destination; everything else is left to it to handle.

This concept is quite big, but they have broken it down very practically.

📍 According to the roadmap:

By 2025, the protocol PoC will be completed, the communication protocol will be open-sourced, and collaborations with mainstream public chains will be initiated;

By 2026, it will enter Alpha/Beta testing, starting to test node participation in the network and the developer model.

Currently, zkLink's mainnet Nova has already launched, marking their first step as a multi-chain Layer 2. The upcoming AI protocols and agent systems will run directly on this layer of architecture.

The entire tech stack has been redesigned from the ground up, not as an add-on feature, but as the foundation of the entire future ecosystem.

If you pay attention to infrastructure, you will also notice capital support:

The investment list includes Coinbase Ventures, OKX, Crypto.com, Republic Crypto, SIG, and others.

$ZKL has been listed on Bybit, Gate, Bitget, Hashkey Global, Coinone, providing initial liquidity support.

Notably, they didn’t start by pushing various modules or narratives,

but rather focused on solidifying the underlying protocol first before planning further.

This rhythm of "protocol first → module expansion → self-driven ecosystem" is not common in this market.

Many people are busy launching UI first or pushing narratives, but zkLink has clearly chosen a longer-term path.

Currently, this AI-driven cross-chain network is still under construction, not very lively, and hasn’t started to generate buzz yet,

but the direction is very clear, and the technical framework seems stable.

If it can really get this structure up and running,

then the connections between chains in the DeFi world may really have a whole new approach.