Any person who has ever used Ethereum can understand the plight. You feel the need to exchange tokens or mint an NFT and are finding yourself $20 and paying gas fees of $50 to transact. It’s absurd. This is why there are Layer 2 solutions - the Layer 2 solutions are designed to enable Ethereum to be used without the kidney sale transaction cost.
There are two platforms that attempt to resolve this issue: BOUNDLESS and zkSync Era. They both involve the use of zero-knowledge rollup technology, though in different ways. We will determine which one is more reasonable.
zkSync Era was released at the beginning of 2023 and was soon among the largest Layer 2 networks. Matter Labs, the team has been working on such ideas over the years. They are not a haphazard startup, they are pursued professionally, have a big community, and usage. Hundreds of projects operate on zkSync Era and millions of dollars are transferred every day.
It is a smart technological solution. zkSync Era offloads hundreds of transactions in a single bundle, and verifies them on Ethereum by uploading cryptographic proofs. You have the security of Ethereum at ridiculous prices. A 50 dollar transaction on the mainnet could only cost 50 cents on zkSync Era.
It is EVM-compatible and thus a developer can copy-paste his/her Ethereum code and it works. The majority of popular wallets accept it. One can use Metamask as with Ethereum. The user experience is uncomplicated: bridge your funds over, and all is faster and cheaper than regular Ethereum.
They have also developed native account abstraction, and this makes wallets smarter. You will be able to pay gas using any token and not only ETH and recover socialally your wallet. Such characteristics make crypto more convenient.
So we are going to discuss BOUNDLESS now. This newcomer does not do things the same way. Whereas, zkSync Era will additionally be the universal Ethereum Layer 2, BOUNDLESS has a specialized approach. It develops infrastructure that is specialized to particular applications rather than being everything to everybody.
The architecture is modular. Independent swapping or upgrading of different parts can be done, that is, LEGO blocks and a one unified structure. Such a flexibility can be future-proof. In the event that new superior technology is developed, BOUNDLESS can upgrade without necessarily having to rebuild it all.
BOUNDLESS also is more focused on interoperability compared to zkSync Era. It is made to have a smooth interaction with other Layer 2s and blockchains. The idea is that the users must not be confined to a single ecosystem. Applications and assets are supposed to pass across networks. It is a great idea, however, it is not that easy to accomplish.
The fee charge model on BOUNDLESS will be kept low in comparison to other Layer 2s. They take technical trade-offs, merging a transaction in batch, and providing alternate proof systems. To applications that require high volume of small transactions, such as gaming, social media, this may be a great benefit.
However, the truth is that zkSync Era is much more established at the moment. Being a developer, you have access to an already enormous ecosystem developed on zkSync Era: DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, bridges, wallets, and extensive documentation. Community assistance is provided when bugs crop up. BOUNDLESS is in the process of building this foundation.
As a user, zkSync Era has become more accessible. The majority of centralized exchanges allow making withdrawals, and the bridges are both safe and properly established. The DeFi has real liquidity. BOUNDLESS is more recent, and thus its ecosystem is not as developed. You may save a lot in terms of fees, but would you suffer all the additional headache in case liquidity is weak or bridging is hard?
Security zkSync Era is not new and is battle-tested. Millions of transactions have passed through without significant problems and the code has been audited on several occasions. BOUNDLESS is more recent, and, thus, has less practical testing. It might not be less safe, but less tested out - which is a very essential consideration in crypto.
The philosophy of development varies. zkSync Era is conservative and it emphasizes on security and stability. They take their steps slowly and are more careful about launching new features than about rushing. BOUNDLESS is more action-packed and experimental. In itself, neither is right or wrong, it is a matter of what matters to you.
In the current time (2021) zkSync Era would be the more secure choice, should you build a DeFi protocol or NFT marketplace. You will access a greater number of users, have superior tooling, and an existing ecosystem. Your application will be easier to access to users since they are probably already well acquainted with zkSync Era.
BOUNDLESS might be beneficial to you in case you require ultra-low charges and early adoption. Their optimizations may be useful in gaming apps, social applications and any use cases that involve micro-transactions to a large extent. You would be first on a potentially good platform.
In which direction is the space of layer 2 going? There are already Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, zkSync Era and now BOUNDLESS. And will there be space to them all? Likely not long‑term. Those that scale massively or have control over certain niches will be the winners.
zkSync Era pursues scale. It is expected to become a general Layer 2. BOUNDLESS is niche-focused, which is the most suitable to certain types of application although not necessarily the largest one.
