Ethereum's scalability issue ultimately boils down to a multiple-choice question—do we prioritize speed or security? Centralization or true decentralization? Over the years, Layer 2 solutions have emerged one after another, each seeking its own answer. The zkSync Era route, in particular, follows the most cutting-edge technical path—zero-knowledge proofs.

The technical evolution of zkSync began in 2020. At that time, zkSync was quite rudimentary, essentially a high-level transfer tool—later known as zkSync Lite 1.0. It could reduce costs and inherit Ethereum's security, but its functionality was limited, only capable of handling basic payment transactions.

The real breakthrough came in 2022. Matter Labs released zkSync 2.0, which introduced support for smart contracts and explicitly adopted the zkEVM route. By early 2023, 2.0 was officially renamed Era and launched on the mainnet. This milestone is significant—the zkSync Era became one of the first truly usable zkEVM public chains, no longer an experimental product but an infrastructure with an ecosystem, applications, and real usability.

From 2020 to 2023, three years saw the leap from technological exploration to ecological deployment. Behind this progress lies a critical advancement in zero-knowledge proofs, from theory to engineering.