Microsoft veteran joins Matter Labs to unlock ‘holy grail’ of web3 with zkSync

Microsoft veteran Vassilis Tziokas has joined zkSync developer Matter Labs as its head of enterprise enterprise growth.

Tziokas spent practically eight years on the tech big, most lately as its world lead for web3 and AI enterprise growth and technique. He needs to leverage that have to unlock the “holy grail” of web3, attracting enterprise adoption to the house by way of zkSync’s Ethereum Layer 2 scaling answer, he informed The Block in an interview.

The motivation for Tziokas’ transfer stems from a robust perception in an imminent wave of innovation, adoption and enterprise options constructed utilizing blockchain applied sciences and he wished to be as “near the motion” as doable.

Tziokas stated he was notably drawn to Matter Labs because of its work with zero-knowledge know-how and dedication to private freedom. He had met the workforce at numerous conferences prior to now however stated that studying the ZK Credo — a manifesto on the guiding ideas for the rising ZK-powered ecosystem launched in June — was the second it actually “clicked” for him, and he knew he wished to hitch Matter Labs.

Unlocking the ‘holy grail’ of web3

When requested about the way forward for enterprise integration with blockchain and web3 applied sciences, as a part of Matter Labs’ mission to “decentralized entry for all,” Tziokas stated that bringing enterprises into web3 was the “holy grail” for the {industry}. Enterprises are at all times on the lookout for new methods to create worth however have to function in a transparent regulatory surroundings, he added.

“As zkSync scales Ethereum to be a extremely scalable, dependable and cost-effective computing platform, it unlocks a brand new a part of the web to be construct out — whether or not it is banking the unbanked, safer enterprise techniques, shared industry-specific protocols to drive efficiencies at world scale or new forms of consumer experiences that naturally include new computing environments — just like what we’ve seen with the arrival of the web itself or the mainstream adoption of cloud and cell,” Tziokas stated.

Tziokas believes zkSync is the correct protocol for enterprises to construct revolutionary, safe and value-added options whereas enabling customers to retain extra management over their information and experiences.

“Two years in the past, [Ethereum co-founder] Vitalik Buterin stated ZK is the long run, which resonated with enterprises as they decide to web3, particularly Ethereum,” Tziokas stated. “zkSync stands out as a result of it launched the primary ZK rollup over three years in the past, and simply have the most effective ZK know-how and long-term technological imaginative and prescient in ZK Stack.”

Final yr, Matter Labs additionally raised $200 million to spice up zkSync adoption and develop its workforce.

Challenges and alternatives

Tziokas acknowledged that there have been nonetheless many challenges for enterprises to broadly undertake web3 know-how, not simply by way of zkSync, however among the many broader blockchain {industry}. He named vendor fragmentation, lack of regulatory readability and complicated UX as just a few however added that enterprises and tech-forward nations had been more and more taking a look at introducing new ZK-based companies.

Extra particularly, Tziokas pointed towards the current launch of the Buenos Aires authorities’s ZK-based digital identification answer to digitally retailer driving licenses, beginning and marriage certificates and earnings verification. He additionally famous Walmart’s enterprise final month into the NFT house by way of Pudgy Penguins, one of many prime NFT collections with over $300 million in gross sales. The retail big is promoting 26 variations of Pudgy toys at 2,000 shops throughout the U.S., with Pudgy World — a multiplayer digital social platform the place customers can construct their “Eternally Pudgy” characters, play mini-games and work together with different customers — constructed on zkSync.

Moreover, zkSync’s hyperbridging “opens up the power for all these companies to doubtlessly collaborate and accomplice with each other enabling the best interoperability panorama — trustless, quick and low cost cross-chain transactions,” Tziokas added.

Layer 2 decentralization

Presently, Layer 2 networks introduce parts of centralization, comparable to counting on sequencers and provers managed by the initiatives’ groups. A sequencer is a element that orders and batches a number of off-chain transactions earlier than submitting them to the Ethereum blockchain. A prover is a mechanism that generates cryptographic proofs to validate transactions with out processing them on the principle chain. These create single factors of failure and potential censorship dangers that might have a big affect on customers of the networks.

“Decentralizing the protocol is a should,” Tziokas stated. “In any other case, how is it completely different from centralized cloud or container infrastructure?” Whereas the entire Ethereum ecosystem was dedicated to decentralization, Tziokas continued, Matter Labs’ is “aggressively taking motion to decentralize the sequencer, prover and different core elements of the know-how.” It was additionally including third-party developer groups to assist keep and improve the zkSync protocol and ZK Stack and decentralizing non-technical elements of the ecosystem like undertaking rankings, Tziokas stated.

Whereas the method of bridging into Layer 2 networks in a decentralized means stays largely complicated and costly, Tziokas stated the important thing to widespread crypto adoption lies in providing value-added companies that genuinely improve customers’ lives, once more highlighting these current undertaking launches.

Additional, “utilizing zkSync’s native account abstraction makes the sport really feel like an MMO, the place all of the blockchain tech is hidden from the consumer, in addition to specializing in enterprise mannequin innovation with conventional enterprises like Walmart on their phrases, versus forcing them to make use of blockchain as a result of it is a cool pattern,” he stated.

“Decentralizing entry for everybody shall be a protracted journey however we’re heading in the right direction,” Tziokas added.