Elastic Chain

Sophon is one of many ZK Chains.

Ethereum, currently processing around 12 transactions per second, must scale to handle millions of transactions for a future of global on-chain financial activities. Achieving this in a decentralized structure poses significant challenges. Various solutions, including Polkadot, Cosmos, Near, and Eth 2.0, have been explored with multi-chain or shard architectures, but full trust remains an issue. The widely accepted solution for these challenges lies in zero-knowledge proofs, offering cryptographic security. Combined with the DA layer and ZK Rollups, these can create a secure, scalable ecosystem, making Ethereum accessible to all.

What are Elastic Chains?

Elastic chains are a type of blockchain architecture designed to address scalability issues in the current multi-chain ecosystem. They allow for unlimited parallel expansion of network capacity through the addition of interconnected ZK Chains, while maintaining seamless interoperability and a unified user experience. This approach leverages recursive zero-knowledge proofs to enable constant-time verification of computational outcomes, regardless of the number of chains in the network.

The elastic chain concept aims to solve problems associated with traditional multi-chain setups, such as poor user experience, capital inefficiency, and security vulnerabilities in cross-chain bridges. By creating a network of natively interconnected ZK Chains, elastic chains offer users the ability to interact with multiple chains as if they were a single blockchain, eliminating the need for complex bridging processes and improving overall usability.

More information in the ZkSync documentation.