Hermez users will gain the ability to set transactions with ETH, USDT, and WBTC on a very scalable layer-two network.
Hermez Network announced on Wednesday the launch of its zk-rollup network. This event opens the network to users, who can receive various benefits at much cheaper transaction costs than the Ethereum network.
Zk-rollups use zero-knowledge proofs to set verification processes and to bring correctness to a large batch of transactions. An external ecosystem gets rid of these transactions and creates evidence for them, which appears directly on the Ethereum blockchain.
The result more than ten times in terms of block space, as Hermez transactions only weigh 10 bytes on the main chain, compared to more than 100 bytes for a standard Ether transfer.
Hermez Supports a Massive List of Significant Tokens
Tokens such as Ether (ETH), Wrapped BTC (WBTC), Tether (USDT), Dai, and HEZ, the Hermez token are currencies that receive complete support from Hermez. The zk-rollup requires introducing funds into a smart contract and withdrawing them on the Ethereum mainnet to find usage.
Unlike optimistic rollups, the withdrawal of funds can immediately happen from layer-two. In Hermez’s case, there is still a list of limitations to ensure a polished launch.
Pol aski said that this withdrawal is an automated process through volume limitation that completes its implementation in smart contracts as an additional checkpoint to identify weird network behavior.
This limitation would automatically turn on when there is a sudden detection of a high volume of withdrawals. The mission is to give the developer team more time to study the system and determine if the funds are being legitimately on a withdrawal process.
Hermez comes months after ZkSync, a highly related solution from Matter Labs, hit the market. Although it has seen the adoption of platforms such as Bitcoin a mixed crowdfunding, there was little additional integration.
However, promoting layer-two adoption appears to be more difficult than initially anticipated. Payment systems can only transfer funds between exchanges or pay for products in centralized ecosystems that support layer-two.
They don’t work directly with Defi as it would require users to withdraw and re-deposit funds each time, partially defeating the rollup’s purpose. However, since the Tether and USDC contracts are among the network’s biggest “gas hogs”, even a pay-only rollup can significantly ease the pressure on Ethereum fees.
Hermez and its Role as a Network Because of its Decentralized Model
Hermez is a Layer 2 construction, and its goal is to process a lot of transactions, so the consensus algorithm has to work through more simple ways for one agent that coordinates the process of this amount of transactions at any moment. Hermez’s model allows the network to be permissionless and censorship-resistant for user transactions.
The decentralized model sets its implementation through a permissionless auction system for potential coordinators of the network to earn the right to complete transactions during a slot of time. Hermez implements a zk-rollup based on zk-SNARKs proofs, the most efficient cryptographic construction in Ethereum.
By: Jenson Nuñez
