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ZKsync Confirms End of ZKsync Lite, Citing Evolution Toward Mature zkEVM Stack
ZKsync to Retire ZKsync Lite as Ecosystem Fully Transitions to Era – In a significant milestone for the Ethereum scaling landscape, ZKsync has announced plans to retire ZKsync Lite, the network it first launched in June 2020 as one of Ethereum’s earliest zero-knowledge payment rollups. The team at Matter Labs, the protocol’s creator, emphasized that the transition is part of a long-planned deprecation and will not affect any other ZKsync systems.
A Planned Sunset for an Early Proof-of-Concept
According to the announcement shared on X, ZKsync Lite served as a “proof-of-concept” system that validated foundational zero-knowledge ideas later used to build out ZKsync Era and the broader ZK Stack. The team highlighted that Lite “did its job,” paving the way for the production-grade systems that power today’s zkEVM ecosystem.
The shift has been underway since February 2023, when ZKsync 1.0 was formally rebranded to ZKsync Lite. Just a month later, Matter Labs stopped active engineering updates for Lite and moved its core developers to ZKsync Era and the new stack.
From Lightweight Rollup to Full zkEVM Infrastructure
ZKsync Lite was originally designed as a lightweight network supporting transfers, NFT minting, and basic swaps. However, its limitations became clear over time, most notably the absence of smart contract support. As ZKsync Era launched in 2023 with full EVM compatibility, developers rapidly consolidated liquidity and tooling around the newer system.
This shift led wallets and dApps to phase Lite out entirely, leaving it with fewer than 200 daily operations this month, per L2Beat data. Despite the decline in activity, Lite still holds approximately $49 million in assets bridged from Ethereum—funds that remain fully withdrawable through its L1 contract.
Withdrawals to Ethereum Will Continue
ZKsync confirmed that withdrawals to Ethereum will remain active throughout the deprecation process, with detailed timelines and user instructions set to be published in 2025.
The announcement follows a period of internal restructuring at Matter Labs. A year earlier, the company reduced its workforce by 24 employees, a move CEO Alex Gluchowski said came amid a “big increase in demand for ZK Chains.”
